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“What happened?” I asked.
“Oh, this.” He showed me the wound. “Just a scratch. Pedro’s okay, but there were another two of Gino’s guys outside. We shot them.” Then Andreas moaned, and when he turned, I realized he had blood oozing through his shirt.
“We need to get you to a doctor,” I said.
“No, we should get you out of here first,” Andreas said, gripping my arm and pulling me toward the exit.
The man on the floor seemed to have recovered from my treatment of his private parts. What happened next went fast. Pulling a gun from under his jacket, he aimed it at me, but Pedro was one step quicker and planted a bullet in his skull. He fell back on the floor, blood pooling all around his head.
From behind me, Gino was shouting expletives, hurling threats that he would have all our hides, cut our dicks off and feed them to us.
I turned to him and stared him down. “Maybe I should kill you, too.” And I would, if I didn’t think it would start an unnecessary war. “You shouldn’t have abused your welcome and you know it. Coming in here disrespecting one of your own… What would your people think, huh? But Stefania’s husband will do that job for me, and I can’t wait to see what ideas he’ll come up with.”
Gino knew not to mess with Stefania. Men had disappeared for a lot less than a pinch of her ass. She might be smitten with her husband, but he was downright obsessed with her. Nobody touched his woman and lived to tell the tale. She had freedom at the restaurant, but he was always in the background, watching her back, making sure she was okay.
Gino’s face was suddenly devoid of color—as much as it possibly could be. He knew he’d messed up, big time. His filthy dick ruled his head and sucked away his reason. Now, he’d pay for it.
I turned around and walked to him. Leaning close to his ear, I whispered, “If you forget about our deal and everything that happened until now, I might be persuaded to make sure Stefania doesn’t talk about this. About you being here … not even to herbesottedhusband,” I said, letting my voice trail away and leaving all the import my words implied.
He swallowed, giving me an almost imperceptible nod.
“So that’s that then.” I walked gingerly back to Andreas. “Make sure Stefania is … compensated for this,” I instructed him, holding on to my side as I felt all those kicks in the ribs I’d received.
After speaking to Stefania, making arrangements to clean up the scene, and calling one of the cops on my payroll, Andreas and Pedro sat me between them on the back seat. “I called Dr. Sanders already. He’ll meet with us at the penthouse,” Pedro said.
Andeas moaned in pain. He was bleeding more profusely now, so we needed to get home fast.
My body was aching, and my head pounded. I had a feeling that fucker had broken a few of my ribs. My jaw now felt like someone had ripped it in two. I was lucky I hadn’t been shot.
A sharp pain wracked me as the adrenaline level whittled down, and I almost passed out.
“Fuck,” I cursed. Hopefully Stefania would take my money to fix her place and even do some renovations she wanted—but most importantly, she’d do as I asked and keep her mouth shut or this whole incident would start a war we didn’t need. And God forbit that ever happened, or it wouldn’t be pretty.
23
Marinka
A racket ensuedwhen someone barged inside the penthouse, so I flew out of my room. Marco had been guarding the door this time, but he wasn’t there when I came out.
Marco carried in an injured Andreas, whose front was soaked with blood. Pedro, on the other hand, held Sebastian, who limped inside, his face twisted in a grimace. He also had a split lip and his face was bruised, eyes puffy and swollen. I ran after them, panicked.
“What happened?” I asked Pedro when he placed Sebastian on the sofa. Marco disappeared with Andreas inside a bedroom.
“There was a disagreement in the restaurant. Can you take care of him? I need to go help Marco with Andreas. The Italian fucker shot him,” Pedro asked.
“Yes, yes, of course, but aren’t you supposed to take them to the hospital?” I touched Sebastian’s face, and he winced.
“No, he that’s too risky. Just ask Penelope to tell you where all the painkiller drugs are. The doctor’s on his way.” I nodded. “I think Sebastian is fine,” he reassured in a softer tone. “Just bruised and maybe a few broken ribs. He got a little worse in the car, but that’s normal…”
I wanted to ask more questions, but he was already in the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. Sebastian hissed in pain, drawing my attention.
“Fuck,” I said, not really knowing what to do. Sebastian was always so well put together and I’d never seen him like this. I rushed to a bathroom, grabbed a face towel, and ran it under warm water, then squeezed it. While I was there, I opened the cabinet, hoping I’d find something. I grabbed some ibuprofen from the cabinet, then headed to the kitchen to fill a glass with water. I rushed back to him, setting the glass and pills on a side table before dabbing forehead gently with the towel. Then, I pressed it carefully to his lips, attempting to clean away the dried blood around where the skin was broken. He moaned.
“Marinka,” he gasped, holding on to his left side.
“Hold on. Take these. I handed him a couple of tablets and lifted his head, tilting the glass of water to his lips. When he’d swallowed the pills, I leaned his head back against the sofa and put the glass down. Succumbing to the urge, I deposited a light kiss on his undamaged cheek.. If the painkillers didn’t work—which I suspected they wouldn’t—I’d have to call Penelope to ask for something stronger, as well as a first aid kit. But maybe by then, the doctor would have arrived. I didn’t want to do too much in case I made things worse.
Sebastian dozed off and I checked his pulse, just to be sure. Going to the bathroom, I got a fresh towel and wet it, as hot as I could make it, then folded it and went to work on his face and neck. I needed to keep busy while we waited for the doctor.
