Page 150 of Savage Don

“Take this, you Italian bastards,” I grumble, tossing the explosive into their midst.

“Merda!” Their curses echo through the spotty darkness as they all try to jump out of the way. But there’s nowhere to go, and the ones who avoid the blast only do so by plunging to their deaths on the other side of the railing.

I hear their bodies crunch against the cold concrete. Then the grenade goes off, and I hear even more wails of agony.

The explosion shakes the entire balcony, and I have to grab onto the railing just to keep from being thrown over the edge myself.

“Ray!” Leonid’s voice cuts through the smoke ahead as the chaos finally starts to die down.

“I’m fine!” I shout back. “You good?”

“Better than ever!”

A few more well-placed shots puts an end to the stragglers, and it doesn’t take much longer before I see Leonid bounding up the staircase on the other side of the balcony.

“Is that all of them?” I ask, quickly reloading my gun. Even if they’re all dead. This isn’t over. I need at least two more bullets.

The light to the middle office is still on. I can only lick my lips as I imagine Sonia and Domenico cowering beneath some desk, waiting for the devil to arrive.

Still, the feeling that something isn’t right only grows as I trudge forward.

Maybe it wasn’t just Francesca, after all…

“It looks like we’ve cleared the place out,” Leonid says. “That was easy.”

“Too easy.”

“You think it’s a trap?”

“Let’s find out.”

With all the care in the world, we both move towards the middle office, stepping around fresh corpses and severed body parts.

“Not even Domenico would sacrifice two dozen of his own men just to set up a trap, right?” Leonid asks, as we both post up on either side of the office door. “And his most profitable business to boot.”

He’s right. As sad as it is, this is one of Domenico’s prime money makers. If I were him, I’d make sure all of my dirty business steered clear of this place. But he isn’t the only scumbag who could be setting a trap for us.

There’s always Sonia.

She’s already done enough shit without her husband’s permission; what’s one more thing?

“Something feels off,” I grumble under my breath.

“Maybe it’s just because we’re so close to finishing this shit.”

Lifting my finger to my lips, I urge Leonid to listen.

Silence.

No more voices. No one is pleading for mercy.

“Don’t tell me we came all of this way for nothing,” I curse.

“Like you said, there’s only one way to find out. Are you ready?” Leonid asks.

All I can do is nod.

Without further ceremony, we both burst into the office, guns raised and ready to fire.