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The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I moved to see where Mario was positioned.

“Please don’t take the bait, Gunner,” I silently pleaded, hoping he wouldn’t give himself up for me. Mario and two lackeys were pinned down behind a crate about fifteen feet in front of me. The crate had chunks blown off, and bodies littered the area—all with an instant-kill shot. The accuracy was impressive.

Indecision racked me as Gunner stepped out into the open, his arms raised in surrender, a handgun loosely held in his hand.

“All right, asshole. I’m here, and my gun is laid down. Call your lapdogs off her,” Gunner stated, slowly lowering the gun and kicking it away.

“Your shirt,” Mario called.

Gunner lifted it to show there were no more firearms tucked into his waistband. My eyes instantly bounced to the shadows behind Gunner, looking for where he had been staked out. Mario was too stupid and high to notice that the shots that had killed his men weren’t from a handgun. Those were done with a rifle, sniper-style. And I was crossing all my fingers that Dex was back there, keeping Mario in his sights.

“What fucking arms dealer doesn’t know weapons?” I scoffed.

There was still the problem of not knowing who, if anyone, was with Gunner. Did they have some plan in place that I would fuck up if I moved, or worse, didn’t move? Crouching down farther, I mentally mapped out the quickest way to reach my target. I had no fucking clue how this would go down, but I would be damned if I tripped over one of these pieces of shit littering on the ground.

“Walk toward me, and don’t think about trying to pull something stupid, or I’ll have my Muñeca gutted,” Mario called. Gunner’s whole body tensed at the threat.

Mario shoved one of his men out from behind their cover, forcing him to go collect Gunner.

“Fuck you, Mario,” Gunner spat as he approached.

Mario rammed his fist into his gut before sending another fist sailing into Gunner’s jaw. A gasp escaped my lips before I could stop it, and I watched as the sinister grin appeared on Mario’s face.

He knew I was no longer in the room he tried to lock me in. He was trying to draw me out. I needed to tell Gunner before he became a human punching bag because he thought I was strapped down with someone holding a blade to me just waiting for Mario’s command.

Mario was an idiot. Had he so easily forgotten what I did to exact revenge for my parents? Being in love with Gunner made me deadlier, not weak. Making my decision, I centered myself, letting my mind clear before pulling the trigger. A yell rang out through the warehouse. The man standing behind the crate clutched his stomach and shouted out in pain and fear.

Gunner’s head snapped up, registering that the shot hadn’t come from the sniper’s nest he’d left. I couldn’t have shot Mario or the asshole holding Gunner. They were too close for me to make it safely and not hit him. But the message was received the moment I hit my mark. Hope flashed across Gunner’s face at the realization that I wasn’t being held hostage. But a scowl quickly replaced it. I was sure he was thinking the same thing I was. How could we figure out a plan when we couldn’t communicate with the other players?

“Muñeca, that was not very nice. Is that what you want to do? Kill your fellow Muertos?” Mario called out as he searched the room.

I let the silence hang in the air, knowing Mario hated when he was left waiting. His agitation made him sloppy. But it also made him more reckless—I didn’t have a lot of options.

“Answer me!” he screamed, pulling at his hair. I could see the crazed look in his eyes and how his chest rose and fell with his labored breathing.

“Don’t you dare say shit, babe. Get out of here. Now,” Gunner called. The next instant, his head snapped to the side as Mario backhanded him. Fresh blood spilled from my damaged lip as I bit down to hold in my reaction.

“What’s the problem, Mario? Don’t like that your plaything isn’t cooperating anymore? She doesn’t answer to men with smaller balls than her,” Gunner taunted. His arms were being held behind his back. There was no doubt he could break the hold, but he was biding his time. There were too many variables. The most dangerous was Mario. Blood was dripping from a cut above Gunner’s eye and he had a cocky smile plastered on his face. He looked deranged—in the sexiest way possible.

I’ve been around Dex and Nikki far too much. Who got turned on at a time like this?

My libido plummeted the moment Mario sent another first into Gunner’s gut. The asshole behind him held him still while two more blows landed. Gunner righted himself before spitting blood all over Mario’s face.

“It’s like you want to prove my point. You have your cocksucker here holding me while you land some shitty blows. What’s the problem, Mario? Afraid to get your ass handed to you in front of people? That narcissistic brain of yours wouldn’t be able to handle it, huh? That’s why you deal in women. Do you get hard over the power? And you thought Ryan would want you?”

The taunting tone of disbelief was thick in Gunner’s voice, causing my grip to tighten around my knife. Mario had never stood for being insulted or belittled. His lackey was fidgeting, probably concerned that Mario’s wrath would extend to him. Mario never did care who became collateral damage.

“Do you think she’ll want you once she learns the truth, Gunner? Why don’t you tell her?” Mario threw back.

Gunner’s jaw ticked at his words. Scar’s warning came rushing back, and I knew that I would hear something I didn’t want to hear—another man lying in my life.

“Muñeca!” Mario called as he stepped away from Gunner and toward where I was hunkered down, arms stretched out wide in a goading fashion. “Did you know he was using you? That his attraction to you was never genuine? It was all a ploy to get to me.” The look of victory was evident in Mario’s eyes. As if, by proving another man didn’t want to give me affection, I would come running back to his side, begging to be placed back up on my shelf.

A doll to collect.

The anger that rose inside me at his words was like a shot of adrenaline.

Mario looked over his shoulder at Gunner—gloating. “You thought I wouldn’t know that you were asking about me? You and my father were plotting against me, weren’t you?” He pulled his knife out and moved back to Gunner. “You were trying to turn my Muñeca against me, but she’s mine. Tell her, Gunner. Tell her how you fucked her for information, how you turned her into a whore, like the ones she watches for me,” he taunted, digging the edge of the blade into Gunner’s throat and drawing a trickle of blood.