Page 71 of Bittersweet Endings
Carmine growled from behind me, and I could feel him step closer. The entire room seemed to let out a heavy exhale and move in. But it was too late. A loud explosion at the door forced all of us to stumble. Carmine rushed forward, throwing me aside and landing on top of my body.
The restaurant erupted into chaos. Smoke billowed, thick and suffocating. Men were screaming, and chairs scraped against the floor as bodies rushed in no particular direction. But all I could see was Carmine, his broad back a wall in front of me, shielding me from whatever hell had just been unleashed.
“Shit.” I started to get up when I spotted Peiro trying to flee.
Carmine whipped his head towards me, his eyes sharp even in the dim haze. “Stay down.”
I scowled, hating the way my body listened even as my pride screamed in protest. My ass hit the floor, my fingers clenched tight around the gun like it was my lifeline.
Carmine stepped around the table, his focus locked on the threat. I should stay put. I should let him handle it. But then I saw it. Figures darting through the smoke, slipping into the kitchen door like shadows disappearing into the abyss. And at the center of them… Peiro.
The gun in my grip suddenly felt heavier. I could let Carminedeal with him. I could stay right here like a good girl. Or I could follow. I could end this myself.
My breath was shallow, my heart slamming against my ribs as the choice tore through me.
Stay. Or go.
Chapter Twenty-Two
CARMINE RAGETTI
The intoxicating scent of blood filled my nostrils. The distinct burn of gun smoke lingering like my favorite cologne. Chaos erupted around me. Screams, bodies hitting the floor, the deafening crack of bullets splitting the air.
This was what I was made for.
I moved fast, my gun raised and my eyes slicing through the smoke as I stepped over the dead and dying. Somewhere to my left, Lucky and Apollo were tearing through Peiro’s men like the ruthless bastards they were.
I didn’t like them. Hell, I’d offer each a bullet to the brain if given the right excuse. But right now, there was only one thing that mattered. Killing these motherfuckers and sending a message.
A shadow shifted ahead. I didn’t hesitate. I pulled the trigger, and his skull snapped back before he dropped. One after another, dead. The thrill hummed in my veins, the goddamn drug that kept me burning alive.
In the middle of it all, though, something elsewas crawling through the back of my mind. Octavia. The way she stood her ground. The fire in her eyes when she threatened Peiro. She wasn’t afraid anymore. She wasn’t just surviving. She was fucking fighting.
She was the kind of woman amade manneeded when he took the throne. A queen fit for the empire I was carving out with blood and bodies. And she was coming back with me.
Even if I had to tie her up and throw her over my goddamn shoulder to do it.
I vaulted over a table, my boots landing hard against the slick floor. My gun was raised before my feet were steady, my trigger finger already squeezing. I was moving on to the next guy before the first one hit the ground.
Through the haze of gun smoke and screams, I spotted Lucky a few feet away, raising his knife before blood sprayed against his face like war paint.
“Where the fuck is Peiro?” I demanded, firing a shot over Lucky’s shoulder.
He barely flinched as the man behind him dropped. “How the hell should I know?” he shouted back, slamming the butt of his gun into someone’s jaw. “I was too busy saving your ass.”
I snorted, ducking as a body lunged at me. I caught the bastard by the throat and drove my knife between his ribs, twisting it before shoving him aside. “You’re fuckin’ delusional.”
“Yeah? And you’re fucking slow,” Lucky threw back, spinning to fire off another round. Violence splattered the room around us.
Then movement caught my eye. A group of men pushed towards the kitchen door. Shielding that little bitch Peiro as they ran.
“There,” I growled. “He’s making a run for it.”
Lucky followed my gaze, cursing under his breath.
We plunged into the slaughter, our blades carving through flesh like it was nothing. But as we made it through the kitchen doors and out into the alleyway, we were met by… nothing.
We paused at the end of the alley until we noticed them. Lorenzo and Matteo walking towards us with blood stains on their knuckles and clothes. As usual, Lorenzo was grinning like this was all one big joke.
