“I tried to make you see. Show you that I was who you were supposed to be with,” he snarled through gritted teeth. “But you chose some bastard you didn’t even know.” The pressure at the back of my eyes was unbearable as was the sinking feeling in my stomach. “Do you have any idea how that made mefeel?” Rocco’s face twisted into a sadistic smile. “Sshh, don’t say anything, beautiful. It’s okay. He won’t be a problem for much longer. I’ve got plans for Kai Cain.”
There it was, the words to slap me back into reality and shake me from the shock of Rocco attempting to end my life.
As black splotches clouded my vision, I reached into my side and pulled out a blade. Too disoriented for precision, I drove the knife wherever I could. It took two stabs for him to realize what had happened. His grip loosened, and I sucked in one gasp of air before stabbing him a third time.
With wide eyes, Rocco put a hand to his side where blood was now dripping in a steady stream onto the floor. He regarded his bloodied fingers and flashed me the same insidious grin as before.
“So it really is over between you and me, huh?”
“Fuck you,” I choked out, still attempting to catch my breath.
He chuckled. “Nowthatis my biggest regret. Not having fucked you.” Rocco took two unsteady steps toward me. “Mostly because I was trying to be the good guy. And what did that get me?”
“Fucked anyway,” I said, throwing the knife into his abdomen.
He fell to his knees and looked down at the black handle protruding from his body. “Bitch, I liked this shirt.”
I fisted the top of his hair, tilting his head back while I pushed the knife deeper, forcing grunts and growls from him as he jolted. Tears burned my eyes as I mourned for who I thought was a friend and how this tragic moment was our end. Despite everything, I felt his loss, his betrayal deep in my soul, a scar I knew I’d never heal from.
“Amalia,” he whispered, reaching for me.
“Shut up,” I cried. “You don’t get to speak to me.” Tearing the knife from his abdomen, I pressed it to his throat. “See you in hell, friend.”
“How about…we get there together?” Rocco gripped my hair with one hand and my wrist with the other, yanking me forward and laying me out on my back. The knife flew and slid across the floor too far for me to make a run for it in time.
“Come here!”
He attempted to pin me, but I sucker-punched him in the jaw and twice in the wound on his side. I cursed having left my gun in the bedroom.
“Stop fighting me,” he seethed. And before I could react, he slapped me across the face. Ringing exploded in my ear on impact, leaving me vulnerable and disoriented again. Blinking rapidly and holding the sides of my head, I attempted to get to my feet, but he tackled and slammed me against the floor, causing a rush of painful air to leave my body.
“F—fuck…Rocco…stop.” I wasn’t sure if he hit me a second time. My thoughts were jumbled, my vision blurred, and there was no oxygen.
Fuck. He was strangling me again, only this time, I had nothing left to fight him off.
I clawed at his face, but it was impossible to get a grip. He was sweating, bloody, and fucking rabid.
They say your life flashes behind your eyes when you’re at death’s door, but maybe they’re wrong.
Kai’s face appeared first, followed by my parents, Gio, and even Milly. It was like hell’s way of taunting me, of showing me everything I’d be missing in my life.
“Let her go!”
No, Gio. No.
My brother’s voice gave me an extra dose of adrenaline, oxygen I didn’t know I had, to keep fighting. His blurry figure was doubled, but I could see he was holding a gun.
I couldn’t let him do it. Not again. Desperation set in, stealing the last of my oxygen reserves.
“Do it, kid. Prove you’re not a weak little fuck.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw a black object to my left, and I reached blindly, hoping beyond hope that it was my knife.
Rocco didn’t have time to react before I plunged it into the side of his throat. His grip loosened just enough for me to scrape in some air and the strength to tear it out and, this time, drive into his skull from beneath his chin.
A burst of blood poured out from his body and all over me. I tried to keep my mouth closed, but it was impossible as I was still panting. Gio dove forward and pushed Rocco’s convulsing body off me, gripping me by the shoulders and into a sitting position.
“Are you okay? Talk to me!” He was frantic and maybe hadn’t realized he was shaking me too fucking much.
