Page 12 of His Kind of Beautiful
Chapter Seven
“Well, I didn’t take you as the hero type?”
Leona held her head high, aiming for a casualness she didn’t feel and fighting to keep her body from shaking so hard Tito had to have seen it. “You wanted me to come, and you said that you’d let Gino go. I’m here, so let him go.”
Tito sneered. “You think that was ever a real possibility? Man, you are such a dumb bitch. Gino was never gonna walk outta here. Nope. He was always gonna end up in pieces. Now I get to do the same thing to you and then let my momma know you got the end you deserved.” Tito leaned in a little closer. “I can see my brother’s handiwork all over that once pretty face of yours. He fucked you up good, didn’t he, sweetheart? Ain’t nobody gonna love that.”
Leona shrugged as if she wasn’t fazed and cast her gaze around the room, taking in the three men at the back who were no doubt Tito’s bodyguards, Gino who was glaring at her from the chair in the middle of the room, his hand still bleeding sluggishly, and the form of a woman slumped in the corner. Leona frowned when she realized the poor thing was naked, covered in scar tissue, bruises, blood, and God knew what else.
“I figure I should have died that night Angelo was killed.” Leona looked back at Tito. “I’ve been living on borrowed time ever since. So, why the hell not come out here and see if I could exchange myself for Gino? I mean, he’s a good guy.”
Tito laughed, smacking Gino hard on the back of the head. “Yeah, Gino’s a real peach. He even thought he should step in and save a woman in need of help. A damsel in distress. Fucking chump. Pussy’s pussy. It’s free and easy to get so why risk getting yourself caught by the enemy to save just one?”
Leona got a quick picture of how they must have got Gino to cooperate and the sob from the back of the room told Leona that perhaps she was the damsel in distress in question.
Steeling herself and pulling her courage around her like a cloak, Leona moved toward Gino, putting as much movement into her hips as she could. Her entire plan, if she could actually call it that, was to ensure every eye in the room was on her. Or more accurately, her ass.
She approached Gino and placed a gentle hand against his swollen cheek, grimacing at how painful it looked. “I’m sorry I got you into this Gino.”
“Not your fault, Lee.” Gino’s voice was slurred.
Leona leaned in and hugged him, making sure to stick her ass out high, knowing the short skirt she wore would ride up and hopefully give the other men in the room something else to look at. She might be a little scarred and bruised in the feminine confidence department, but she could only hope it would be enough of a distraction.
She only needed a moment. Then, as she stepped back, she moved her hand to take Gino’s, sliding her push-blade through the plastic ties around his right wrist, then slid it under his hand. It had been a present from Marissa. A small T-shaped blade, easy to hide up a sleeve or press between a man’s hand at the arm of a chair he was tied to, for example.
“Tony will come,” she whispered.
Gino gave a barely perceptible nod. “He is gonna be pissed as hell with you, Lee.”
Leona gave him a small smile as she stood up and mouthed,I know.
She turned back to Tito and sashayed in his direction, pouring every lesson she’d ever had on arousing a man and holding his attention into the movement.
“What happens now, Tito?” she asked in a voice some man had once told her rang with sin and smoke. “Looks like you hold all the cards, so tell me, what’s next?”
Tito ran his gaze down her body and back up again in a way that made her stomach churn at the realization of what that meant. “We’re gonna have a little fun with you, take up where my brother left off, cutting you a little, making you scream. I bet with a voice like that you scream real sweet.”
Leona smiled, knowing the move wouldn’t be as wide or as beautiful as it once was, the scars making it twist strangely at the side. Tito frowned, and that only made her smile even more.
“Oh, Tito, I really am going to enjoy disappointing you on that.” Leona paused as the sounds of gunfire erupted from outside. “I’m guessing that it won’t be my screams that you’ll be hearing a lot of tonight at all.”
Leona moved then, away from Tito and over toward the naked woman still huddled in the corner. If things got too dicey in the room, then she would drag the woman out if she had to. As she passed him, Gino moved quick, slicing through the plastic tie that held his right hand immobile. Then he was on his feet, slicing and stabbing in the direction of the two men who had moved to follow her.
She heard the grunts and gasps of pain as Tito began to yell, calling for reinforcements, but Leona had a feeling there wouldn’t be that many available to answer his call. She knelt down to the woman who was now shaking violently, her hands pressed to her ears, making sounds of distress that sounded more animal than human, and sent up a silent prayer that Tony would be okay. She looked up and her gaze locked with Tito’s. She inhaled sharply as he lifted his gun, barrel held steady on her, his eyes filled with a crazed kind of rage.
“You think you’re gonna fucking walk away from here?” Tito spat at her. “Fuck no.”
Everything then seemed to move in slow motion. Leona hunched in on herself, trying to get low, making herself as smaller a target as she could. She saw Gino’s hand slide into the jacket of the dead man he held in front of him as a shield, then threw his hand out as he dropped the body. She saw the light catch the blade he’d thrown as it traveled across the room. She never actually saw if it hit the target because at that moment, two surprisingly strong hands gripped the front of her shirt and pulled her down and to the side. The injured woman had taken Leona to the ground.
Two loud blasts filled the room one after the other as pain exploded on the left side of her head. The last thing Leona heard before a sudden darkness swept up to drag her into its numbing depths was Tony calling her name.
