Sebastian
It’s hard to hear past the blood roaring through me. It’s hard to see past the haze of fury blinding me. But despite it all, I keep my focus on her. On my angel. As she makes the worst decision of her life. She’s never been impulsive, which means this stupidity was thought out.
My worst nightmare unfolds before me. I have a man down on my left, one of my own. It pains me that she witnessed the death of her friend. There’s no way he could survive a bullet through the heart. Lizzy still has hope he’ll make it, I see it in her eyes as she stares at him, but I know the truth.
“It’s been a long time, Vincent.” Lizzy finally breaks the silence. Her voice is stronger than I expected, which worries me greatly. She has something planned, and I don’t like that.
“Last time we saw each other, you shot me,” Vincent muses. He looks her over with blatant interest, his eyes hovering over her full chest.
“The only thing I regret is not killing you. This time, I won’t miss,” Lizzy growls, then pulls the gun I gave her from her waistband and aims it at Vincent.
Internally, I curse her inexperience in a hostage situation. When we’re this outnumbered, we comply and stall. We don’t shoot the leader so the other six can shoot us. “Angel, don’t,” I murmur under my breath.
“Drop the gun, Elizabeth, or I shoot this one too,” Vincent counters, raising his gun in my direction.
The other six men direct their guns at Lizzy, whose eyes widen. My sweet, naïve angel clearly didn’t think this one through.
But when she throws the gun in a tantrum, it dawns on me that this could be her plan. Because the gun lands less than a foot away from me. From where I’m being held by two men.
Mentally, I plan our attack. My brothers’ men will storm in through both entrances. It’ll be a booming noise, and they’ll probably throw in a stun grenade to disorient our assailants. I’ll have about a forty-five-second advantage over them since I’ll be expecting it. Those will be the most precious moments of my life.
First, I’ll use their shock to overpower the men holding me. Then I’ll drop to the ground, retrieve the gun, and recover Lizzy. Using my body to shield hers, I’ll move us to the corner with the armchair. Once protected by the cover, I’ll shoot at the Rizzoli Mafia men.
A sniff fills the air, stealing my attention. “Oh, Vince. I don’t know what came over me. Please, forgive me,” Lizzy cries to her ex. She sniffs again, then a tear dramatically drips down her cheek.
“You think I’m an idiot? You just had a gun aimed at me.Again,” he grunts at her, clearly fuming.
“I’ve been so confused. But seeing you again…. All our old memories are resurfacing. All the old feelings. The love.” The way she says it has even me almost believing her. It’s only because I know her, that I know she’s bullshitting. She’s buying us time.
“And this has nothing to do with the guns trained on your little boyfriend?” He says ‘little’ as though I’m not taller than him. He may have more muscle than me, but I’ve had the pleasure of running with Lizzy the past few years. I wouldn’t trade it for being beefy.
“He’s… he’s not important. You are.” The way her fingers twist in front of her almost give her away. But thankfully, Vincent is too entranced by her words to be focused on her hands.
“So, you’re fine if I kill him right now?” he challenges, but doubt gives way for hope. For lust.
She giggles. “He’s not worth the bullets, baby.”
Buying us time. She’s buying us time.I repeat it to myself like a mantra because box breathing isn’t doing shit for me right now. Not while my angel professes her love to her abusive ex while I’m being held hostage.
He laughs sadistically. “You always were smart, Elizabeth, but you’re not fooling me.”
“Vince, baby. It’s always been you and me.” She sashays toward him, her hips swaying captivatingly, and I’m not the only one entranced. I clench my jaw as she continues to use that saccharine voice on him. “You’re my Vince.”
He laments, melting into her touch when she places a palm on his chest. Her other one reaches up and cups his cheek the same way I do to her. My blood boils at the contact. She should never have to touch this bastard again. He almost ruined her.
“Elizabeth,” he moans, then leans down.
She meets him halfway, locking her lips with his. They dance against each other, hands roaming over clothes. The noises they make fray my insides open. Her having to touch him makes me bleed internally, a torture I never knew possible.I know she’s distracting him to buy us time. But she shouldn’t have to. I urge my brothers to get here sooner. I’ve been keeping track of time. If she hit the button when I told her to, the Syndicate should be here any minute.
Finally, finally, they part, both breathing heavily. She doesn’t look away from him, but he turns slightly in my direction. He shoots me a smug grin, his eyes gleaming.
“You like watching that?” he mocks me. “We both know how much she likes watching. Maybe she’ll even get off on having an audience.”
When I growl and pretend to lunge forward giving him the reaction he craves, he chuckles. Leaning down, he licks her neck while maintaining eye contact with me. It’d be erotic if not for the way she pinches her eyes shut, the way she turns to marble.
“I think before I kill him, I’m going to fuck you in front of him. Show him who you really belong to,” he mutters against her neck.
The image of ripping his vocal cords out with my bare hands, with my fucking teeth, has animalistic rage coursing through me. I thought I’d been angry before. Thought I knew what anger was. But this feeling redescribes the word.
