Page 23 of Sinful Daughter (Dark Mafia Sins 2)

I close my eyes. I should have asked more questions about where Luca was going. What if they have him too? My father still hasn’t returned. Is this how the Rossi dynasty ends?

Mancini pulls his trigger, and I scream out with a jump. Dead bodies are scattered around our driveway; all I can see is red. I try to hide within myself and focus on past memories, making my peace. I block out everything Mancini has to say, refusing to let his voice be the last one I hear.

Gunfire rings out once again. I try to be brave, waiting for a bullet to hit me. Mancini curses and lets go of my hair. When I open my eyes, SWAT has rolled into our yard. Five guns are trained on the man who bit me.

CHAPTER 15

I’m forced tohold my position with Aria in my line of sight. I keep repeating to myself that this is any other job. My pulse beats unevenly, faster than normal. This doesn’t feel like any other job. My hands vibrate with a heightened need to protect, one that I stopped feeling years ago. Instead of the hatred my body typically strums, there is an anxiousness and a need to shield Aria. It makes no sense. She symbolizes everything I’ve worked hard to remove, to destroy. Hurting her and what she represents should make me happy. It’s what has fueled me since the day I returned.

I watch as Aria is pushed to the ground, my body jerks, wanting to run in and stop Mancini. I have to remind myself to hold the position. She signed up for this. She knew what she was getting into.But did she?I shake my head, trying to push out my thoughts and focus on what’s happening in the driveway.

I’m forced to wait.

Time slows down.

Each time Mancini looks at Aria, I want to shoot him. I’ve forgotten about my need for revenge and making him rot in jail, wanting him to die a slow death. This is the opposite of what I yearned for. To be honest, it’s not even Mancini I want. I want Nicoli Rossi. He’s the one with the power.

The Rossis are the family no one can penetrate. The Mancinis are having larger gaps in their loyalties. Up until a few weeks ago, I had a high-up guy in there who couldn’t stop talking. Once we have Mancini in our grasp, that family is as good as gone. One family down, one more to go.

My heart shudders—not for the Rossi name but for Aria. I still want the Rossis to burn. I want them to feel what it’s like to lose someone they love.

The evil radiating off Mancini has me worried. “I want to go in,” I say into my comm to my captain.

“Hold it, Fox.”

My pulse wants to explode out of my skin. In slow motion, I watch Mancini dip down, placing his mouth onmyAria. Hot rage builds in me.

“Hold,” I’m told again.

I’m already moving in closer, my gun up, ready to be used. I can’t help it. I never fail, and I’m not about to start now.

“Fox, if you go in now, you’ll be looking for a new job.”

Moving my gun back down, I take a deep breath and kick at the ground. Nothing I feel is making sense.Keep cool, I scold myself. There’s nothing different about this.

I’m forced to watch Mancini bite Aria, red blood dripping down her beautiful, previously unblemished skin. I swallow hard, already wishing I could take away the mark. If anyone is to mark her, break her, use her, it’s me. I’m the one who gets that opportunity, no one else.

Her tears should be mine. Mine to create, mine to taste, and mine to kiss away. Mine. Aria Rossi is fucking mine.

My hand sweeps through my hair. I’m losing my damn mind, and the helplessness it involves is unnatural to me. Yet, it brings all the emotions and memories I had when I lost my father. Memories of having to listen to my mother yell into the phone about an investigation that should take place into his death but didn’t. Her cries for justice were left on deaf ears. This is why I’m here. Aria is a distraction that will get me killed.

I force myself to stay still until I can’t help myself. I need to get out of my head. I refuse to listen to my captain. The time is now. Grant or any of my guys don’t hesitate to follow my lead. We step almost in time as we make our presence known.

I train my focus on Mancini, refusing to look at Aria. If I look into her face, I will go to her instead of doing my job. She’s safe and alive. I held up my side of the plan.

Mancini makes a move toward Aria, and I don’t hesitate to shoot. I shoot him in his forearm instead of the heart I want to stop beating.

Within seconds, we have the driveway secure. Looking around, I see bloodshed everywhere. I curse under my breath. I already know everyone will call this a victory, but at what cost? Once again, I can feel my morals shifting. The dead men shouldn’t bother me. They’re Rossi’s men and part of the mafia. They’re what I’ve been fighting against my entire life.

I handcuff Mancini, pushing him into Grant to deal with. I don’t trust myself alone with him. My emotions are haywire, and I may regret killing him in the morning.

When it’s not obvious, I find my way to Aria, who’s getting looked at by the EMT in the ambulances that have now arrived.

I stand awkwardly, loitering around until they finish. She has specks of blood on her, and the bite mark is red and puffy. The thought of her perfect skin being marred eats at me. That should have never happened. It’s a good thing Grant took Mancini from me.

I want to reach out to her, touch her. Instead, I place one hand on my gun, while the other stays attached to my hip. I hold on to myself, trying not to touch her. Her eyes lift as she climbs out of the ambulance, and our eyes connect. The silence stretches between us. I want to say something but don’t know what the right words would be.

Aria takes a step closer to me, but then her attention is drawn away from me.

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