Page 108 of Married to the Devil

BANG. BANG. BANG⁠—

I run up the last few steps and burst out into the hallway. I sprint toward that sound—BANG, BANG, BANG—and only come around the corner to Marnie’s room as Nunzio kicks down the door, wood splintering around him.

No!

June must be inside. There’s screaming, scared women, and I think one of them is my wife. I roar, moving faster than I ever have before. If he hurts her—if he fucking touches her⁠—

“…should’ve just done this the easy way,” Nunzio’s saying as I throw myself into the room behind him.

The scene’s chaotic. June’s on her knees in front of Nunzio. He’s got his hand wrapped around my wife’s throat. She’s hitting him and struggling, but she can’t get away. Priya’s holding Hattie tightly in the corner, shielding her face, and my little girl’s sobbing and screaming for her mother. Marnie’s on the floor, teeth gritted in pain, like she’s trying to crawl over to June to help but doesn’t have the strength.

I take it all in. The moment assaults me, and I feel something inside my heart break.

Nunzio grunts as my bullet takes him in the back. I stride forward, his grip on June going slack. I smash him in the back of the skull with my gun and grab his weapon from his hand, wrenching it free and throwing it aside. Nunzio turns, stunned, a red bloom on his chest, his mouth working in shock as I pummel him to the floor.

“I TRUSTED YOU,” I scream as I beat him. “I TRUSTED YOU WITH EVERYTHING, YOU BASTARD!”

I stand above Nunzio, breathing hard. My head of security stares at me, his face twisted and battered, one eye wrecked, his nose crooked, his mouth a bloody ruin. Red bubbles form on his lips as he wheezes for air.

“Wasn’t… about you…” He forces words from deep in his traitor’s body.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Burning with outrage, I raise the gun. “You stabbed me in the back. You turned on my family. On my fucking wife and child. I trusted you.”

“My father… I had to… Ignazio… the money…” He lets out a broken sob. “I’m sorry, Rafe.”

“Sorry isn’t enough.”

I’m about to pull the trigger when June puts her hand on my wrist. “Rafe, wait.”

She’s the only person in the world who could make me pause right now. I look at her, rage and heartbreak warring in my chest. “I treated him like a brother. I gave him everything.” I remember Nunzio, back when he first joined the family, a young and hungry dickhead with a massive ego and a chip on his shoulder. I taught him to control himself, to be dependable, to be a leader.

If he needed more money, he could’ve come to me.

Instead, he did this.

“Rafe, Hattie’s here.”

I tense like lightning struck me. I look to where Priya’s cowering with Hattie. Grim determination fills me. “Get her out of here.”

“Rafe—“

“Now,” I bark at Priya. “Get her away.”

“Yes, sir.” Priya stands, murmuring to my girl. “It’ll be okay, your father’s here now. You’re safe, we’re all safe.” As Priya goes to leave, Hattie looks up, and for a moment our eyes meet.

There’s a hardness in her. I’ve never noticed it before. But it’s there now, and it scares me.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she says as Priya hurries with her from the room.

Nunzio’s a crying mess at my feet. He’s half dead already. He’ll be gone in moments. I put my boot on his chest and press, making him groan in agony. “Go help Marnie,” I tell June. “And don’t watch.”

She hesitates. There’s fear in her expression now. But she nods once and hurries to get Marnie back into bed.

I lean down and talk quietly to Nunzio.

“Your name will burn in hell alongside your soul. I’ll make sure the world knows you were nothing but a traitor who hurt women and children. You’ll be remembered as the sick fucking monster you are. That’s your legacy now. It’s ruin. It’s ash.”

“Rafe,” he gasps, crying and shaking. “No. Please.”