King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC #6)(68)

No fucking way was he walking out of here with her.

That would happen over my dead fucking body.

I found her eyes again, silently begging her to stay strong, but she didn’t need my encouragement. Lily was fucking strong, and she wasn’t showing an ounce of fear now. That had disappeared from her eyes. The only thing I saw there now was determination.

D’Amato continued talking, but Lily drew my attention from his voice when her eyes widened and she started shifting her eyes to the side and back, over and over. Like she was trying to give me some kind of signal. Problem was, I had no idea what the fuck she meant. I glanced to the right in the direction she kept moving her eyes, but the only thing there was the couch and above that, the mezzanine level, so that couldn’t be what she was trying to get across to me.

“Are you listening to me, King?” D’Amato barked. At the same time, he threw his arms up in the air, showing his frustration.

Lily took her moment. She turned to her right, spinning around to face D’Amato, and pushed him hard as best she could with bound hands. He stumbled back, but he didn’t fall. I rushed at them, trying like fuck to get Lily away from him. While I did that, Hyde bellowed, “To the right!” and the sound of gunfire filled my home.

I had no idea what was happening behind me; my only focus was Lily. Unable to get my aim on D’Amato without the likelihood of hitting Lily, I lunged for him rather than shooting him. Lily was in the fucking way, so she went down with us. Our guns went flying, but I didn’t need a fucking weapon. I would kill this motherfucker with my bare fucking hands.

Fists flew and legs kicked while D’Amato and I fought like hell to kill each other. Thank fuck Lily got out of harm’s way. I couldn’t see her, but I knew she wasn’t anywhere near him. I managed to get my hands around his neck, and I reefed him up to a standing position, his back to my chest. However, he then used all his force to ram me backwards against the brick wall, winding the fuck out of me. The loud crack of my head as it hit the wall filled my ears and slowed me down as pain radiated through my skull. It only slowed me for a moment, but it was enough for D’Amato to gain the upper hand.

Turning quickly, he faced me and wrapped both hands around my neck. Squeezing the fucking life out of me, he snarled, “Change of plans, I’ll kill you first, and then your little plaything.”

My gaze focused behind him, taking in what was happening there. D’Amato had brought his own men with him, and they had engaged my men in battle. If I was to save my life and Lily’s, I had to fucking do it now before he choked me, because I had no backup to rely on.

And then Lily’s voice cut through the battle sounds. “Change of plans, motherfucker. I’ll kill you, and then my man will kill yours.” My eyes landed on her as she put my gun to D’Amato’s head and pulled the trigger.

I wasted no time pushing him out of the way, ignoring the blood and shit that splattered over me as she shot him. Ripping the gun from her, I headed into the fucking fray and lost my fucking shit, shooting at every last fucking cunt who’d threatened my woman’s and my men’s lives.

A fucking hurricane of fury raged out of me as I took down anyone who came at me. That he had put Lily through this drew my demons to the surface. They wanted to dance, and I welcomed that with open fucking arms. So we fucking danced. And when we were done, the place was a mess of dead bodies and blood splatter that fucking sang to me. It was like a goddam orchestra of death and destruction playing in my head, dragging me closer and closer to the edge of no return where the music played twenty-four-fucking-seven.

I’d fought against following that music my whole life.

Had kept my distance.

But it fucking called today.

When my woman almost died because of me, it fucking called.

As the last man standing took my bullet, I looked for her.

I needed to touch her.

Needed to know she was okay.

“King.”

I turned to her voice, finding her standing where I’d left her near D’Amato’s body. She watched me with that same fierce look of determination she’d had before. So fucking strong.

I closed the distance between us and she moved into my arms. Wrapping hers around me tightly, she said, “I thought you were going to die,” right before her first tear fell.

I held her until she stopped crying. Hyde called Nitro who’d been out on a job all day, and asked him to organise a cleaning crew. The place would take fucking hours to clean, but that was the least of my worries. My only concern was Lily and getting her the fuck out of here.

“I’m taking Lily home,” I said to Hyde.

He nodded. “Yeah, brother. We’ll get this shit sorted. Don’t bother coming back.”

I cleaned us up and organised for Devil to drive us to her place. I sat in the back with her, not letting her out of my arms. The emotions coursing through me were unlike any I had ever experienced. For the first time in my life, I had felt fear. It was a foreign feeling to me, and not one I ever fucking wanted to feel again.





28





Lily





I’d always wondered if there would be a moment in my life that punched me in the gut and winded me so badly I would struggle to recover. I’d thought I had come close when I discovered Linc cheated on me. I then thought I’d come closer when we divorced. And then when Brynn had been shot, I knew I’d reached that moment. However, when that man had threatened King’s life today, I finally knew I’d found the moment that would wind me so badly I wouldn’t be able to breathe for a long time.