Page 149 of Filthy Liar

How many of his men were sticking by him despite his betrayal? We’d killed five already, and they were still coming.

“I thought you said we’d be clear, Ant,” I scowled as we got to the other side after taking down another three men.

“I said you should be. I never promised,” he said dryly, my eyes catching on someone behind us.

I aimed my gun and fired, Beckett’s eyes going wide as it skimmed past her head and hit the guy right in the forehead. She turned slowly, seeing him on the ground not too far from where she stood.

A lot of my problems would’ve been handled if I’d just let him take her out, I had a feeling she was going to be around a lot from the way her and Raven had formed a friendship, but it would’ve started way more new problems.

Couldn’t have the Psychos’ princess die, it would be fucking war for real then.

She looked back at me and gave me a nod of thanks before we kept moving, the flicker of a red dot appearing in my peripheral.

“Sniper!” Slash barked, making everyone dive to the side as the gunshot went off.

Knox and his guys were already on it, shooting down a man from a spot high up in the rafters. We really had to be careful of that.

“Rory!” Raven’s shout snapped everyone to attention as we looked back, finding Rory swaying slightly. Blood dripped down her neck as Raven tried to hold her up.

“It’s just a scratch,” Rory said firmly, but her words slurred a fraction, making Slash curse as he took over from Raven, swatting Rory’s hand away from her neck to look.

I frowned, seeing the small scratch that definitely wasn’t bleeding enough to make her unsteady on her feet, but then Slash’s hand grabbed her shirt to lift it out of the way of her midriff, finding more blood hidden.

I couldn’t see a wound, so it was hiding somewhere higher.

“You got fucking shot and didn’t say anything?” he hissed, and she flipped him off.

“I felt fine. I don’t think it hit anything important.” She pulled the collar of her shirt down a fraction, showing a bullet wound near her shoulder. “See?”

“You’re losing blood and going to pass out,” he bit out, looking over at us. “We?—”

“Get her out of here. We’ve got it,” Stone called out as he appeared from nowhere, ordering a handful of men to cover them on their way out so the rest of us could keep moving.

Raven appeared beside me, her eyes hard. “These assholes?—”

“They're going down, baby,” I promised, quickly giving her a kiss. “Eyes ahead and up. Did you want to leave? You can head out with Slash.”

“No. I’m staying with you guys,” she said sharply.

“I’m not going to make you leave, Bluebird. I was just offering. Stay with me.”

With our group shrinking by the damn minute, we finally reached the room that Antonio said Stefano was located in, and I wasn’t surprised to shove it open to find Stefano tied to a chair while Elio beat the shit out of him.

The room wasn’t too large, and it was mostly empty other than the metal chair in the middle of the room that Stefano was currently tied to, and a few old pieces of furniture that had obviously been left here to die.

“Brother! You made it!” Dante grinned a little manically, and as much as I knew we were pretty safe in here, I still cursed when Raven ran past me and across the room.

Zavier stood beside Dante, his arms opening for her as she practically plowed into him. The wince on his face told me he was definitely hurt, but he was standing, so that was all that mattered.

“Dammit, Bluebird,” I snapped, but she ignored me as she gently grabbed Zavier’s face and started fussing over him. If she had Zavier, then I could focus on Stefano.

“I will have your head!” Stefano sputtered through blood as Elio stepped back, clenching his blood-coated fists.

“Might want to lower your voice, traitor,” I said flatly, his eyes finding me as Elio moved out of the way.

“You!” he spat. “You’ve been nothing but trouble since I brought you home!”

“You mean since you stole me from my fucking mom,” I replied bitterly, moving towards him, walking past Zavier and giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze on my way by. “You really thought I’d worship you and kiss the ground you fucking walk on after you took me? I was twelve. I was a sheltered kid with a good education and a loving family. You swooped in, murdered my mother and little sister in front of me, then dragged me back to Italy to beat me into submission. Loyalty isn’t earned by creating fear. It creates hatred and resentment.”

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