AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He exhales harshly through his nose, glaring at me. After a moment, he squeezes his eyes shut; they pop back open, and he gives an almost imperceptible nod. Turning his attention back to Todd, he adjusts his hold on the gun and cocks it.
Gasps fill the air around us, people scattering and scrambling to get as far away from the weapon as possible. Liv finally breaks through the throng and glues herself to my side, trying to pull me away. But I don’t budge. Don’t want to.
This is exactly what I came here to see.
Todd scowls, taking a step back. “What the fuck, man? You gonna just shoot me in public? Itoldyou, she came onto me. Why aren’t you dealing with her?”
“Gia, Marco.” The two men from before rush over to Elia’s side, ready to take on orders. “Get these people out of here. We’re closing early.”
The VIP lounge is already pretty empty at this point, with people not looking to get caught in the crossfire. The music overhead silences, the lights dimming and then shining fluorescent, lighting the entire club. We watch, frozen in time, as bouncers filter people out of the front doors. One of the men from before—Gia or Marco, whoever has the tattoos—drags the female bartender out from where she’s doing inventory and toward the back of the club, disappearing with her through a side door.
“What the hell is happening?” Liv whispers into my ear, arms winding around my waist. She buries her face into my neck, burrowing like she would when we were kids watching scary movies. Like monsters go away if you stop looking at them.
“Nothing good.”
“I wanted tonight to be fun. Stuff like this wasn’t supposed to happen. I’m sorry, Care.”
I pat her back, sure it’s the alcohol talking, unable to voice my true feelings—that this is the best night out I’ve ever had, that my pussy clenches and throbs with each passing second of Elia pointing his gun in Todd’s face.
Jesus, I’m fucked up.
“You’re a businessman, Elia. Surely we can come up with some kind of deal here.” Todd swallows, wiping his palms on his cargo shorts. His gaze shifts around the room, still searching, as if he thinks he might actually be able to run. “I really didn’t mean anything by it.”
“We probably could’ve settled this civilly, except for the fact that you keep disrespecting me by calling meElia, and not only were your hands on my fucking wife but when she told you to release her, you didn’t. Tell me,Todd, how many other girls have been in her position? How many am I avenging by killing you right here, right fucking now?”
Todd’s eyebrows shoot up, and he opens his mouth to speak again, but before he has a chance, Elia’s shoving himself forward while one of the men from before wraps their arms around Liv and me, dragging us away from the scene. Liv’s body faces the other way as she complies, but I keep my head turned, trained on my husband’s lithe form.
He grips the back of Todd’s graying hair, right at the base of his neck, and tilts it back until it’s perpendicular to the ceiling. I watch, keeping in step as the man pulls us to the stairs; Todd’s eyes widen impossibly, mouth going slack.
Elia takes the barrel of his .22 and pushes it inside the man’s mouth, forcing it in until the trigger resists against his chin. He’s saying something to him, a menacing look on his face that I can almostfeelfrom where I’m retreating.
There’s a muffled popping sound, though I can’t tell if it’s muffled through the drunken haze waxing and waning against my brain, or if there’s some kind of silencer on the pistol.
I recoil out of reflex, pulling my hand from the Montalto man’s grip, and lean against the balcony; Todd’s eyes are stuck open, unseeing, as Elia lets him fall to the floor. His mouth gapes, but I can’t see the wound. As my husband turns and tucks the gun into the waistband of his slacks, he glances up at me, pausing.
There’s bright red blood staining his hands and splattered across his face. It pools beneath where Todd’s head has landed, face turned, hiding the mess.
But I can imagine it. Can sense it, smell its smoky, metallic existence.One down, still more to go.
My head swims the longer I stare at Todd’s lifeless form, and just as I turn on my heel to find Liv again, my knees buckle, snapping like measly twigs. I go down, my vision blurring and fading to black as my body collides with the floor.
SHIT, SHIT, SHIT.
I bolt up the stairs, ignoring the shouts from Benny and Gia, racing to catch my wife before she collapses entirely. The fact that I’ve just killed a man in my own club doesn’t even register, a complete afterthought the moment I see her falling.
Her head bounces off the hardwood, blond hair splaying limply around her like an explosion. Dropping to my knees and wiping my hands on my pants, I curse under my breath. “Caroline,” I whisper, a futile attempt to lure her back to consciousness, my palms drifting to cradle her face. She’s clammy, feverish, and it makes my heart ache.
I shouldn’t give a shit. In fact, I should be pissed about everything that’s happened today: her assault earlier and then her disappearance, that pervert having his hands on what’smine.
But none of that mattered once I saw the vulnerability in her blue eyes, a need lurking like a ship lost at sea.
The fear I could smell sweating from her pores when she realized he wasn’t letting her go. The way she leaned into my touch, my body like she needed an anchor—needed my support.
Needed me the way I’m beginning to need her, an automatic response derived from being two halves of a whole picture.
I can’t deny how good that fucking felt; everything else be damned. I might be way in over my head here, but my brain is starting to catch up with my stupid, black heart, wondering what it’d be like if this marriage between us was real. Wondering what it might feel like not to have to let her go, after all.
The scene playing out before me is too similar to a memory I haven’t allowed myself to think about in years, and it sets my bones on fucking fire that I’m still unable to do anything.
