Page 82 of When Sinners Fall
I move a little more, eventually able to see the base of the table. Everything about me freezes as I look at her leg hanging over the side of it. There’s no blood on it, but that’s all I can see in my head. I can see the slashed skin on Mariana’s thigh in my thoughts, blood pouring out of it. I can hear her whimpers and pleas for help. She would have been asking for that for hours before I got to her, begging for me to come get her.
“This was the worst mistake you could have made, Nicolas. We’ll never forgive it, or forget it,” Abel replies. “You shouldn’t have touched her.”
I can’t fucking breathe. I’m nothing but fear and hatred, unable to move or react. I can even feel tears coiling in my throat, anger and venom making them happen. I’m just staring at a leg hanging motionlessly, trying to get a fucking grip of myself so I can move again and see her fully.
She’s lying sideways on that goddamn table as if being offered up for bait. Face covered with a bag. Shirt ripped. Skirt high on those legs that belong to me and no one else, and no movement at all other than a tremble on her skin.
More rage swells inside me at the sight of her like that. I flick my gaze around, searching for Knox out there somewhere. I can’t see him, but he’ll be there, and there’s only one way this is getting done without her dying. Fast and hard.
“What will you give me for her release?” Nicolas asks.
Nothing. Abel will give him nothing, despite his assurance that he’ll die to help me.
“This doesn’t have to be this way, Nicolas. We could-”
“There is no we. There has never been a we. You are nothing to me, and I will not yield a goddamn thing to the likes of you. You’ll sign all your clubs over first, and then perhaps we can talk about allowing your family some space in my territory.”
I watch Abel’s shadow moving, wait for the rigidity to set in and show me he’s done, and then launch out of the shadows without another second’s thought. One of the guys behind Nicolas goes down instantly, a shot straight to his head, and at the same time, I’m unloading two rounds into another one. Knox’s figure moves in the background as I’m running at Wren in the other direction. Another three shots sound in the room, and I feel Abel move past me like wind over my skin.
Nicolas’ leg buckles just as I reach the table. He shouts, and suddenly there’s a fucking swarm of men eating the ground across to us. It’s all shots and noise as I go straight over to her. She’s dragged from the table and carried over to a corner, my back crushing her into the wall as I watch what’s going down around me. Can’t fucking move. I can’t help at all because if I do, I leave her alone.
“Get the hell off me!” she spits, struggling and kicking behind me.
Turning, I rip the bag off her head and stare into eyes that mean more to me than anything. She’s crying, wide-eyed and terrified. Don’t think anything has ever hurt me more than that face looking at me for help. “I’ve got you.” She shakes and just keeps looking at me, suddenly unable to talk or react. “I’ve got you. You’re alright now.”
My hands claw at her face, lips going to her forehead, and then I’m pushing her behind me again, as more shots volley around the space. Indecision races through me. I’m watching my brothers taking the fallout for this, watching them be battered and hammered.
I end up pushing her behind a container, despite her fear. There’s only one way this gets done now, and it’s one of us getting to Nicolas.
“Dante?” she questions reaching for me.
“Stay here. Stay quiet.” I drag an old tarpaulin across to us, shoving it over her, and scan for where Knox and Abel are.
“No!” she shouts, trying to get to me again. “Don’t leave me!”
“You hearing me, Wren?” She stares again, lips trembling, and tries grabbing for me. My damned heart aches. It pounds and claws to get us out of here - to get her safe. And then another shot sounds, and Abel shouts at Knox. “I have to do this, Wren. I have to help them. Stay quiet.”
“Please, Dante. I can’t stay here in this and-”
“Stay still. Don’t move. I’ll come back.”
I’m gone before she’s got another chance to try holding on, fast strides ducking me through the oncoming shots until I skid over the dusty ground and knock a limping Nicolas off his feet. My body turns, rolls, and pulls his neck upwards in the same move. The gun’s at his head before he knows what’s hit him, and I’m pulling us both up and glaring at the rest of the goddamn room.
“Tell them to stop. Now,” I growl, pulling us back to a wall. A shot sounds loud over my shoulder, and I hear Knox fighting with someone over to the left of me. “If one of my brothers dies today, that fucking sister of yours is going to get her insides ripped out. You hearing me, Nicolas? Her life will be one long fucking hell on earth. I’ll do it myself and enjoy every fucking second of it.”
He tries wrangling me, but the gun gets pressed in deeper until I’m sweeping his legs from under him, and he’s kneeling like a whore for my pleasure. “Tell them to stop. Now.”
He does eventually, shouting it loud enough that everyone hears. No other fucking choice on the matter, really. Guess he thinks that might save him, too. It won’t.
I kick him forward so he’s shuffling about on his knees into the open space so everyone can see. The air slowly calms, and I watch on as both Knox and Abel start taking weapons off the rest of the guys still standing around us. Abel backs them into a corner, keeping them in check, and I nod Knox over to where Wren’s hiding out.
She bitches the second he touches her, starts screaming and even manages to make him grumble about getting kicked a few times. Can’t help smiling about that, but by the time he’s brought her out here to see what’s happening, I’m ready to unload this bullet into Ortega to prove my goddamn point about touching something that belongs to me.
“You alright?” I call to her.
She shrugs Knox off and scowls at everything rather than looking at me, still shaking, still terrified. I get it. I even felt the same kind of fear way back when, but this is what I live in. It’s what she needs to understand about me and everything I am. “Wren. Answer me.”
She nods and looks back at Knox behind her, arms wrapping around herself. “Yes. I’m alright.”
