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We may be monsters, but we’re monsters with something to protect. For now, that’s enough.
I’m drenched in blood, but most of it isn’t mine. As I walk over to the only man still breathing, the one who dropped the knife, Gino flinches and steps back to avoid me. “This one,” I say, kicking the man. “Who is he?”
Gino gives me a puzzled look. “That’s…that’s AJ.”
I nod. Then I twirl the knife and raise it above AJ’s prone body.
“No, wait!” Gino shouts.
I pause, looking over at Leo, who seems to have a war going on in his head. But then Leo nods and says, “Leave him.”
“Are you sure?” I ask. “There won’t ever be a better time.”
“I’ll deal with him later. But I don’t want my father to have any more excuses to tear this city apart in a war against the Castellanis.”
I hesitate for a moment, instincts screaming at me to finish the job. But if Leo wants AJ alive, then I suppose I’ll have to respect that decision. With a frustrated huff, I relent, stepping away.
I limp over to Leo, my body just about done. But as Leo’s eyes meet mine, filled with gratitude and something deeper—a shared understanding—I get a second wind. I slice through the myriad zip ties binding him to the chair, and help him stand. As he slumps forward, I catch him. “Are you okay?”
He winces, but nods. “Thanks to you. Nice trick, that backflip off of the hook.”
I pull him against me, kissing him fiercely. Gino watches, astonishment written across his face, but I don’t care.
Let him see what love truly looks like.
Leo clings to me, weak from the beating, but unbowed. He whispers in my ear, his breath hot against my skin, “I’m sorry I called you a little bitch.”
“Apology accepted,” I say. “I’m sure Aldo Junior will have much worse names for me soon enough.”
“He better have learned tonight,” Leo says, with a derisive glare at his unconscious brother. “And you have my word, Julian. He won’t lay a finger on you ever again.”
“You guys need to get out of here,” Gino says, nodding towards the exit. “But you need to lay me out first. AJ won’t know who hit him, but I need cover.”
“I’ll be delighted to knock you out,” I say to him.
Gino takes a step back.
Leo is leaning heavily on me for support, but trying to stand. “We need to give Gino his cover story, and then get the fuck out of here.”
“But where will we go? Your Family will go straight to your apartment, and Sandro still wants to lock me up.”
Leo turns to spit blood onto the floor. “Funny story there,” he says.
“Comeon,” Gino says, his voice low and urgent. “Leo, I need to get unconscious,fast.”
“Okay, okay,” Leo says. “Who do you want doing the lights out? Me or him?”
Gino stares at me in terror. “You, Leo. Shit,you.”
“Okay. Hold still.”
Moments later, Leo and I hobble out of the room together. I’m still naked and blood-covered, barely able to walk now that the a and Leo is hunched over in pain.
But we’re alive.
And we’re together.
Now we just need to get to safety.
