Page 76 of Sicilian Savior

His gaze dropped to Luca’s, and I saw the same love for me flood Knox’s eyes.

“You’ll take credit for killing Franco and clear my name?” Victor asked, tipping his gun sideways.

Knox nodded. “We can call them right now if you want. I’ll admit to everything.”

“How do I know they’ll believe you?”

“Because I have footage of it. My computer guy erased it from the camera in the parking lot, but we still have a copy.”

Victor twisted his lips. “And how do I know you won’t try to escape?”

“All you need to do is let me make a call, and I’ll get the footage sent to your phone right now. It will be all the proof you need to clear your name and get your organization back.”

“Do it,” Victor demanded.

“Not until you let them go,” Knox argued back.

“Do it, or they both die.” Victor slid his gaze to Luca.

“You let them go, and I’ll get you that video,” Knox held fast.

“If I let them go, you’ll kill me. Not happening,” Victor argued. “How about this. Let me show you just how serious I am when I say I’ll kill them both. I don’t need Maria anymore to trade, so I’ll kill her just to show you that I mean what I say. You send me that video now, or I’ll kill the boy next.”

His finger twitched on the trigger as he lifted the gun toward me. My eyes widened as I screamed. The gunshot rang out, and I saw the black blur of Knox’s body flying through the air in front of me. He landed on the ground with a thud, skidding to a stop at our feet.

“Knox!” I screamed as he lay motionless on the floor.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Knox

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It felt like getting hit in the chest with a sledgehammer, but it wasn’t the first time for me. I’d known what to expect when I’d jumped in front of her. My body armor had no trouble stopping his bullet, but I’d have jumped in front of her even without it. Saving Lucia was all that mattered.

Her scream shook the air around me, but I lay on my stomach at her feet, ignoring her pleas to be alive. Ignoring Luca’s cries. Ignoring Wes in my ear, demanding to know if I was alright. I just lay there.

Waiting.

“Fuck!” Victor rumbled. “He’s fucking dead! Why the hell did he do that? Now how am I gonna get that video footage?”

It took everything I had not to smile as I listened to my strategy play out.

Dumbass.

One of the first things they taught us in Elite Stealth Force training was to never ever assume your target was dead until you damn well made sure. Apparently, Victor hadn’t gotten the memo, and he was too strung out to notice the lack of blood pooling under me.

“Knox,” Lucia sobbed.

“You!” Victor shouted. “You know him. You need to figure out how to get that video to prove my innocence.”

“I... don’t know to do that,” Lucia choked out between sobs.

“You’ll do it, or I’ll kill him!”

Lucia’s sobs deepened. I knew he threatened Luca again. The monster inside me rattled the cage quietly, waiting for me to let him out again.

I laid there with my eyes closed, listening, honing in on his footsteps as he moved around the room. The steps grew louder.