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“Your father was wise to have you trained in such valuable skills.”
A shudder ran through her frame, but she said nothing further.
I stepped over the body, taking care of the knife myself. “Come. Let me take you back to the villa.”
Chapter 18 – Talia
Itook a shudderingbreath as the butcher wrapped my knife in a handkerchief and placed it in an internal jacket pocket. He was the last person I expected to see, yet his presence initiated a spike of adrenaline. My enemy had seen me end this worthless thug. Drakos now knew, to some extent, what I was capable of. This turn of events needed to be downplayed. He couldn’t know I was proficient with weapons.
I added a tremble to my voice as I breathed, “He was going to—he tried to—”
“I know.” The butcher stepped close but didn’t touch me. “I saw.”
“How?” I blurted. He’d appeared out of nowhere.
The butcher let out a short breath. “I came to join my wife for an innocent dinner but was unfortunately delayed. Upon my arrival, I was considerably shocked to discover a member of the seedy underbelly sitting across from you.”
That confession sent a jolt of surprise through me. He’d come...to be with me?
“Oh, don’t be so surprised, wife. I know I’ve neglected you, but that’s something I plan to remedy.”
His words were a caress. I swallowed hard as I gazed up into his eyes. The sound of an engine ripping saved me from having to answer. It would have been the time to be coy and flirt, but my body was in survival mode and the encounter with Gregor Strapenopilis had me shaking internally. So when the butcher pushed me back into an arched doorway, I instantly prepared for an attack.
Two motor bikes came into the alley from either side. The butcher pulled a pistol with a silencer from his waistband. He aimed and fired, and the first bike flipped in the wake of the report. But return fire rained on us from the other—and it was a fully automatic rifle.
“Fuck!” the butcher hissed, pressing into me as he attempted to shield my body from the plaster and mortar falling around our heads. “Talia, I’m going to drop. Take this and shoot the fucker.”
“But he could shoot you!” I gripped the pistol, but the butcher was already falling into the street, hitting the ground hard. He lay there, still as death.
I should shoot him.The thought came out of nowhere. It would solve the problem at hand. The butcher would be dead once and for all. Yet, I hesitated with my finger on the trigger. In that moment, the second motorbike pulled up short. The rider dismounted and lifted his visor to take in the dead boss, and then approached the butcher. The rider raised his gun. My heart skipped; I had a second to act.
My finger squeezed the trigger, and I poured the clip into the motorist’s chest.
I felt the world tilt. Adrenaline forced a wave of tunnel vision, and my body became unbalanced.
The butcher sprang from the ground. “Nice shooting, princess.”
