7

Vincenzo's POV

Lorenzo crashed through the back door fifteen minutes later with a thrashing man in his arms.

“Enough with the resisting,” he barked at the poor bastard. “You’re captured. Give it up already.”

The man fell to the greasy tile floor and rose to his hands and knees. Dark eyes bounced from face to face in hope and desperation.

“There’s nowhere to go,” I informed him coldly.

The door leading out to the alley slammed closed with finality, rattling the stainless steel shelves. I had moved Raella into the kitchen to get away from the windows in the dining room. But with the numerous sinks and drains in the floor, that made a nice kill room, too.

The man started to say something, but I held up a hand and he immediately clammed up again.

I paced across the floor towards the man and gestured for him to sit up. He was small with stocky arms and legs. His neck was thick and his head was balding. When he sat up, he glared at me, lip curled.

I promptly slugged him in the face.

He collapsed forward again, wheezing out a curse. Raella gasped from somewhere behind me, but I couldn’t think about her now. I had to stay focused.

I crouched down in front of the man with a sneer on my face. “Why did you shoot at us?”

The man’s eyes were dark. He turned his head and spat on the floor before facing me again. “I wasn’t shooting at you.”

“Oh, so it was the windows you were after. Well then, nice shot. They never stood a chance.”

“I was aiming for her,” he hissed.

“Ah.” I frowned. “Then I stand corrected. You’re a fucking terrible shot.”

“It was a warning. I wanted to draw you outside.” He leaned around me to see Raella. “I wanted a clear shot at her.”

My fist connected with his soft jaw before I could stop myself.

“Fuck!” he complained as he spat out a bloody, broken tooth fragment. “If you’re going to kill me, just kill me.”

“You sound surprisingly eager for death.”

He spat blood and shrugged. “I’m dead either way. I failed the mission.”

I felt Raella inching closer. I held out an arm to stop her and she laid her hand on my wrist. It was a small gesture. Just a light touch. But it was far more distracting than it should have been. Same went for her strawberries-and-cream scent poisoning me more and more with every breath.

“Who sent you here?” I gritted out.

He shook his head. “I can’t tell you that.”

“You’re dead either way,” I reminded him. “No point in being shy now.”

“I’m dead either way, yeah. But my family is another matter. If I tell you who sent me, they’re dead, too. Unless…”

In the corner of my eyes, I saw Raella’s brows draw together. There was a small scrape along her jaw from the glass. I barely stopped myself from reaching out to dab the blood away.

The man swallowed. Then, before I could say anything else, he lunged forward at her.

She didn’t even have time to react before I grabbed the assassin by the throat and threw him back onto the stainless steel countertop.

“I’m sorry!” Raella gasped as she lunged backward. “I didn’t—I thought—”

“Don’t apologize,” I squeezed the man’s throat. He wrapped his hands around my wrist, but it would have taken three of him and a miracle to make me loosen my grip. “That’s his job. Come on now, bastard. Apologize to the lady.”

His mouth opened, a wheeze leaking out of his collapsing windpipe. I held him tighter. “Hurry. Apologize before it’s too late.”

His tongue looked swollen in his mouth. His eyes were bulging. He looked like an overripe tomato ready to pop.

“Vincenzo,” Raella breathed in warning.

She had mercy for the man who lunged for her, who shot at her—but I didn’t. If he didn’t do what I asked, he’d die right here. Right now.

No one was going to touch Raella before I got the chance to figure out what was running through that gorgeous head of hers. What secrets were hiding behind those green eyes and pouty lips.

“S-sorry,” the man finally rasped out. His eyes were rolling back in his head as the word oozed out of him.

“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I let go and he sucked in air in great wheezing gulps. “Now, tell me why you shot at her.”

He hacked up a phlegmy cough. If he was going to live to see tomorrow, he’d be sore.

As it was, that wouldn’t be a problem.

“Target practice.”

I growled in frustration, my hand itching towards his neck again. “Don’t fucking play with me, you fucking son of a bitch. You know what I want to know.”

He pressed a hand protectively to his neck and nodded. “I was sent here to make sure she died… so you two couldn’t get married.”

Fuck. Raella was indeed involved—but it wasn’t because of anything she did.

It was because of me.

“Married?” Raella spat. “We aren’t— Why would anyone think we were— Who sent you here?”

I leaned forward, looking into the man’s bloodshot eyes. “Answer her question.”

He clenched his jaw. “I can’t. My family… They’ll all die. Every one of them. I can’t—”

I held up a hand to silence him. “I understand family loyalty. You’re protecting them. There’s honor in that.”

Lorenzo shifted into view, an eyebrow raised. A question in his expression. Should I take Raella away first?

Probably. I didn’t usually offer outsiders a front-row seat to my criminal dealings. But I didn’t want her any farther away from me than she was right then. Not until I knew who was after her and why she might have been after me.

I gave a quick shake of my head and turned my attention back to the wannabe assassin in front of me.

“All I’d ever done was for my family,” he said. “I needed the money. I didn’t want to kill people, but I had to eat. You know?”

I nodded. “I knew. I understood. We all had to make tough choices.” He sighed, relief rolling off him. “I’m so glad you—”

“We also had to face the consequences of those choices.”

There was a beat of hesitation. A blissful second where he didn’t yet understand.

And then he did.

He stiffened, but it was too late. The gun was in my hand and pressed to his temple before he could plead for his pathetic life.

The shot rang out.

Raella screamed.

And the man who dared to hurt her went slithering to the ground.