All I Believe (Firsts and Forever, #10)(68)

The car ground to a halt ten feet from us, and three of the doors were thrown open. Andreo and two huge men with permanent scowls burst out of the vehicle with guns drawn. Dante and Vincent had pulled their weapons, too. Vincent held one in each hand, aimed at the pair of thugs, who in turn pointed their weapons at my cousins. Meanwhile, Dante and Andreo’s guns were trained on each other. “Who are you?” Andreo demanded.

I answered for my cousins, trying to draw his focus away from them. “They’re no one, just a couple bodyguards I hired when I heard you were on your way here.”

Luca started to approach his brother, saying, “How the f*ck did you find this building? I’m using a burner phone, no way could you trace it here!”

Andreo swung the gun around so it was pointed at me and told his brother, “That’s close enough. I don’t want you to get any stupid ideas about disarming me to save your boyfriend.”

Luca stepped between me and the gun and said, “Knock that shit off and answer me! How did you find me?” A thought occurred to him, and he ran the lapels of his wool overcoat between his fingers. He then reached under the right lapel and pulled out a small, metal object. It was covered in tiny barbs and looked a bit like a burr. “Really? You planted a bug on me? What the f*ck is wrong with you, Andreo?”

“What’s wrong with me? You’re sitting here having a tea party with three f*cking Dombrusos, and you ask what’s wrong with me?” He turned his gaze on me and said, “I know those two aren’t bodyguards. Nice try, though. I remember their faces from the files we have on your family, I just can’t remember which one’s Dante.”

“I am,” Vincent said, stepping forward.

“Stop that,” Dante said, pulling his brother back and narrowing his eyes as he stared Andreo down. His voice rang with authority as he said, “I’m Dante Dombruso, and in case you hadn’t noticed, you’re on my turf right now. If you decide to prove to your brother just how big a psychopath you really are by pulling that trigger, know this: you’ll never make it out of San Francisco alive. The entire Dombruso family will hunt you down like dogs, and believe me when I say, they’ll show no mercy for the son of Sal Natori. They won’t kill you quick, either. They’ll make sure you and your lap dogs suffer, not just for this, but for generations of Natoris being a thorn in our side.”

Andreo swung the gun around and took two steps forward, pointing it directly at Dante’s forehead. My cousin didn’t flinch and his gaze didn’t waver in the slightest. He just kept staring Natori down, totally unphased. Even through my panic, I had to admire what a total badass my cousin was.

“So, what did you think was going to happen?” Andreo asked with a grin. “You’d make a big speech and I’d quake in fear before turning and running?”

“What I was hoping would happen is that you’d realize you’re in a no-win situation,” Dante said. “You start firing, we do, too. You somehow make it out alive, my family hunts you down. Why don’t you save us the trouble of killing you and crawl back under your rock?”


I stepped forward so I was standing beside Luca and told Andreo, “I know you’re not this unreasonable. You’re worried about your brother, and right now you’re probably incredibly pissed off at him. But how is that worth getting yourself killed? You’re the only real family Luca has. What’s he going to do if you die here?”

“He’ll probably throw a party,” Andreo said with a frown. “Luca doesn’t get it. He never has. Everything I do, I do for him. His safety is all that matters to me, and as long as you’re in the picture, he’s going to be in the crosshairs of the Dombruso family. I can’t allow that. If he ends up hating me for doing what I have to do, so be it.”

He swung the gun back around and pointed it at my heart, and Luca yelled, “Fucking stop it, Andreo!”

Since Andreo and his men had their backs to what was left of the glass wall, they didn’t see the big, black Ford Bronco approaching. Dante’s store was wired with an alarm system, of course, which had been triggered when the first SUV smashed through the wall. But it didn’t call the police. It called the family.

The Bronco crashed through a portion of the wall that was still standing. Andreo flinched when the glass shattered behind him. And that made him pull the trigger. The gun was still pointed at my chest.

I felt like everything was happening in slow motion. Fear paralyzed me, coursing through my veins, my breath catching in my throat. Someone was yelling over the noise of the engine and the shattering glass, but it sounded like they were far away. The crack of the gun echoed in my ears, loudest of all. I waited for the impact of the bullet. To my left, Luca was in motion.

In the next second, everything sped up again. More people were yelling. Luca collapsed as his brother lowered the weapon, shock and disbelief on his face. Luca had put himself between the bullet and me. He’d saved my life.

I looked down at him. He was on the floor, his eyes wide. A dark, wet stain was blooming on his grey shirt. He was bleeding out.

One second after that, I was in motion. I’d been trained for this, I’d worked as an EMT. I dropped to my knees, ripped his shirt open, and assessed the entry wound as I tore my shirt off. Then I wadded it up and pressed it to the wound to try to slow the blood loss as I yelled, “Call nine-one-one! He doesn’t have much time!”