The hits stop coming. Are they done beating me? Is it time to end this with a bullet between my eyes?
There’s a shout. Then gunfire peppers the ground around me. Letting my eyelids close, I accept the inevitable. This will soon be over. They’ll leave my body for the crows.
Elena’s gorgeous face flashes behind my eyelids. Her laughter fills my ears.
“What the fuck are you doing? Praying for a miracle?” A man’s Russian accent jolts me back to reality. With it comes a tsunami of pain. I grit my teeth, and still a groan rumbles in my throat.
Glancing up, a familiar face swims into view.
“Dimitri?”
“Yeah. Did they damage your brain?” He taps the side of his gun to his skull. “Get up, Max.”
Fighting down the pain and nausea, I climb to my feet. My face pulses like it’s been through a pulverizer, and at least three of my ribs are cracked. Apart from that, I’m good—I’m alive.
How the fuck am I alive?
Shaking my head to clear it, I take in Dimitri and a dozen of his Bratva soldiers. Lazaro’s men lie bleeding out amid the garbage. The man himself waits on his knees, two guns aimed at his head. My, my how the tables have turned.
I glance at Dimitri. “How did you find me?”
“Baron told us. Something about hacking your phone. I don’t know.” He shrugs. “Anyway, that one’s all yours.” He hands me his gun.
Lazaro sneers as I approach him.
“How did you get away earlier? I had you secured and guarded in that room.”
“Guarded by four men who I already bought. Everyone has a price, Pontrelli. Loyalty isn’t free anymore.” He spits at my feet. “You shouldn’t have put me on ice. Never leave a job unfinished. That’s a rookie mistake.”
“Lesson learned.” I raise the gun to his head and pull the trigger. Thank fuck that’s finally done.
Retrieving my own weapons, I hand Dimitri’s back to him. “Thanks. Now I need to get to Elena.”
“Yeah, I know. Let’s go.” He heads off through towering mounds of junk. “This way.”
“I’ll take my car?—”
“Too slow.”
I don’t know what he means, so I follow after him. The rest of his men fall into line behind me. A few minutes later, we emerge into another large clearing at the dump. A helicopter rests in the center. Now I see what Dimitri means by the car being too slow.
The Russian climbs inside and fires it up.
Fuck, yes.Elena, I’m coming for you. Hold on,bellissima.
CHAPTER 58
Elena
Ipull the trigger so close to Niccolò’s face it leaves a burn mark. He grunts. The man’s invincible. I’m trying to shoot him without hitting Julianna, who’s clinging to his back like a wild animal. Niccolò wrestles me for the gun, while also swinging a fist at Julianna.
She gouges her thumbs into his eye sockets. He roars and stumbles back. His knees give out, and suddenly I’m pinned beneath his suffocating weight.
Niccolò manages to throw Julianna off. Her small, delicate frame crashes into the wall. She whimpers. And goes still.
My finger presses the trigger again. Niccolò keeps my arm pinned to the floor. I empty the gun into the opposite wall, rendering its bullets useless. I’d rather be disarmed than let Niccolò get his hands on the weapon. He already has too much of an advantage over us.
Rearing back, Niccolò slams his face into mine. White spots dance behind my vision. My grip loosens and he slips the gun from my hands. Instinctively, I shield my face. He brings the butt of the gun down on my arms. Agony flairs through my flesh and rattles my bones.
