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There’s no time to pounce, no time to rip him apart as I so desperately desire. I need one shot; one chance. A bullet straight between his eyes. Or else he’ll fire reflexively as my bullet hits him, and kill Sophie.
For the first time in my adult life, I pray.
“Seriously, Romano?” I drawl lazily, forcing a deceptive nonchalance into my tone. “You’ll take a shot at my slut over me? Is that because you know you’re dead anyway?”
Shock and indignation colors Sophie’s tone. “You’re an asshole, Nico Vitelli. You told me you loved me! You said that I was special, different from all those other sluts.”
My heart leaps because Sophie instantly gets what I’m doing. Keep going, baby.
She sniffs, then croaks, “You promised we were going to get married as soon as Romano came crawling back to you.”
“Shut up,” I spit, shooting Romano a nervous look.
“I will not shut up!” Sophie retorts. “You promised me the world as soon as you get the Cartel to pull out of Romano’s deal and back you instead…”
Romano looks like he actually believes the tale Sophie is spinning because he swings and aims the gun at me, improving the odds dramatically. I almost sigh in relief.
“Guess what, Vitelli. Your game is up. You’re a dead—what the fuck…?” Romano trails off, unwittingly staring as George streaks across the living room. Wearing, as usual, a diaper.
It’s the split second I need.
I raise my gun, aim, and pull the trigger before Romano can recover from the sight.
The bullet hits its mark, dead center between Romano’s eyes. He’s brain-dead in an instant. His hand lets go of the gun, and it falls, landing on the floor right beside Sophie as his wiry body tumbles backward onto the floor.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been holding my breath, but I draw in deep and let it out while my chest heaves.
She almost died. She almost fucking died because of me.
I close the distance and fall to my knees beside Sophie, dragging her off the floor and into my arms. “Oh, my love,” I breathe her in and gather her trembling body close.
She buries her face in my chest and winds her arms around my neck just as tightly as I hold her.
When her breathing slows, she leans back to look at me. There are tears in her amber eyes, but her cheeks are dry. It isn’t until she blinks that one errant teardrop slips free, cascading down her cheek. I catch the drop with my thumb, then gently splay my fingers around her bruising neck.
“I’m so sorry, baby. Where else does it hurt?” I run my fingers through the back of her scalp because chokeholds usually come with blows to the head.
She winces at the same moment I find the small lump at the back of her head. I quickly bring my hand back, relieved when I see there’s no blood.
Then, as if just noticing the dead bodies on the floor, my jaw slackens as I take in the carnage. A throat sliced out. And precise, mortal stab wounds to the other.
“Fucking hell, Sparrow, What the fuck happened here?”
She shrugs, and a small smirk lifts the corner of her mouth. “Romano got bored of watching his goons die and knocked me over the head. Otherwise, Nico, I was handling it.”
I can’t help the slight chuckle that escapes me. But I notice, despite her efforts to be blasé about it, her eyes are not quite meeting mine. Her hoarse voice and the bruising around her neck make it clear that the son of a bitch had tried to choke her. She must have been scared shitless.
The feral animal returns. If ever one could will a man back to life, it’s me, now. I’d bring Pascal Romano back just to tear him into shreds.
But Sophie doesn’t need the feral animal, not now. I holster my gun and force myself to look down at the bloody corpses on her living room floor. “Indeed, fiammetta, you fucking handled it.”
She killed two of Romano’s men all on her own, for Chrissake. It’s a testament to how deranged I am because that is, hands down, the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. If this woman had me by the throat before, now, she’s got me by the fucking balls.
Sophie’s gaze turns to the floor, and her lips part as she goes a shade paler. She’s looking at the two goons, covered in blood, their lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling. I think what she’s done is only just sinking in. What she was forced to do because I hadn’t been here.
I pick her off the floor and swing her up into my arms, carrying her outside just in time for a few SUVs to screech to a stop.
Dante tears out of the first one, then visibly sags in relief. “Mio Dio, fratello, what the hell happened here?”
