Page 101 of Born into Mayhem
If I wasn’t so worried about Dario, I’d smile, but all I can manage is a quick nod before he opens the door and pokes his head in. When he sees it’s clear, he motions me inside. All the training he and Dario have been giving me kick into gear as I put my back to Sasha’s and scan the room, making sure no one is hiding with a gun pointed at us. The room is empty, but there’s a hallway to our left and right.
“I’m taking this one,” I whisper. “You take the other.”
Sasha looks like he wants to argue, but I take a second to point at the wound that’s still bleeding freely from where he’s just been shot. “We need to hurry,” I remind him.
He hesitates for another second before saying, “Holler if you need me and be careful, Mia.”
“I will,” I promise, and then I drop down and scurry past the open window in the living room before standing in the hall.
My heart races, and my hands are sweaty, but before I keep going, I take the knife from my forearm and slip it into my back pocket. It’s too big to fit, and part of the blade sticks out, but it puts the handle within easy reach, and I feel better knowing I have two weapons ready to use if I need them. I hope like hell I don’t fall and cut my ass to shreds, but the risk is worth it.
With gun in hand, I creep down the hall, ears straining for even the faintest of sounds, but it’s so quiet it makes my ears ring. I pass an empty bathroom and a room that’s set up like a bunkhouse with several twin beds, but I don’t see anyone and I don’t hear anything. Creeping towards the last open door, my breath catches in my throat when I turn the corner and see Dario standing inside with another man.
The sight of Dario alive and well sends a wave of relief through me, so powerful I almost sink to the ground. His back is to me, his focus outside the window on the shooter that’s hiding on the hill above us, but I’d know his body anywhere, and I don’t need to see his face to know it’s him. There’s a man beside him, fidgeting with a Zippo lighter, and as tense as the moment is, I can’t help but think that the repetitive movement must be driving Dario crazy. I run my eyes over the man, noticing the way he’s not staring out the window like Dario. All his focus is on the man I love, and all the joy I’d just been feeling is sucked from my body as fear replaces it. I know I’m looking at Uberto, and when the man turns his head and catches sight of me, his dark eyes go from surprise to anger. He knows something has gone wrong if I’m showing up here, face and clothes covered in blood with a gun in my hand.
I must make a noise because Dario turns his head, and as soon as he sees me and all the blood I’m covered in, all he can think about is getting to me. Everything happens so quickly after that. He turns towards me right as Uberto steps behind him, making it impossible for me to get off a shot. I see the sharp blade behind Dario right as I scream his name and lunge for him, willing to do anything to keep him safe.
I’ve never been the toughest person in the room. I’m never going to out bench press anyone, but I’m small and I’m fast and I use that to my advantage, throwing myself between the two men right as Uberto plunges the knife forward, aiming for Dario’s stomach.
He gets me instead.
The blade sinks in deep, the wound low on my belly, the shock of it stunning me right before I pull the trigger. The bullet hits Uberto in the chest. He collapses as Dario yells my name.
Chapter 17
Dario
Iyell Mia’s name and then catch her when her knees buckle and she starts to fall. She’s so fucking small and still and I’ve never been so scared in my life. Blood pours from the wound on her stomach, the one that was meant for me. Ripping my shirt off, I press it to the deep cut. She gasps when I apply pressure, and I feel a part of myself die when I see the pain she’s in. Her skin is already so pale, and when she starts to close her eyes, I yell at her to stay with me.
“What the fuck happened?”
I don’t look away from Mia as her brother comes rushing in, but I do yell at him to call Sandro and get a car here right fucking now. All my attention goes back to the woman I can’t live without, and when she tries to move, I gently push her hand back down.
“Don’t move,amore mio. Stay still for me, okay?”
Her hazel eyes look glazed when they meet mine, and as they start to water, I feel my own tears fall. I’ve never seen Mia cry, and the fact that she is now fills me with a dread that I hadn’t known was possible.
“I lied to you,” she whispers.
“It doesn’t matter,” I quickly say. I don’t know what she’s talking about, but nothing matters except her surviving this. She’s still mystubborn girl, so I’m not surprised when she ignores me and forces the words out, and when she speaks them, they completely gut me.
“I lied on the plane,” she whispers, her voice shaky and weak. “You are my sun, Dario.”
With one hand firmly on her stomach, I lean closer, hovering my face over hers so she can see me when I say, “And you are mine,amore mio, and that’s why you’re going to survive this.” My voice cracks on a sob as I press my forehead to hers. “Because I can’t live without you. I can’t go back to a world without light, so don’t you dare leave me in the dark,piccola vipera.”
I feel her tears fall against my fingers, mixing with my own as my eyes stay locked on hers, willing her to live. Time freezes until my brother grabs my shoulder, telling me we need to leave. With my hand still firmly pressed against her abdomen, I cradle her in my arms, hating the pained groan she gives when I pick her up.
Before I rush out behind Sandro, Sasha steps forward. He kisses his sister’s head and whispers something to her in Russian before stepping back so I can leave. Whatever softness was in his eyes leaves as I step into the hall with his sister’s bloody body. I have just enough time to see him straddle Uberto’s body and raise his knife, plunging it into the dead man’s chest with a fury that mirrors my own. I leave as he raises the knife again, knowing he’ll meet us at the hospital when he’s sane enough to be around people again.
Rushing from the house, Sandro barks out orders to our men as we go. There’s an SUV waiting for us outside and a team of men ready to give us cover. Leonardo had ambushed us earlier with snipers hiding in the hills, but I barely give them a thought as I carry Mia and get into the back with her. The Fontana family dug their own grave after what they did today. There will never be a way to forgive what’s been done. They got to one of our own and the woman I love was stabbed. I don’t care that the blade was meant for me. She got hurt, and they’ll all pay for that.
“Mia, stay with me, baby,” I tell her when she starts to close her eyes again. I kiss her forehead as Sandro gets in the passenger seat andthe driver takes off down the road. While my brother calls the hospital to let them know we’re on our way with a stab wound, I kiss Mia’s face and beg her to stay alive for me.
Her voice is so faint I have to strain to hear it. “Sasha.”
“He’s fine,amore.”
“No,” she insists, her voice getting louder, and when she tries to sit, I gently tighten my grip on her, keeping her in place. “He was shot,” she whispers.
