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This was a fucking mistake.
“Money means nothing when reputation is at stake,” Bartiste continues, and I’m so tense, I could snap in half. “I’m keeping my promise to those whores of yours. I’m going to take them, put them to some hard, grueling tests to see what they’re made of. I’ll do that shy bitch myself, just like I promised. And then we’ll use them the best way we know how. Hard—until their cunts wither and nothing will be left of them. But that shy one might go up for auction. She has what it takes, that innocent look about her. Well… we’ll see once I’m done with her.”
Darkness descends upon me. Visions of this slimy creature putting his hands onmywoman. His guts on the floor in front of me. His head mounted as a trophy in my office. He will never. Ever. Get to even look in her goddamn direction!
I suddenly realize that my gun is aimed straight at Bartiste.
“Cheeky. You sneaked that piece in. You better put it down, boy,” he warns.
There was ano gunrule. We all checked each other before we entered, but I know how to hide mine.
“That’s not how it works, old man. You can’t come on our turf, threaten our women, and make the rules. No matter what happened in the past, we approached you, gentlemen to gentlemen. Proposed a fucking. Generous. Solution.” Each word I speak comes out more seething than the last, my throat straining as I struggle not to rage at him. “So, considering the circumstances, if I were you, I’d count myself lucky I’m not chewing on a bullet right now. This gun stays up until you agree to the offer, then fuck off from the South Coast. If you do not agree, none of you motherfuckers leave.”
The tension in the air isn’t cleared up by the contrasting gentle sea breeze sweeping the terrace. The complete opposite happens. I don’t even dare to turn and look at my brothers, at our men. I know they’re ready to fight, even if some of them might think I’m fucking stupid right now for being so goddamn emotional and reckless.
But was there another choice? No fucking way. Not when this pitiful excuse of a man speaks that way about them. Abouther.Annika.
Myfucking Annika!
Goosebumps snake around my neck, along with the need to crack it, just as the expression in Bartiste’s eyes shifts. They look exactly the same, it makes no sense, but something in them is almost unnoticeably different and my gut tells me to press the trigger. He knows something we don’t.
This is bad. This is really bad.
It lasts a moment more before the unnoticeable becomes very much noticeable, cracking into a grin just as he turns his head slowly toward the sea. He doesn’t seem to give two shits about the gun aimed perfectly at his chest.
I don’t have time to wonder why he turned his attention. A blast splits the eerie silence, breaking my attention from the man. First instinct is to check if I have to take cover. But it sounded like it came from afar. Second instinct is to look in the same direction as Bartiste. But I only dare to peek for a split second—the marina.I keep my eyes on him with a sinking feeling in my gut, but I swallow the bile and stay silent. My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I hear the same distinctive noise from the guys around me.
“You should check that,” Bartiste says as he turns his attention back to me and nods with that slimy grin.
I quickly pull out the phone and a message from Carter lights up the screen.
Our boat was blown up in the marina. Something’s not right.
“All it took is one of your men. The right one. He broke so easily. Turns out, there’s some pretty islands around here.”
Fuck this shit!
I shoot my gun at Bartiste, but some asshole jumps and takes the bullet for him as he hurries away. Then it happens all at once. His men crowd us. Knives out. A cacophony of grunts and roars sounds as we jump straight into action. More men show up out of nowhere to pull him away. I hear Maddox’s distinctive raging growls somewhere around me. Something hard and sharp slams against my right cheek as I’m distracted trying to aim for that slimy motherfucker again. I manage to shoot three more rounds in between punches. Screams sound, but I don’t know where they’re coming from. Did I hit him?
There’re two on me now and no sign of their boss. Instinct kicks in and I pistol-whip one straight in the cheek, the distinct crack of bones fueling me. But I get tackled and, in this madness, I can’t even tell how many are on me. I struggle against them, punching and shoving into them, yet I can’t seem to get unstuck. Annika’s beautiful face flashes for a moment before my eyes. A deep roar shakes everything around us, and I manage to break free and get back on my feet.Was that me?The predicament sinks into the depths of my goddamn soul and when another man tries to come at me, I fall into a frenzy, punching him in the ribs in rapid succession, backing him up until he’s bent over backwards against the stonewall of the terrace, choking on his own goddamn blood.
Another man grabs me from behind, and I shift against him, but not quick enough to avoid the blade that sinks in my back all the way through. Before I can even think to move away, another guy approaches from my left and something slams hard against my cheek turning my world upside down. The impact echoes inside my skull, creating a strange sort of hollowness.
I don’t hear a crack, though. And the knife’s still in.
Good. At least I’m not bleeding out.
Yet I wish it would hurt. I wish adrenaline wouldn’t fuel me because I fucking deserve the pain.
Annika’s sweet voice echoes in my mind. Begging me to come to her and not do this. Run away, hide from the man who is now so much closer to her.
Because of me.
I failed.
I snap my head back, feeling the crunch of bones as it connects with the asshole’s nose, then I elbow him hard enough that he releases me. I dodge the next punch from the guy to my left, charging into him until we crash into a hard wall.
Only it’s not a wall at all—it’s Madds.
