I slid the knife out from between my breasts, grateful they hadn’t had the time to check me over thoroughly. I slammed it into the guard who was still recovering, not wanting both of them to come at me at once. I caught them both off guard as he was just getting to his feet. His gaze shifted to the knife embedded in the middle of his throat before I twisted it and pulled it out. His eyes rolled back in his head as he fell back, wheezes escaping his throat as blood bubbled from the wound and up through his lips.
“You fucking bitch,” the other guard roared, his black hair gleaming in the harsh lights as he ran at me.
I grinned and wiggled my eyebrows as I dodged him and brought my knee up into his side. He bent over, gripping his side as he grabbed for the discarded gun. He barely had his hand wrapped around the grip before I threw the knife at him. His eyes widened as the tip embedded itself right between them. Exactly where he’d threatened to shoot me. Oh, now that really was karma biting him in the ass, wasn’t it?
I stalked over to him. “Sure, I’m the bitch. You can just call me Karma.” I gripped the handle of the knife and used my boot against his chest to get leverage as I tugged it free, sending bloodspurting from the open wound. Nope, that’s a little too much for me.
Adrenaline coursed through my body as I turned back to the two Barones, father and son, grappling for control over the second gun. I hadn’t noticed that when it landed, it had skidded closer to them. Lorenzo was above his father, the gun pointed away from them and me, but as Lorenzo tried to wrench it from his father’s grip, Angelo used the opportunity to flip his son over, slamming his back onto the hard roof and disorienting him.
I couldn’t let this man get control of that weapon. So I struck. As the two grappled for the gun, Lorenzo’s fingers barely holding on to the grip while keeping it pointed away from himself, I slammed the knife into the side of Angelo’s neck, twisting it before I tugged it out, tearing out half his throat.
“That was pretty sad, honestly. Your son put up more of a fight than you did.”
Just as Angelo’s body slumped forward, Lorenzo pressed the trigger, sending a bullet into the eldest Barone’s skull. It was probably overkill at that point, but I got it. Neither of us wanted to take any chance that this monster would miraculously pull through. Angelo’s lifeless form collapsed onto Lorenzo’s chest and I couldn’t help the grin tilting up my lips. I pulled in a deep breath and closed my eyes as the helicopter roared to life, the pilot obviously not wanting to stick around just in case I was going to stab him next. Smart man.
My hair was lifted in the wind as the blades of the helicopter whirred to life, the aircraft leaving a few moments later as though death via stab wound was a disease he might catch if he stayed any longer.
Lorenzo groaned as he worked to roll his father off him, the dead weight pinning him down. I was just about to attempt to help him when the roof hatch opened. I charged for mydiscarded gun and took aim just as a head of nearly white platinum hair popped up.
“Thank fuck,” he said as his wild eyes landed on me. Bloodlust fogged their depths until he scanned my body, not finding any injuries. Some of the feral gleam faded from them as he hopped up and raced for me. “The helicopter taking off scared the shit out of us. We all thought that asshole turned on you.”
He bundled me up in his arms, swinging me around like he hadn’t seen me in years. I clutched onto him desperately, unable to hold back my giggle as he twirled us around. The moment he set me down, I was caught in another set of muscular arms. Kellan lifted me until I had to wrap my arms around his waist. He threaded one of his hands through my hair, cradling my head as his lips claimed mine like he never wanted to let me go. But a hard chest pressed up against my back, another arm encircling my waist, while Merrick crooked a finger under my chin and stole my lips away so he could devour me.
“A little help here,” Lorenzo wheezed, but we all ignored him. I had to do all the heavy lifting in the fight. The least he could do was roll his father’s corpse off himself.
“Let me guess, you took them all out?” Spade whistled as he looked around at the carnage I’d wrought.
“Of course.” I grinned once Merrick allowed me to come up for air, my chest heaved in a deep breath, but all the earlier tightness was gone. My heart felt lighter than it had in years, my mind clear, my shoulders not weighed down by thoughts of the future. All those dreams we’d clung to over the last few weeks were now a reality. Angelo and his minions were gone. And as long as Lorenzo kept his promise, there wouldn’t be a crime family gripping this town by the throat anymore.
Lorenzo grunted, and something thudded against the roof. We all turned to watch him pull himself to his feet and straightenhis suit jacket, like he hadn’t just killed his father. Well, I guess technically I did, but he did take that shot… eventually.
“Glad that you all had so much confidence in me,” Lorenzo said, wiping a hand over his brow, but I didn’t miss the way he couldn’t keep his eyes off his father’s body, like he didn’t quite believe it himself.
“Can you blame us?” Merrick growled. “If it were the woman you loved, would you trust anyone but yourself to have her back?”
His gaze went distant before he shook off whatever had come over him. “No. No, I wouldn’t.”
Did the new crime heir actually have someone he loved? He never brought anyone around his family—not that I could blame him when his father had planned to cart the woman his deceased son loved off with him to who knows where. A shiver ran over me, and Merrick soothed a hand down my spine, chasing the unease away. Merrick helped me down from Kellan’s hold on me, and each of them flanked me, with Spade coming to guard my back. It was honestly a miracle that they let the plan go off as we’d discussed.
“Give me a few days to get everything in order, then I’ll be gone, and East Haven can forget they ever heard of the Barones.”
“I don’t think that will be possible,” I scoffed. “But we’ll give you until the end of the week to get everyone in line. Take out the bad apples before the rot spreads even further.”
He nodded and grimaced. “I will. I’m sure I’ll have to track most of them down.”
Lorenzo’s shoulders slumped, his defenses falling for a moment. “I’m sorry, you know. I’m sorry for everything my family has done to both you and this town. If I could take it back—”
“I know,” I said, not wanting to relive the tragedies threatening to bob up from the depths of my memories. “All thatmatters now is the future. I never want another person in this town to have to fear the name Barone ever again.”
“They won’t,” Lorenzo said, clasping his hand to his chest.
“And we’ll make sure of it.” Spade placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
“We should get down there.” Kellan glanced back at the hatch. “We rushed up here to make sure everything had gone according to plan, but a few of the guys were hurt, and we were getting them loaded into ambulances.”
Kellan and Josh had contacted the same paramedics from earlier and had them on standby for when the battle was over.
“And I should get started on the cleanup.” Lorenzo gave us a sharp nod before striding for the ladder. “I’ll be in touch soon.”
