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The only sounds I can catch are bugs and the soft slap of water against wood. I creep up the porch to the door and press my ear to the smooth wood.
I catch Ricci’s raised voice, “Any last words?”
There’s no time to consider my plan. I snag the gun from where I tucked it and move to bust through the door. But several sets of hands take hold of me from behind. I swing out, but others grab my arms and wrench the gun free.
I manage to take down one with a solid punch to the side of the head. More men charge at me, and after knocking the wind out of me with a sharp kick to my ribs, I’m burrowed into the corner of the porch, where they are able to overpower me.
A car pulls up behind mine, and several men pour out. All of them in full tactical gear carrying automatic weapons. Fuck, this isn’t good.
Ricci throws the door open, casting light across the patio. “Ah, finally, my last guest. Come inside so we can speak properly.”
“Fuck you!”
He laughs. The bastard who is holding my wife and brother hostage fucking laughs.
“Let them go, and you can have me. You can have my entire organization with it.”
Celia screams from inside. “No, don’t!”
There’s a thud, and her voice cuts off. Ricci’s shadow breaks up the pattern in the doorframe again. “Sorry, my daughter never knows when to keep her mouth shut.”
I grit my teeth and punch one of the goons trying to hold me down. I’m rewarded with a right hook against my jaw. I revel in the pain, letting it fuel my anger.
“Bring him in,” Ricci orders, and his men drag me inside the cabin.
Once we reach the door, Ricci retreats into the room. Two guards enter behind me and close the door with a heavy, final thump.
Lucas is lying on the floor across the room, his face swollen and bruised. Celia is sideways on the floor in the other area. Her face is pink from crying, there’s a gash on her cheek, and her right eye is swollen. I will fucking kill this man if it’s the last thing I do.
“You have me now, so let them go. Tell me what you want, and I’ll tell my men to do it. You’ll be the most powerful man in this state again.”
Ricci waves his gun at the guards, and they reach up to wrench my arms behind my back to handcuff me. The goon sits me on a stool near the door, far away from Celia. She is laid on the floor, her hair pooling around her. My chest aches from looking at her. I want to raze this entire room and carry her home.
She meets my eyes, and hers are swimming with tears as she mouths the words, “I’m sorry.”
I shake my head. Ricci looms closer now that I’m less of a threat to him. “Let them go,” I order again.
As I suspected, he simply laughs, then brings the gun down into my face, splitting my cheek open with the butt of his handgun.
It’s not the first time I’ve taken a gun to the face. I turn my head back to him, glaring. “Let them go,” I say again, “or I’m going to choke the life out of you with my bare hands.”
Ricci looks at me long and hard before bringing the gun down again, this time harder. Pain splinters under my eye, but I shake it off. But he doesn’t like the fact that his blows are barely fazing me. He hits me again, this time on the side of the neck, then my temple, which shoots sparks through my eyesight.
“Stop!” Celia screams. “Stop hitting him, please!”
Ricci rounds on her, gun raised, like he might hit her again. She squirms away, right into the feet of a guard, who puts his hands on her to sit her up.
Once she’s secure with the guard, Ricci brings his attention back to me. My eyes are on the guard, and the fucking grim look he’s giving Celia sitting against his boot laces.
“Don’t you fucking touch her,” I say, making direct eye contact with the guard.
His smirk tells me what he thinks about my threats. I smirk back, even though my teeth are coated in blood. After I rip Ricci’s head off, that fucking guy is next.
Ricci advances again and sits down opposite me. The look in his eyes promises murder, but the look in mine promises pure torture. I can’t wait to get my hands on him. I’m buzzing with it.
“So, what was your plan? Get the other families to turn on me and attack once I’m vulnerable?”
I’m slow to answer, letting him seethe as he thinks I’m ignoring him. “As far as I can tell, you are vulnerable. I have what I need from the five families to ensure your power base is gone. Even if you kill me, that destabilization is already set, and I’ve already made sure things get carried out.”
