Page 106 of Cruel Secrets

“You little fucking bitch.” He lunges across the room at me, and I let him. The more distracted he is with me, the less likely he is to get into that room before whoever is beating the door down gets inside.

He shoves me into the bookcase hard enough to knock the wind out of me. “Open it.”

I smirk at him over my shoulder. “I don’t know how to.”

His face glows a bright red as he uses his gun to smash me in the side of the head. “You better start thinking about what you do know and open that fucking panic room, Gia.”

“No.”

He grabs me by the shoulder and kicks out the back of my knees, slamming my face off one of the bookcase shelves. “Excuse me?”

“I said no.”

The barrel of the gun finds its way to the back of my head. My breathing hitches and tears prick in the corners of my eyes, but I know that I’m doing what’s right.

If he wants to get to Bianca, he’s going to have to go through me.

I just have to stall him long enough for Royce to get here. When he does, he’s going to make sure Noah never gets his hands on Bianca. I know he is.

Skyla and Ellie are going to be amazing aunts. They’re going to take care of my baby girl and raise her to be a strong and kind woman. I know they are.

And at the end of the day, I know that Royce is going to make sure she grows up knowing who I am.

It brings a certain level of peace to my mind as the gun presses harder against me, the impatient sighing freeing my blood in my veins.

“I’ll make you a deal, since we’re family.” He steps to the side and holds the gun out to me. “You’re going to take this and kill Royce when he walks through this door.”

“If I don’t?”

“Then I will take Bianca and kill you.” He smirks, wiggling the gun in front of me. “It’s your choice, but if I take her, I’m going to raise her to be the Rinaldo you never could be.”

CHAPTERTHIRTY

ROYCE

The sightof Jace’s head being slammed into the black siding on the front porch is a sight I don’t think I’m ever going to live to forget.

He groans as I grab him by the throat, shoving him harder into the wall, and I bring the gun to his head. When he swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobs against my hand.

I can almost smell the fear rolling off him in waves.

The silencer breaks the sound of the gunshot as the bullet pierces through his head, killing him instantly. It might not be as satisfying a death as I was looking for, but I have to get to Gia and Bianca.

More men pour out of the front door and Aiden stands to the side, shooting one after another until four bodies are crumpled on the porch with Jace.

Aiden wipes some of the blood splatter from his face as he steps over the bodies and into the house. “You have to wonder how a man like Noah is considered dangerous when his people are barely trained.”

I keep my gun raised, peeking around the corner to see the people tied together in the corner with two more of Noah’s men standing in front of them. Skyla makes eye contact with me before looking toward the stairs.

Aiden steps beside me. “I’ll take them, you go get Gia.”

Nodding, I wait until Aiden rushes out and shoots the first man before I rush up the stairs.

Noah is standing in the hallway when I get to the top of the stairs, his arms crossed over his chest. “I was wondering when you were going to make an appearance.”

I lunge for him, swinging the gun into the side of his head hard. He stumbles into the wall as he laughs, shaking his head and looking at me like this is all just one big game for him.

“I should’ve killed you after what you did to Ellie.”

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