Page 68 of Innocent Union
“Mia, I only thought about you. Patrick could have killed you. If you hadn’t left that building, you’d be dead right now.” I trail my fingers down her arm. “I was thinking about you when I went after Patrick today. Yes, it was impulsive, and I promise to not do something like that again. But I had to do something. Patrick thought he could come in and hurt me even more on the day of my mom’s funeral. Now, I’ve lost even more family. My aunt. My men who I hired. Who trusted me. I can’t let him live because of this.
“And besides,” I continue, “I want to be a husband who’s worthy of you. Who has the power to be in charge. That’s what you deserve, Mia. That way, any man who thinks he canbadmouth you will have to go through me. You’ll be safe if I’m in charge. I just need to get there. And it’s finally time.”
She sighs as she leans against me. “I understand. I do. I just don’t want to lose you, Killian. You’ve helped me grow so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Our second wedding is coming up. Do you remember?”
“Of course, I do. And I promise I’ll be alive to make it down the aisle with you a second time. I’m going to give you the wedding of your dreams.”
“You already did.” She gives me a peck on the lips. “But it would still be nice to celebrate our marriage with youalive.”
I chuckle. “I’ll survive this. And we’ll go on to have a happy marriage. No one else will ever get in our way. I promise you that.”
“I’m holding you to it.” She pauses like she wants to say more but doesn’t.
So, I kiss her goodnight and plan my take down of Patrick in the morning. I won’t die. I have to make it to Mia’s dream wedding. I owe it to her. She deserves it.
And I love Mia, even though I haven’t said it out . I love her.
I’m going to make sure I return home to her.
Antonioand I are parked outside Patrick’s mansion in the suburbs. He has guards rotating the perimeter. It won’t be easy to get past them to get to Patrick, but with Antonio by my side, we should be able to do it.
“My men will cause a distraction,” he explains. “Once they do, we’ll run for the house, break in, and kill Patrick.”
“And I, for sure, have your support once this is all over?”
“Of course, Killian. I never should have been angry with you for killing my men. I understand why you did it. I’d have killed them myself for doing what they tried to do to Mia. Once this is all over, you’ll be in charge. And hey, maybe my mother will finally be proud of you.”
I chuckle. “Giulia and I have come to a tentative truce after my mom’s funeral. But any brownie points I can get with her, I’ll take.”
Antonio sits up straighter in his seat. “Ok. It’s time.”
I watch from the passenger seat as two of Antonio’s men throw Molotov cocktails at the guards out front. They purposefully don’t hit them because the goal isn’t to set the house on fire. It’s to draw the guards away.
And it does.
The two guards at the front of the house run in the direction of Antonio’s men to investigate. But I know Patrick. He has more guards around back. Those are the ones we’ll have to be careful about.
Antonio and I slip out of the car and head for the house, keeping low and staying to the shadows. We’re almost at the front door when a guard from around back walks into view. He doesn’t see us, but he’s only a few feet away.
I raise my gun and fire. The silencer on it helps muffle the sound as the bullet goes through the man’s head. He lands on the porch with a hard thud.
That draws the attention of even more guards.
Two come walking around the house. When they see the fire on the lawn and the dead body of one of their comrades, they stand to attention, whipping their guns out of their holsters and up, aiming into the dark night.
Antonio motions for me to move forward. We’ll attack the men from behind.
I manage to grab one around the neck, and I tighten my hold on him. Unfortunately, that alerts the other one to Antonio. The two begin to fight. I squeeze the neck of the man until he stops struggling and passes out. I drop his body to the ground.
Antonio is fighting hand-to-hand with the other guard, but I stop it by shooting the man in the head. He falls right into Antonio, who catches him and lowers him to the ground.
We run for the front door when someone shouts behind us.
“Stop!”
We turn around and see the two original guards running in our direction. Antonio’s men obviously didn’t manage to kill them, which means Antonio is down two men.
The guards raise their guns and fire at us, but we duck out of the way, hiding behind the porch railing.
