Page 127 of Silent Vendetta (Vendetta Duet)

“Hey,” I said, pulling the leather from my belt loops.

Suddenly, her eyes widened.

The unexpected force crashed me onto the cold cement, three feet away from my glistening blade. An oppressive load pushed against my back, my ribs aching against the pressure.

Fire surged through my veins. With a guttural roar, I twisted violently, throwing my uncle off.

Clambering onto my knees, I snatched the front of his shirt, pulling him toward me. But he retaliated, his fist meeting my jaw with a jarring crunch. Stars danced in my vision, but my clenched fist found its mark, colliding with his cheekbone with a satisfying crack and momentarily sting to my knuckles.

Before I could land another, Alexander slammed into me with his shoulder. The world spun, and the floor scraped against my skin as I crashed onto my side, watching in horror as my uncle lunged for my discarded knife.

I sprang up, throwing myself at him. We tumbled, my right forearm becoming pinned between my uncle and the cruel stone beneath him. Agony laced up my arm, but I managed to roll him over and punch him in his eye.

My knuckles felt the sting more this time.

His retaliations were desperate, fists flying, but my fists became equally relentless, crashing into his face over and over until he stopped swinging. and he lay there, with blood covering his mouth.

Gasping for breath, I pushed myself off him, my focus now entirely on Luna.

More specifically, her bleeding thigh.

I grabbed the discarded belt and wrapped it around her leg, above the nasty cut. Her pained shriek cut through my heart as I tightened the leather, stemming the flow of blood.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tightening it beyond any of the existing holes.

I grabbed my knife with its serrated blade and poked a fresh hole at the base, securing the metal clip in place so the tourniquet wouldn’t move. Then I ripped the tape off her mouth.

Luna’s scream shot through my nerves. “Look out!”

Before I could process the warning, a searing burn ignited in my lower back.

CHAPTER64

Luna

“No!” I shrieked.

Hunter collapsed to the concrete as a ruby stream trickled onto the stone beneath him—snaking its way around the uneven edges and filling the cracks with its violent hue.

Alexander was slumped behind Hunter, gritting his teeth. In his unbroken hand, he clutched the all-metal knife, and now, he was inching closer to his fallen nephew.

A heartbreaking realization stabbed the chambers of my heart, an understanding of how excruciating this was to watch a killer closing in on someone you loved. Preparing to end their life while you froze in horror.

Is this the terror Hunter felt? This suffocating dread?

It was then that the glint of steel caught my eye. There, barely an arm’s length away, lying among the cobbles, was Hunter’s knife that had landed near me in the chaos.

It was as if the universe itself had taken pity on my plight, delivering this chance into my shaking hands. The stone was cold against my fingers as I reached out, the metal handle of the knife almost burning in comparison.

I twisted the blade around until it met the bindings on my wrist, where I frantically sawed, not caring that its serrated edge also sliced into my skin. It stung and burned, but I got it free and began slicing through the bindings around my core. Watching in agony as Alexander grew closer to Hunter, who still lay motionless on the ground. His feet were angled toward my body, his head in the opposite direction, toward the main tunnel—while Alexander knelt next to Hunter’s right ribs.

Hunter turned his head slightly until his eyes, glassy and filled with pain, met mine.

Just as Alexander raised the blade.

“I didn’t want it to end this way,” Alexander said, as if that offered any solace.

The last thread of tape broke free, and I hurled myself, shoulder first, into Alex’s side. Knocking him away from Hunter.

---