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Jon
“Fucking hell,” I muttered. Gerard’s forehead vein throbbed harder, and he glanced over my shoulder. I didn’t look right away, but I had a feeling shit was about to go sideways.
The door opened behind me and the little bell above the door trilled. An ominous silence came over the bar.
I knew Anthony’s men had probably arrived.
“Are they armed?” I asked quietly.
“Yes, boss,” he answered.
“Are you?”
“Always,” he assured me.
“To old times,” I growled. I reached into the interior of my suit jacket with both hands and wrapped my fingers around the holsters of two of the 9mms hidden inside. They were fully loaded; I could tell by the weight. I pulled them free slowly as I turned around. I hefted them up and aimed. My fingers caressed the triggers, but I didn’t squeeze them just yet.
There were a half a dozen men piling into the bar and more followed. Beside me, four men stood up and moved closer to me.
“James sends his regards,” one of them said and I grinned as more of Anthony’s goons spilled through the door. This was at least going to be some semblance of a challenge.
To his credit, Anthony had sent a decent amount of men, but it wasn’t nearly enough for someone of my caliber. He may know my name now, but I highly doubted he knew my history. It was likely he’d only heard I was powerful, rich, and that I’d taken down some big names in the day.
Names that were far more dangerous than the likes of him. Some right here in this very bar.
Nicky Lombardi came to mind first. He’d had the misfortune of thinking kidnapping my Isabel was a good move.
It wasn’t. He bled out on the fireplace in the back. I bet if I looked closely, I could still see bits of his brain matter hidden in the stonework crevices.
Anthony Montagna wasn’t even a blip on the map. He didn’t have what it took to be a leader in this world. Sooner or later, it was going to catch up with him.
Sooner if it was up to me.
“That’s him. That’s the one,” a particularly burly soldier called out from the door.
“Nice to meet you. The name’s Cyrus,” I spat, leveling him with a wicked grin. He took a step back, thoroughly caught off guard by the murderous intent in my eyes. I squeezed the triggers of both guns in rapid succession, catching several men in their chests. By the time the others began to react, I’d vaulted over the bar, joining Gerard as the two of us gunned down the rest.
They didn’t stand a chance.
Their shots went wild, revealing that they were ridiculously undertrained. Many of the bullets sailed straight by me, sinking into the wall, and missing me by a long shot. By sheer chance, one bullet just clipped my right shoulder, but only enough to burn through the fabric that covered my arm.
In some volley of self-preservation, one of them tossed several of the heavy wooden tables, trying to use it to block our fire. The ones that were left ducked behind them, breathing hard. One of them clutched at a bullet wound in his leg and cried in panic.
I don’t know where Anthony had found these men, but they sure as hell wouldn’t have been recruited by his father. Mike knew the importance of maintaining a capable guard and they weren’t it.
For several minutes, the bar was quiet, and I took the time to regroup. I reloaded each gun as rapidly as I could. I pushed in the magazine just in time as a single reckless man popped up from behind one of the tables. I rewarded his rashness with a bullet right between the eyes.
By my count, there were only three of them left. Already, there were nine bodies lying haphazardly across the floor. Most of them were dead, but a few of them were groaning in pain. Soon enough, they took their last breaths.
James’ soldiers joined us behind the bar.
“Toss your guns aside,” I yelled. None of them listened at first. A few more tense moments passed but eventually someone tossed their gun and it clattered to the floor out in the open. Another followed and then another.
“Stand up. Hands in the air,” I demanded.
They did as I directed, but I hadn’t gotten to my level of power without making hard decisions that often ended with even more bloodshed. I didn’t even hesitate to pull the triggers again, taking out the men on the left and right. I left only one alive.
He shrieked with alarm, the sound high pitched, panicked, and entirely disgraceful. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d wet himself.
