Page 53 of Wounded Angel

Blood spills from his nose onto his hands, and he’s damn well confused that I’m here. “Ambros Galanis… someone paid a pretty penny for you.” Julio coughs.

“No one paid a dime. I’m here on a personal matter, Julio,” I state, taking a seat in the first pew. The fact I’m sitting down only makes him more nervous. He doesn’t appreciate how comfortable I am doing what I do.

“I don’t understand.” Of course, he doesn’t because he barks out orders and doesn’t even bother looking into people’s personal lives. If he had, he might have refrained from ordering a hit on Xava, especially after she and I had a known association with one another.

“You ordered a hit on Xava Beno or Xava Umarova, didn’t you?”

Julio takes in a deep breath. “I did, and the Umarova family hired you because of it.” Julio shakes his head. “I should have hired you to take her out in the first place. Fuck. Look at where things are now.”

I begin laughing because this is laughable. He thinks I would have killed Xava for money? No. Hell no. “You really are as dumb as you look. I would never kill Xava.”

Julio draws his brows together as he tries to figure out why I wouldn’t. “You’re an assassin. It’s your job to kill people when you’re paid to do so.”

I nod a couple of times. “You’re right, but I wouldn’t kill my girlfriend.”

Julio rises to his feet and pathetically tries to run. I’ll give him credit. He realizes how badly he fucked up right now.

He has to know there isn’t any coming back from this. I take my time rising from the church pew and stalk toward him. “You tried to have her killed in Grozny, and then you went and screwed with their plane.”

“No, I didn’t. I hired an idiot to kill her, who obviously didn’t do the job… but I never messed with anyone’s plane.” As much as I don’t want to believe him, for some reason, I do. There’s only one other person who would have reason to kill Xava—my father. He wants me to marry Zoe Drakos, and it looks like he’s prepared to do anything to make sure that happens, even killing an innocent woman.

I close the distance between Julio and me, grabbing the blade I’ve had concealed in my left pocket. I jam it into the center of his throat and watch as he grabs onto the handle and thrashes. He slowly begins to choke on his own blood and knows the only thing he’s going to be able to do here is die. He’ll either die slowly and gracefully, or he’ll freak out and beg for my help, dying the way a coward would.

I’m curious as to which one it will be.

Julio coughs up blood, and it splatters against the bits of vinyl that are left on this side of the church. He looks up at me almost in a silent way of pleading with me to help him, but it’s no use. I’m not going to. He tried to take Xava away from me, and I will show no mercy to anyone who fucks with the woman I’m growing to love.

Julio pulls the blade out of his throat and continues coughing, but now, as he breathes, it sounds wet, and I know what’s going to happen next. He coughs and breathes, making everything worse for him. He can’t help himself. It’s his body’s natural reaction… but it doesn’t last for long.

“If you had just left her alone, I wouldn’t have had to do this. That’s where you fucked up, Julio. You tried to have my girl killed.”

I debate letting him die slowly in only this amount of pain, but the darkness inside me is begging me to make him suffer greatly. I pick up the blade Julio yanked out of his throat and jam it into his body over and over again. First, it’s his shoulders, then his chest, then I dig it into his stomach and yank until I feel the tension of his intestines against it. He coughs even more now, and every single time he does, I can hear the distinctive sound of blood in his lungs.

His eyes go wide, and he hits the ground with a thud. I watch to see if there’s any sign of life, but there isn’t. I hold my bloodied blade and take out my wallet, leaving a stack of cash for the church. Maybe they’ll actually do some upgrades with it. It’s really my apology for leaving such a gruesome mess.

I leave the church, wiping my blade off with a handkerchief I have in my other pocket, and conceal my weapon. There’s one person I need to call, so I grab my phone and dial Ruslan.

“Yeah?”

“It’s done.”

“Did he suffer?”

“I made sure of it.”

Now, none of them need to live in fear anymore, especially Xava. Julio is dead, and he will no longer bring any torment against the family. Sure, they have other enemies, but I know the Umarovas can handle their own.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Xava

“Come on, sleepyhead! We have a whole day planned!” Yara throws a pillow at me and stirs me awake.

“God, what time is it?” I ask with narrowed eyes as I try to muster the courage to wake up. I need coffee. I need it so bad it isn’t even funny.

“It’s three in the morning, but I promise you won’t want to kill me in a little bit! It’s your birthday, after all, and we’ve planned something really special for you. Plus, I have coffee.” I feel pressure at the end of my bed, and sure enough, as I manage to flutter my eyes open, I notice Yara does, in fact, have a cup of coffee in her hands.

I take it swiftly and begin sipping on the hot liquid. “If you didn’t bring this, you’d probably be dead.” It’s been a couple of weeks since Yara said she would move in, and while she doesn’t have everything here yet, she has a few of her things. She’s only going to be here until next Tuesday, and then she has to fly back to Prague for another week or two. After that, she’ll be here permanently, and I can’t wait.

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