Chapter Twenty-Four: LEO
Thelockexplodedinwardbeneath my boot with a deafening crack of splintering wood and twisted metal.
The suite doors slammed violently against the walls hard enough to shake the glass shelves lining the bar. Smoke curled through the entryway from the charge Sergio’s men used downstairs, drifting into the luxury suite in pale gray ribbons that smelled like burning chemicals and gunpowder. Somewhere behind me, boots thundered over marble. Men shouted over each other. Weapons clicked.
I barely heard any of it. My entire world narrowed to one thing. Chiara. Alive.
Her blonde hair spilled wildly around her shoulders, tangled from the rain and panic. Her oversized coat hung half-open over trembling legs. Her eyes—those huge blue eyes that had glared at me, fought me, hated me since the moment I dragged her from her father’s house—were wide with pure animal terror.
And Angelo Moretti’s hand was wrapped around her arm. Touching her. My vision darkened . Not metaphorically. Literally.
A black haze crept inward from the corners of my sight as something monstrous reared awake inside my chest. Every instinct I possessed sharpened at once into something primitive and lethal.
Chiara was mine to lock away. Mine to protect. Mine to ruin. Mine to worship. Not theirs. Never theirs.
“Take your hand off my wife,” I said. My voice came out terrifyingly calm. That was the dangerous part.
Angelo smiled slowly, bloodless lips curling despite the gun in my hand. Behind him, Edoardo lounged near the bar with one thick hand wrapped around a crystal tumbler of whiskey, like this was all entertainment to him. Like Chiara standing terrified between them was some amusing little family disagreement instead of a death sentence.
Finally,” Angelo murmured. “The mighty Serpent.”
I ignored him completely. My eyes stayed locked on Chiara. Not because I didn’t see the weapons. I saw every single one. I saw Edoardo’s guards positioned near the windows. Angelo’s men near the hallway. The glint of hidden pistols beneath jackets. The subtle shift of bodies preparing for violence.
I simply didn’t care. Because Chiara was shaking. And for the first time since I met her… That fear wasn’t directed at me. I watched her eyes dart frantically between Angelo and Edoardo. Watched the truth settle over her expression piece by piece. Horror. Revulsion. Understanding.
She finally saw them. Not charming. Not powerful. Not rescuers. Predators. And I wanted the entire fucking world dead for frightening her.
Angelo’s grip tightened slightly around her wrist. Chiara flinched. Something inside me snapped completely. I lifted the gun.
“Last warning.”
The smile vanished from Angelo’s face. Good.
“Always the same, Leo,” Edoardo drawled lazily from beside the bar. “The emotional Moretti. Your father would be humiliated to see what a bitch turned you into.”
My finger tightened on the trigger. Chiara’s gaze snapped to mine. “Leo…”
The sound of her saying my name nearly gutted me. Not because she sounded afraid. Because she sounded relieved. Angelo noticed too. Of course he did. His eyes sharpened.
“Interesting,” he murmured softly.
“You have three seconds to let her go,” I said.
“And if I don’t?” Angelo asked.
I shot him. The gunfire exploded through the suite like thunder. Chiara screamed. Blood erupted across Angelo’s white shirt as the bullet tore through his shoulder hard enough to spin him sideways. His grip broke. The second he let go of her—
She ran. Straight toward me. Not away. Toward me. The force of her body hitting mine nearly staggered me backward. She crashed against my chest, clutching fistfuls of my jacket with shaking hands while panicked breaths tore from her throat.
“Leo,” she gasped brokenly. “Leo!”
Something inside me stopped functioning correctly. I had expected hatred. Screaming. Resistance. Violence. Not this. Not her grabbing onto me like I was safety.
My arm wrapped around her automatically, dragging her tightly against me while I scanned the room over her head like an animal preparing to rip throats open.
Behind me, Sergio and my men flooded into the suite with weapons drawn. Then Edoardo smiled.
“Kill him,” he ordered casually. Silence followed.Cold. Heavy. Absolute.
