“Oh, so he’snice, is that it?” Enzo sneers. “I hate to tell you, Natasha, but I’m not nice.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
“Nothing… yet. But when Maksim has gone and truly lost his mind, I’ll make sure to hurt you then. Just to rub salt in the wound.”
I shiver. “You’re evil.” It’s making me realize just how good I have it with Maksim. He’s never tried to hurt me – not once. I was so scared of him at first and now I know I never needed to be.
Enzo winks. “I’m a mafia man, Natasha. What do you expect.”
Before I can answer him, a loud boom happens from downstairs.
For the first time since meeting Enzo I see a flash of uncertainty on his face. He doesn’t know what’s happening either.
Enzo runs from the room and doesn’t shut the door behind him, giving me a chance to follow. When I reach the top of the stairs, I see multiple men running inside the house. The front door is on the ground, having been pushed in.
Of those men, I recognize some of them. Nikolai. Gregor. And Maksim.
To say Enzo looks shocked would be an understatement. “How the hell did they find this place?”
I’m expecting him to turn around and run but he doesn’t. Instead, he pulls a gun from his jacket pocket and runs down the stairs, firing bullets into the air. Nikolai, Gregor, and Maksim all have their own guns drawn as well. They fire at Enzo but he dives down a hallway, just barely avoiding getting hit.
“Don’t kill him,” Gregor says. “We don’t want a war.”
“You don’t want a war?” Enzo calls out. “Then you shouldn’t have come into my house firing off your guns.”
“We’re just here for Natasha,” Maksim says. “Give her to us and we’ll go. We won’t kill you, Enzo. But if you try shooting at us again, we’ll kill you.”
“Then you’ll have to deal with my men. My contacts. The mafia is powerful. More powerful than the Bratva and you know it. My men will kill all of you.”
“So then let’s not have a war,” Nikolai says, holding his gun in one hand in surrender. “Natasha comes with us and you’ll survive and we can go back to fighting like we’ve always done. How does that sound?”
Maksim glances up and does a double take when he sees me on the top step. “Natasha.”
“Maksim,” I cry out.
He rushes up the stairs towards me but not before Enzo runs from the hallway and shoots Maksim in the shoulder. Maksim slumps to the stairs while Nikolai runs at Enzo and clocks him in the head with his gun. Enzo falls to the ground, unconscious.
“Maksim!” I run to his side.
He’s gritting his teeth but otherwise looks unharmed. “I’m ok. Shot in the shoulder. It fucking hurts but I should be ok.” But right as he says it, his body gives out and he fully falls onto the stairs.
“Maksim. Help!”
Gregor runs up the stairs to us. “Maksim? Son?”
Maksim groans. “I’m fine. Just hurts.”
“We need to get you to the hospital,” he says. “Now. Nikolai, make sure Enzo won’t cause problems.”
“Of course.” Nikolai presses his gun to the back of Enzo’s unconscious head.
“Don’t kill him,” Gregor warns. “You know all of this will be worse if you do.”
“He shot Maksim. He’s looking for a fucking war. It might be time to give him one.”
“No. I’ll think of something. Let’s just get Maksim out of here.”
Nikolai thinks on it a moment before he puts his gun away. “Fine. It’s Enzo’s lucky fucking day.”
