"She was never yours."
"Everything in that basement is mine." His finger tightens on the trigger. "And now you've come back to take her again. That's twice you've cost me leverage. Twice you've interfered with my business."
"Then you should have killed me the first time."
"I'm correcting that mistake now."
He starts to squeeze the trigger and I'm already moving, diving to the side, and the shot goes wide and I'm rolling and coming up with my rifle raised.
I fire.
The bullet catches him center mass and he staggers backward, his gun dropping from his hand.
I fire again.
And again.
Three shots, close grouped, professional, and Declan O'Rourke goes down and stays down.
I stand over him and put one more bullet in his head to be sure.
For Isabella.
For what he did to her nine years ago.
For what he tried to do now.
He's dead before he hits the ground.
"Enzo!" Isabella's voice behind me.
I turn and she's there, pale and shaking, and I cross to her quickly and pull her against me.
"It's over," I say quietly. "He's dead. He can't hurt you anymore."
She nods against my chest but doesn't speak, just holds onto me.
"We need to move!" Matteo appears beside us, Vittorio with him, both covered in dust and blood that I don't think is theirs. "Rafael has the loading dock secured. We can get out now."
I keep one arm around Isabella and we move together toward the exit, stepping over Declan's body, avoiding the ongoing firefight, and finally we're outside in the cold air and there are vehicles waiting and our men are falling back, covering the retreat.
"Get her in the car," Matteo says to me.
I help Isabella into the back seat and she won't let go of me, her hands fisted in my vest.
"I'm coming with you," I say. "I'm right here."
Vittorio gets in on the other side, still silent, still looking shaken, and Matteo gets in the front.
Dante drives and we pull away from the warehouse fast, tires squealing, and behind us I can hear the last of the gunfire fading.
We're three blocks away when it happens.
A single shot from somewhere I can't see, and the back window explodes inward, and Vittorio makes a sound, surprised and pained.
He slumps forward.
"Vittorio!" Isabella reaches for him.
