Snort.
Hades barrels around the corner with his tail wagging.
“My baby!” I crouch down to hug his bulletproof vest. Isn’t he cute?
Ares ambles over and drops a hand next to my foot.
I shriek, cringing away from the random limb. These dogs are covered in blood, likely having the time of their lives chewing on people. “Steph?”
She lifts a hand as she vomits into a plant in the corner. Ares walks next to her to eat the contents of her stomach from the dirt. “Nasty.”Retch. “Ass.”Retch.“Dogs.” She gags.
“How are you a nurse?” I tease.
She raises a middle finger, folding over to puke again.
Hades nudges me to move.
“Take me to Daddy,” I say.
The living room would win a decorating award if it weren’t for the Jackson Pollock spatter of blood, guts, and intestines across the once ivory space.
“Did you do this?” Hades wags his tail and lifts his chin.
The dogs are going to therapy with Benny.
They take off through a shattered glass door and head for the pool in the backyard.
“I need a vacation from my vacation.” Stephanie dry heaves.
“Join the club,” I mumble.
We sidestep more bodies, guts, and glass. Benny is halfway across the yard, cutting the distance with his stride.
Muscles flared.
A glower baring his teeth.
Blood everywhere.
We’ll both need long showers tonight, but he never looked finer and more menacing.
Stephanie lifts a tired hand. “I’ll go start the car.”
I don’t get the chance to cross the threshold. My head snaps back from a hand gripping my hair.
A gun clicks.
“Niece.”
Chapter 45
Pen, Flesh & Smiles
Bianca
Did this man call me his niece?
“Don’t fight,” his low pitch commands in Italian, the head of his gun pressed against my temple.
