Page 94 of Masked Seduction
Abram’s fists rain down on Nico with a precise, punishing rhythm, every blow driven by rage and vengeance. Nico thrashes beneath him, wiry strength born of desperation. His bloody hands scrabble across the filthy floor, finding a shard of glass from the mirror. He swings it upward, slicing a deep gash across Abram’s forearm.
Blood spills hot and red, but Abram doesn’t flinch. He grabs Nico’s wrist, twisting until the glass shard drops from his fingers. Nico screams in pain, a guttural, animal sound.
“You’re fucking dead,” Nico spits, bucking wildly beneath Abram. “I’ll kill you, I’ll kill her?—”
Abram silences him with an elbow to the throat. Nico gags, choking, eyes bulging. Abram’s control is terrifying to witness, calculated violence radiating from him like heat waves. Nicofights dirty, driving a knee into Abram’s ribs, momentarily throwing him off balance.
They roll, a mess of tangled limbs and desperate strikes, careening into the shattered dresser. Wood splinters. Glass rains across the floor. Abram regains the upper hand, knees pinning Nico’s chest, powerful hands closing around his throat.
“I should let you die slowly,” Abram snarls, voice cold and deadly. “But I don’t have that luxury.”
Nico squirms beneath him, teeth bared in desperation. His fingers slip beneath his jacket, grasping at something.
“Abram!” I scream, but he’s already moving.
Nico drives a concealed knife upward, aimed straight for Abram’s throat.
Everything happens in the blink of an eye.
Abram shifts, trapping Nico’s arm. He rips the knife away, driving a vicious fist into Nico’s temple. Nico’s head snaps back, stunned, and Abram’s hand goes to the pistol at his hip, smoothly drawing it in a single, fluid motion.
My breath catches, heart slamming violently in my chest.
One clean, deafening shot echoes throughout the room.
Nico goes limp instantly, eyes wide and empty. A hole blooms darkly in the center of his forehead, blood spilling slowly onto the filthy carpet beneath him.
Silence settles, broken only by my ragged breathing and Abram’s harsh, controlled panting. My ears ring, my vision pulses, and my whole body shakes uncontrollably.
Abram gets up slowly, blood dripping steadily from the wound on his arm, his eyes still locked on Nico’s corpse as if daring it to rise again. The gun hangs limply at his side, fingers twitching slightly with residual fury.
With a visible effort, he turns toward me. His fierce blue eyes soften instantly, rage melting away into tenderness so intense it nearly breaks me.
He takes a slow, careful step closer. “Jenna…”
“I’m okay,” I rasp, the lie coming easy despite my battered body and racing heart. “Abram?—”
“I’ve got you,” he whispers, closing the distance in one more stride. His uninjured hand comes up, fingers brushing gently against my bruised jaw, eyes blazing.
“I’ve got you.”
CHAPTER 38
JENNA
Ifloat somewhere between pain and numbness while the room tilts and sways around me.
Nico’s body lies crumpled on the floor, eyes glassy, blood spreading in a dark halo around his head. It should horrify me. Maybe later it will.But right now, all I can process is the way Abram’s arm is wrapped tightly around my body, anchoring me.
My split lip keeps reopening and I taste copper. My cuffed wrist throbs in a dull, ugly rhythm. But when Abram shifts me against his chest, the pain seems to fade into the background.
Denis and Mikail have rounded up the remaining Agosti soldiers, now disarmed, hands laced behind their heads. Wrists are zip-tied, weapons kicked out of reach. No one resists. Nico’s corpse has drained every drop of bravado from them.
Luka is among the living, the poor kid likely wondering what the hell he got himself into. But at least he’s alive.
“Area secure,” Denis calls out. He gives me a quick visual once-over and frowns at the blood on my jaw. “She needs to get to the ER, boss. Concussion for sure, maybe worse.”
“I’m fine,” I mumble, but the words slur. The ceiling slides sideways.
