Page 29 of Soulmate of the Mafia King
As one, his men whipped around. He spat something at them in Arabic, his hands still on his pants.
Takka-tak.
I knew that sound. Gunfire. A little of the ice around my joints began to melt. Zahur’s goons raced away, hefting guns as they went. All reloaded now.
Crash.
Zahur turned. I couldn’t be certain, but that sounded like the noise a heavily reinforced door would make if someone knocked it in.
Not someone. Tom. Just like in my nightmare-turned-dream so long ago, he was crashing in at the last second to save me. But this wasn’t a dream. And as much as Tom had saved me once upon a time, I’d spent all of those months learning how to save myself.
Magma crashed through my veins, melting the ice in a second. I sat up and whipped the knife out from under my shredded shirt as quickly as I could without cutting myself. I’d shed enough blood for this bastard.
He turned back. Rage filled his eyes, and he smiled a sick grin. “You brought your own toy,azizati.” He grabbed my wrist.
Like cool water, Tom’s voice filled my mind from one of our very first training sessions.Rotate your wrist out toward their thumb.
I wrenched my wrist out.
Grab the attacker’s neck.
I took hold of the greasy spot where his hair met his skin.
Pull your wrist back.
I yanked my arm toward me. The bastard stumbled forward, and I knew the last step without Tom having to tell me. I slammed my knee into his crotch, and his legs went weak as he screamed.
“My name,” I said as he whimpered. “is Paige.”
Then, I spun the knife in my hand to a stabbing grip as naturally as breathing and plunged it into the bastard’s chest. The blade scraped bone. Blood dribbled over my fingers. Gunfire still shook the suite.
His eyes widened, and he inhaled wetly. I’d missed. I’d fucked it up. I didn’t strike hard enough. Any second now, he was going to grab me again, take me again.
Panic tumbled through my thoughts, but the magma burned it all away. I withdrew the knife and slammed it home again.
This time, I didn’t miss.
CHAPTER 24
KILLIAN
Ishot one of Zahur’s men and ducked behind an overturned couch. Either Zahur was even more paranoid than we’d thought, or he was scared of Paige. Four men had been patrolling the hall outside the door to the fucking suite, and there were at least half a dozen behind the door when I’d stormed in. I’d dropped several but lost a few in the suite. Fuck being a crow; I needed something far more dangerous to get to Paige in time. I reloaded my gun and lunged up from behind the couch to sprint for the one open door I’d spotted earlier.
Bullets rattled through the hotel room. One of them caught me in the vest like a punch to the fucking chest, and I dropped. My breath wheezed in and out of me. Sera would be furious when she saw the bruise. I grabbed a bloodstained throw pillow off the floor and tossed it up over the couch. More gunfire. But this time, I listened. The windows reverberated. One of them shattered. The quickclickof the trigger releasing came from the far corner of the room, behind a dresser. I threw the next thing I could find—a bowl of decorative fruit—and leaned around the edge of the couch to fire when the shooter exposed himself. As expected, he popped up from behind the dresser, and I shot him in the throat. He fell back, gurgling.
When that died out, quiet reigned like a queen in all black. If Paige was here, was fine, surely she’d be screaming. Out of things to throw, I waved a hand over the back of the couch, and no gunfire followed.
I leapt up and sped through the hotel room with my heart in my throat. Blood coated everything, making me feel like I was running through molasses. I caught sight of the new guy Tommaso had hired, Sam, with his brains spattered on the cabinets. The rest of Paige’s guards dotted the overwhelming number of Egyptian bodies. They had been good men. I’d honor them when I got home, if Tommaso couldn’t.
The door to the bedroom stood ajar. I nudged it open with one bloody shoe. Inside, a small man in casual clothes lay on the bed in a puddle of blood. Then, I spotted Paige’s legs between the man’s. I inhaled as quietly as I could and crept through the room. If the man—Zahur, I had to assume—remained alive, I’d make sure my face was the last thing he saw. If I couldn’t honor Tommaso’s wishes, I’d at least dole out his revenge. And if everyone was dead, I’d handle the bodies. I wrapped my fingers around Zahur’s shoulder and yanked.
His corpse toppled off Paige and the bloody knife she clutched in one hand. For a breathless moment, I thought they’d killed each other. Then, she opened her brown eyes and began trembling.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
Tears poured down her cheeks, cutting through the thick, red blood Zahur had spilled. Still, though, she nodded.
Tommaso was right. If we would’ve taken her with us, she would’ve survived.
