Page 98 of Daddies of the Underworld

“Safest place to be.” Pale and sweating, he might not make it to the cistern, but he’d damned well try.

I recognized the determination in the lift of his chin and prayed I would not regret my decision to put a potential weapon at my back. We moved through the vineyard fast, dirt slipping beneath my shoes. Men spread out on either side, rifles up and bodies low.

Paolo lifted a fist when we reached the pump house, and we all stopped.

The door opened. A man stepped out, his rifle trying to swing up for a shot.

Paolo took him out before I could. Two men burst out behind the first. Gunfire tore through the vineyard. Leave shredded and dirt spewed around my feet. I dropped behind a low stone wall and fired back. Marco hit the ground beside me. “Cistern. Under the stone.” He pointed at a rock fifteen meters away.

“Paolo, cover.” I crouched and ran while Paolo and three other men hammered the pump house doorway. Bullets smacked the wall behind me. One tore through the vines over my head, sending the scent of grapes out in a burst. I reached the slab in a sliding stop, hooked my fingers around the iron ring, and pulled.

Marco slid in beside me, his skin gray. “There’s a latch.” He shoved my hand away and dug his fingers beneath the rim.

A shot cracked from the pump house. Marco jerked hard, blood spreading across the front of his shirt. His teeth bared as he yanked on the latch.

The slab shifted, and I grabbed the ring again, pulling with all my might. A narrow shaft dropped into pitch black nothingness. Three iron rings led the way down.

Marco sagged, and I caught him before he hit the ground. Blood soaked between my fingers when I pressed my hand to the wound.

“Medic.” I barked the order into the air.

“Don’t wait.” Marco clamped a hand over my wrist. “Get him.”

Paolo dropped beside me. “I got him.”

I climbed into the shaft, not letting myself think about what I was leaving behind. I had no room for error, no way left to go but forward. I had to end this once and for all. It was always meant to come down to this. Me versus Viktor. The rungs tore at my palms. I hit the bottom hard, water splashing up my legs. The stink within the tunnel made my eyes water, but I focused on the single light bobbing my way.

I raised my gun and fired the instant the light revealed Viktor’s smug face. The bullet tore through his shoulder, throwing him backward a step.

He cursed and dropped the light. The slap of a gun clearing a holster sent me diving to the side as Viktor fired blind. Bullets stuck the stone around my head, and I ran toward him, using the echoing booms from the shots to cover my footsteps. By the time he realized what I’d done, the lantern illuminated the whites of his eyes as I tackled him to the ground.

He hit hard, his grip on the gun weakening enough it skidded into the water. He swung his fist into the nerve on my wrist, weakening my grip and dropping my gun into the muck. He smiled up at me. “You think killing me fixes what you are?”

I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the wall. “No. I know what I am.”

Blood covered his teeth, his smile widening. “You are weak. One little girl and you besiege my land.”

“You took my daughter.” And I was not going to indulge his villain monologue. We were done here. I drove my fist into his face. HIs head snapped back into the wall, and I hit him again.

Viktor spat blood at my feet. “You cannot kill every man who wants what you have.”

“Watch me.” I smirked at him. “Oh wait. You will not be able to, because you’ll be dead.”

He lunged, and we hit the latter with a clang of metal. His forehead smacked into mine, and white flashed behind my eyes. I drove my knee into his stomach, wrenched the second pistol from behind my back, and put a bullet between his eyes. “Viktor is dead.” I wiped my hands on my pants, grabbed Viktor by the tie around his neck, and dragged him to the ladder. “I need a rope to pull him out.

Within minutes, we had Viktor’s body on dry ground. His men surrendered all over the compound, dropping their weapons as soon as the declaration of Viktor’s death became clear.

Luca came through the comms. “Matteo, his accounts are lighting up. Men are cutting ties. It’s over. His empire is finished.”

Marco lay on a stretcher, somehow more pale but still alive. He turned his head when I approached. “Thank you.”

I held out my hand, and he gripped it the best he could while two medics worked on him. “My pleasure. Now, you must recover or Nina will kill us both.”

The medic lifted the stretcher, and Marco groaned through gritted teeth. He’d suffered worse than this. He was strong enough, and had enough to fight for, to continue to live.

“Matteo.” Luca’s voice came through again, tight and stretched. “Dante made it to the hospital wing of the safe house, but they can’t stabilize the bleeding. They’re prepping for surgery.”

“I’m on my way.” I climbed into the nearest SUV. “Drive.”