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ChapterTwenty-Three
Everything was ready for the trip to the lake. Gio had left out this morning under the watchful eye of Jasper. I’d just gotten the text message from him that Gio and a crew of his men arrived at the lake house about twenty minutes ago.
I could breathe a sigh of relief. At least that had gone according to plan. I could feel a bit of nervous energy bouncing around inside my head over the past week that something was going to go wrong. Gio would make the decision to change up the plan in the middle of driving to the lake. That he knew someone was watching, so the lake plans had all been a decoy.
There was no telling what could go wrong. I was in the middle set that I’d been jinxed somehow. It was Murphy’s Law, if it could go wrong it would go wrong, and every time I turned around everything was fucking up.
Pushing open the door to my apartment, I sent Jasper a quick text letting him know I’d made it home. He was a little on edge being so far away from me. We’d had a little chat about his smothering tendencies lately. I’d expressed how he was holding me a little too tight lately. He basically told me to shut the fuck up. He would lay off when everything was done and over with. He wouldn’t be able to rest easy until I was done being the murderous revenge seeking vigilante I was.
There wasn’t time to react at all before a large body barreled into me. The air was knocked out of my lungs as I was slammed into the door of my apartment. Hit after hit punched into my abdomen. The sound of one of my ribs cracking echoed in my ears.
Getting my wits about me, I blocked a hit and threw one of my own catching the assailant in the side of the head. Grabbing a hold of both sides of his head, I snapped my head forward and head butted him before bringing my knee up and catching him in the balls. He hunched over himself for a second, which gave me the space I needed to get away from the wall.
I didn’t want to have anyone at my back, but I didn’t want to be pushed into a corner when I was fighting for my life. I didn’t see a weapon in his hand, and that was a bad oversight on his part, but that meant I wasn’t at a disadvantage at the moment. I still had a chance to get to the gun I had stashed in the hallway table drawer. I wasn’t opposed to shooting an unarmed man. He came into my home and attacked me. He deserved whatever the fuck he got.
Moving around him, I tried to make my way to where I knew the gun was lying loaded and ready. Fingers tangled in my hair from behind and snatched me off my feet. My body felt light as I was lifting momentarily into the air before being thrust down onto the ground on my back.
A large black boot didn’t waste a second before it was headed towards my face. Rolling away from him, I sprang to my feet and took off running towards the kitchen. It was in the opposite direction of my gun, but there were two of them and they were now blocking that table. There were knives in the kitchen. In a situation like this, one weapon was as good as another.
A thick arm wrapped around my neck from behind. My airway was closed off by the stranglehold I found myself in, and I fought to keep myself calm. I couldn’t let myself freak out just because I couldn’t breathe. That was a sure fire way to pass out quicker than necessary. Then I really would be dead.
The other guy moved into front of me and jabbed one hard quick punch to my face. My eye felt as if it was exploding from the socket. All the tension in my body from being choked mixed with the pain of the hit was almost enough to send me to dreamland. I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Jumping up, I wrapped my thighs around his neck and squeezed with everything I had. Letting all my body weight bring both of us down to the ground, the man had only two choices. Follow us down or let me go. I was hoping he didn’t want to feel the pain of falling down on top of me and his partner and that he’d let go of his hold on me.
I’d been right.
I quickly released the tension in my legs and moved off the guy who’d punched me in the face. Reaching into the side of my boot, I pulled out the baby knife I had there. Without a second thought or a moment of hesitation, I dug the blade as deep into the man’s neck as I could and drug it across until he was split open. The warmth of his blood spilled out of the gaping wound in his throat. The black ski mask of his face didn’t allow me to see anything other than his eyes, but I was willing to bet he was making that open and closed fish mouth people generally did when they got their throat slashed.
Pain seared through my shoulder. I hadn’t forgotten about the other guy in my apartment, but he moved quicker than I thought he would. He’d stabbed a knife into my back. I’d gotten lucky, he was just trying to get me wherever he could, and he’d hit me in the fleshy part of my lower back. If he’d been two inches to the left he would’ve gotten me in the kidney. It was apparent these guys weren’t the best on the payroll.
Swinging my elbow up and back, I caught him in nuts again causing him to crouch over himself once again. Swinging my arm again, I caught him in the nose. A grunt of pain burst out of him, but he released the hold he had on the hilt of the knife that was currently sticking out of my back.
Pushing up onto my feet, I pulled the metal object out and turned towards him. One quick hard downward thrust hand the knife embedded into the side of this neck. His blood flowed freely, mixing with that of his fallen partner.
His body hit the floor at my feet. Ragged breaths rushed into my lungs as I struggled to stay on my feet. My knees were weak, pain burned in my back where I’d been stabbed, and I hurt to swallow.
Where the fuck did these guys come from? There hadn’t been one warning they were waiting for me. After the bomb in my car, I’d been extra vigilant in keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. If these guys had been following me I hadn’t noticed. Since Jasper sprung my parent’s will on me a few days ago, I’d been a little out of it. I still made sure to keep my safety my priority. Otherwise, Jasper would be the one to kill me.
He was going to freak the fuck out as soon as he found out about this.
A noise from the hallway outside of my apartment drew my attention. Moving over the bodies of my two would-be assassins, I made my way to the gun I should’ve had on me to begin with.
Checking the clip was loaded, I chambered a round and then pressed my body up against the wall training the gun on the door. My heart continued to race in my chest as I watched the doorknob turn slowly.
I shouldn’t have felt it, but there was no stopping the rush of relief that surged through me as Enzo and Cole moved into the apartment. Enzo’s gaze found me in the darkened room before he even cleared the doorway.
He stopped short as he took in the gun that was pointed at his head. No moving anything but his eyes, he looked over my disheveled bleeding body and then the two men lying dead on my flood.
“What happened?” His voice was cold and calm. Not one outward sign of emotion except for the way he was clenching his fists at his sides.
“Why don’t you tell me?” Whoever set the bomb in my car must’ve sent these men to kill me. Since I still didn’t know who that person was I wasn’t taking the chance and trusting these two mafia princes. Gio and Nico weren’t cleared as suspects, and since both Enzo and Cole were members of their family, it would only be right that they were here to make sure their men did their job.
“They’re not ours.” That was all Cole said as he slowly inched his way up to stand beside Enzo. Unlike his friend, I could plainly see the anger and worry plastered over his face. He was either a damn good actor or he actually felt that way.
“You’re wanting me to believe that two men were sent to kill me, and you two just happened to show up right at that time? It’s all a coincidence? I don’t think so.” It wasn’t beyond the belief that they would want me dead. After everything I’d done to their men, and then for me to kill another one after I told them I would leave their people alone, it made sense for them to try and get me out of the picture.
It was easier for them to kill me off. I didn’t blame them. I just wanted them to be honest about it. No reason to lie. None of us trusted each other.
