The Marriage Debt (De Vos Mafia #2)(63)

Another bang makes him turn around.

It sounded like a gunshot.

“This’ll have to wait. Stay here.” The concern in his voice has me on edge.

Luca immediately runs off, leaving me completely in the dark and with a heart filled with turmoil.

What did he mean when he said it was never enough?

There’s no time to ask. Within seconds, there’s another bang.

This isn’t random anymore. It’s definitely gunshots.

Someone must be trying to break in.

Oh, my God. Is it my family? Have they had enough of the De Voses’ games? Are they coming to rescue me?

I can’t stop my feet from moving in the direction of the sound, desperate to know what’s going on. Curiosity overtakes the need to stay safe, huddled up in Luca’s office as I walk out the door.

The living room is filled with smoke. The sound of gunshots fills the room.

My heart beats in my throat as I step forward and stumble across the body of a guard.

A dead fucking guard.

Shit.

Blood pours from his head wound, and I go to my knees to check his pulse, but it’s definitely gone.

BANG!

I duck for cover behind the kitchen counter.

What the fuck? That was much closer than I thought they were.

They must be right near the front door, whoever they are.

And the mere thought of getting out of this difficult situation has my heart racing. Adrenaline surges through my body as I lift my head and look around the corner.

Smoke covers the area until another shot lights up the hallway.

Someone grunts.

THUD!

Something fell to the floor … or someone.

Was it Luca?

The thought makes my heart stop.

“You’re all alone.” It’s Luca. “Get out now or die a slow and painful death.”

Who is he talking to?

I hold my breath and take a step in the direction of the hallway. I need to know who’s there. What if it’s my father? I can’t let him sacrifice himself for me.

Another shot is audible, but it doesn’t stop me from inching closer and closer.

“Let her go.”

I stop in my tracks.

My heart almost stops beating as my jaw drops.

That voice …

I peer around the corner, and in an instant, our eyes connect.

Nick.





Chapter 26





Luca



* * *



Bullets and bloodstains are embedded in the walls, bodies of both my guards and the enemy littering the floor.

Whoever the fuck this asshole is, he came prepared.

But not fucking prepared enough.

I click in a new magazine and aim at the area I last saw movement. Each last one of them that dared to get close got a bullet through their brain. I know there are more. I don’t know where they are, but I’ll lure them out.

“You want her? Come get her,” I growl.

The silence is deafening until…

“There you are,” I say through gritted teeth as he appears from behind the corner of my guard room, blood pooling near the door.

No fucking wonder they didn’t detect him and alerted me before it was too late.

He came in through the side entrance and killed them one by one, stealth mode.

The only motherfucker standing between them and my penthouse was Max. He’s still right in front of the door, coughing up blood.

Fuck.

I’m gonna have a tough time replacing these loyal men.

This fucker is gonna pay if Max dies.

But the look on that asshole’s face makes me do a double take. Because he isn’t fucking looking at me … he’s looking at something behind me.

I turn my head only for a moment. Just one fucking moment to see what he’s seeing.

Jill. Staring at him with a wide-open mouth and giant eyes.

“Nick!” Jill yells, right as I turn to face him again.

“Stay back!” I bark.

BANG!

A bullet flies right past my face, grazing my skin until it bleeds. My hand instinctively reaches for my face, touching the red-hot blood and the scar this wound will undoubtedly leave on my face.

He’s got a gun pointed straight at my head.

“I told you, you’d fucking pay for what you did to her,” he growls.

“No, don’t shoot!” Jill’s voice repeats in my head as I point my gun right back at him, her plea fueling me to protect her and kill him.

As he aims, I pluck my knife from my pocket and chuck it right at him.

“Gah!” His groan sounds painful and loud, annoying to the ear.

The knife buried itself into his shin, and he’s collapsed underneath his own weight.

BANG!

The gun goes off.

The bullet misses me by a hair.

It shoots straight down into the penthouse and zooms right past Jill, who ducks for cover on the floor.

Fuck, he almost hit her.

“You motherfucker,” I growl, storming at him so fast it feels as though my muscles are on steroids.

I’ve never felt angrier than I do now as I grab his collar and throw him to the ground so I can knock his gun from his hand.

“You fucking shot at her!” I bark in his face.

“I was aiming at you, motherfucker! Let her go.”