AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What the fuck?
She thought he could protect her better than me. Maybe he could. He was better trained, more skilled with weapons. It was my fault they had grown closer in my absence. I allowed my responsibilities to Salvatore Global and The Devil’s Knights to put even more distance between us.
Marcello’s jaw ticked. “It’s okay, Alex.”
Alex whimpered, her chest heaving.
I held out my hand. “Hey, baby. Look at me. Okay, can you do that?”
Her eyes found mine, and she swallowed hard.
“You’re not worth anything to them if you’re dead,” I told her.
“Don’t fucking move,” the dark-haired man said with a thick Russian accent. “Because I will kill her.”
No, you won’t.
He didn’t have the authority to kill Alex. Viktor Romanov was working with the Volkov Bratva and knew the Knights were keeping his daughter from him. He wanted her back alive. So I knew Alex would be safe… for now.
All criminals were similar. We had a sick desire for blood and destruction. And we did this shit for money and power. Capturing the queen of the Knights would give them temporary power over us, but killing her would fuck up his boss’s plan.
My eyes swept over the room once more, attempting to piece it all together. Ripped canvases, tarps, and various colors of paint littered the floor. From the looks of it, Alex tried to hit her attackers with whatever she could find.
The balcony doors were wide open, the breeze from the bay blowing the curtains. That was how they got past the guards on the first floor. And that was exactly how they planned to steal our queen from us.
I raised my gun and aimed at the piece of shit’s head. My brothers followed suit. We had to be smart about this. One slip of his hand, and he would hit Alex’s carotid artery. She would bleed out on the floor within seconds.
“Take one more step and your queen dies,” he warned.
I didn’t recognize the man. But based on his accent, I assumed he worked for the Volkov Bratva. Another goon they sent to do their bidding. When would Konstantin Volkov realize he had to show his face before I would reveal my hand? I wasn’t about to waste my best moves on his backup squad.
“Let her go,” I ordered. “She’s not the one your boss really wants.”
“Your queen is fair compensation for our troubles,” he said in broken English.
“We have Viktor’s daughter. If he ever wants to see her alive, you will make the call.”
I had promised Cole Marshall we would spare the girl he shared with two other Knights. That she would be safe at York Military Academy, where he was in his final year of college. But I didn’t give a damn about the girl.
We’d kept her alive for the past ten years for one purpose—to trade her for a meeting with Viktor Romanov. He was the leader of The Lucaya Group. The man who ordered the deaths of Damian and Bastian’s parents. And he was the one who sent these scumbags to my house to steal Alex.
The man inched backward, toward the open balcony doors, with the blade digging into Alex’s flesh. A whimper slipped from her lips. Terrified, she looked at me for help, a plea in her watery eyes.
“Drop your guns on the floor,” the man growled.
Alex squealed as he sliced into her skin. A droplet of blood slid down her pale neck. I wanted to shoot this motherfucker in the head, but I couldn’t take the risk. With his blade already cutting into her flesh, I had one move.
The man behind Alex kept a gun to her head, a second one pointed at us. I could dodge a bullet, but that blade… it was too close to her throat.
“Do it,” I told my brothers as I bent down to set my gun on the floor.
My brothers followed suit.
I carried two guns, one of which was still holstered to my chest. I also had my grandfather’s knife strapped to my ankle.
“Get on your knees,” the Russian in charge ordered.
Teeth gritted, I snarled at him before sinking to one knee.
