Page 88 of Vincenzo
“What is it you want to hear, Amalia?” he goads. He’s toying with her, speaking to her as if he has the upper hand here, which piques my interest. Does he not care he’s about to die?
“Did you really think the dirty work you do for my uncle wouldn’t eventually bite you in the ass?”
Pedro lets out a patronizing scoff. “That’s rich coming fromLa Sicaria. You’re the definition of Manuel’s dirty work.”
“The people I’ve killedaren’tgood people,” Amalia defends.
“Are you sure about that?” he asks, smiling grimly at her.
“They’ve all been people who have worked with my uncle, so yes, I’mquitesure about that,” she snaps back. This is the most riled up I’ve seen Amalia since I met her. I had her slammed up against a wall in an alleyway, cutting off her air supply, and she didn’t so much as flinch. But in this moment with Pedro, he has her shaken.
He holds up his hands and gives her a shrug. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Amalia.”
Just when I think she might react on impulse again, I watch the rise and fall in her chest as she takes a deep breath and lets it out.She’s trying to calm herself.
Shoving her gun back in her holster, she takes out her knife and twirls it in the air a few times, playing with it in a skilled manner all while keeping her gaze sharp on Pedro’s.
“You don’t want to admit that you murdered my parents? Fine. But if you think it’ll save you from what’s about to happen, you’re sorely mistaken. I kill people for a living, Pedro. What makes you think I’d make an exception for you?”
He chuckles, and the way he does it makes me think?—
Before I can finish that thought, the sound of a gun being cocked rings through my ears, causing me to freeze and my heart to drop to the deepest depths of my stomach.
“I think it’s time for you to drop your gun,” says the voice behind me, and I don’t have to turn around to know who it is.
Amalia’s eyes snap up.
“What are you doing, Armando?” I ask, my back still turned to him and my gun still aimed at Pedro.
“I’m rather bored with this, and I let it play out a lot longer than it should have, to be honest, so I’d appreciate it if youlowered your gun now. I’ve got somewhere else to be tonight, and it sure as fuck isn’t here with you.”
Amalia’s eyes narrow in on Armando. She tilts her head as if she’s inspecting him, and her teeth clench as if something has just dawned on her.
“Talking to you too,prima. Lower that damn knife of yours,” Armando calls out from over my shoulder.
“And here I thought you were supposed to be the good cousin,” I say, still not allowing my gun to drop.
Pedro looks over at me and Armando, his bushy mustache lifted on one side, displaying the annoyingly condescending smirk that’s begging for me to wipe it right off his face. Now it makes sense why he was sitting there relaxed as if his life was never on the line.It’s because it wasn’t.
“I guess that depends on which side you’re on,” Armando chuckles out, then shoves me in the shoulder with the barrel of his gun. “Now, lower your fucking gun.”
“You’re really going to screw your cousin over like this?” I grind out.
Before Armando can respond, Amalia maneuvers behind the couch, putting Pedro in a chokehold with her blade against his throat. She must have it pressed hard against his skin because his eyes widen and he releases a yelp.
I don’t hesitate another second before I’m whipping around and knocking Armando’s gun out of his hand. It lands on the stone tile with aclank.
His gaze snaps from the gun to me, widening when he realizes the predicament I’ve just put him in. As if it’s happening in slow motion, he goes to throw a right hook at me, but I easily block it and twist his arm, maneuvering myself behind him, then slam the barrel of my gun into his temple.
He lets out an identical yelp to Pedro’s.“¡Puta madre!”
“Right back at you,motherfucker,” I grunt out while he struggles to get out of my hold. I tighten the grip I have on his arm, making him arch into me and let out a hiss of pain.
“You got him?” I call out to Amalia, who still has her blade tight against Pedro’s throat.
She gives me a nod.
“You fight me, and I’ll slit your throat,” she says to him. “And before that cocky-ass smirk you’ve been wearing all night takes over your face again, you know I can andwilldo it in a heartbeat.”
