Page 41 of Pragma
“Yeah. It’s me.”
“You…you were dead.” Tears roll down Joel’s delicate face.
River takes a step forward but immediately stops when he sees the gun Moretti is still pointing at him.
“Hey, lower that thing before I slice your hand off.” I address the mafioso with my most threatening tone and a hint of an evil smile.
“You’ll be dead before your next breath, Bruce Lee,” he replies with a raspy voice, moving his gun toward me. River quickly moves to shield me—sometimes I wonder if he sees himself as my personal bullet vest. His gun is directed at Moretti’s face.
“Bruce Lee was Chinese; I’m Japanese,” I retort with a sniff, leaning to the left to glower at the ignorant asshole.
“Same thing!”
White fucking trash! “You know that China and Japan are two different countries.”
“I don’t fucking care!” Moretti is doing the same protective act with Joel, attempting to push him behind him.
“Marco, stop it! That’s River.” Joel elbows him, shoving the hand holding the gun down.
“How do you know it’s him,amore mio? It’s been years!” Moretti reminds him.
“I just know!”
“And I know who you are. Does the word metal pipe refresh your memory?” River suddenly growls. I don’t understand what he’s saying, but the mobster seems to get it. “That night you killed my father. Are you with Joel to finish the job? Stay away from him!”
“No, you don’t understand, I’m the one who looked for Marco. And that night, he saved us,” Joel exclaims, trying to move away from the mobster to go to River with no luck.
“Let. Him. Go,” I order Moretti, while moving away from River’s shielding body. I’m ready to jump on him ninja style if I have to.
“He’s mine,” the mafioso states with a rumbly voice.Ooooooh.
“What?” River snaps, taking another bellicose step toward them when I suddenly hear footsteps behind us.
I quickly spin and find myself face to face with an armed giant. I can still have the upper hand if I use my agility and swiftness against his heaviness. I hit the hand brandishing the knife with the sheath of my sword, kick his ankle and inner thigh and am about to impale him with my sword when he swings his blade at me, missing my eye by an inch.
I quickly swat his arm with the handle of my sword and spin under his arm, and then I hear River’s battle growl before he slams the giant into the wall. Grabbing him by the throat, River is using his entire weight to pin him down.
“Try to hurt him again, and you are dead!” River shouts, gun to the fucker’s head.
“He attacked me first! Now get off me before I castrate you,” the giant replies, and only then I notice the knife pressing to River’s groin.
“I’ll fucking turn you to ash if you damage the beads,” I hiss, preparing to cut his arm off if he tries anything.
“The what?”
“Aki!” River hisses.
“Luca, that’s my brother!” Joel tells the giant.
“The Asian dude?”
Another idiot thug. Wonderful!
“No! The one pointing a gun to your head.” Joel sounds exasperated now. “Just…everybody lower your weapons.”
The fuck I will, but of course River listens to his brother straight away, taking a couple of steps back. How dare he follow someone else’s order. I’m beyond pissed now.
The elevator opens, and I smirk at the sight in front of me. Yuna and Karin are forcing two men into the corridor with their guns pointed at their heads.
