Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
My eyes watered.
My lips trembled.
My body fucking shook.
“Sin, don’t do this to me. You fight! Do you understand me? Don’t you ever surrender to anyone! Not even me!”
“Cruz, I love you,” Adriana exclaimed, speaking for the first time. “I knew you’d find me.” Tears slid down the sides of her face. “You found me, okay? I’m right here. Do not leave her life in my hands. I don’t want the grievance of that. You might as well kill me, because I won’t be able to live with myself if you choose me. Please, brother. I understand.”
“Ari…I can’t…” I couldn’t breathe. My heart was breaking, my body falling apart. “I can’t do this! Michael! Please! Just kill me!”
The shattered look in their eyes and the broken expression on their faces taunted Michael to keep going. “Choose! You have three seconds to decide, before I do it for you!”
“Please!” I sucked in air, forcing myself to keep going. Willing my mouth to move. The pain, the agony, the remorse, hitting me hard and all at once. My chest ached and burned. My heart breaking, bleeding out for all to see.
“Three.”
I was choking, hyperventilating, drowning deeper in my despair. There was no saving me from myself.
“Noooooo!” Papá whipped his body around, ragging from the inside out.
“Two.”
“I can’t! Kill me! Just fucking kill me!” I repeated, feeling as though I couldn’t go on anymore. I wanted to die, I needed to die. My body fiercely battled with itself in a way it never had before.
“One.”
The torment.
The remorse.
My demons.
Grasping for the very first time that my number one demon had been Michael, my grandfather all along. The destruction and devastation he brought into my life from the minute he took Ari and I walked into this room.
This hell.
“Times up, motherfucker!”
“Nooooooooo!” I sprang forward as he pulled the trigger.
Never anticipating the rest.
Bang!
I would recall this split second for the rest of my life. I swear it felt like a slow-motion bullet as the sound of gunfire shook off the walls. Watching as Vitale forcefully shoved Adriana out of the way, knocking her to the ground. His body jolted back from the impact of the bullet he just took for her in the side of his stomach.
Before I could tackle Michael to the ground, another bullet resounded through the air.
Bang!
At first, I didn’t know what the fuck happened. All that could be heard was the distinct sound of gun powder exploding in the shell. Another bullet whizzing through the air and popping when it hit its target. It wasn’t until Michael’s head exploded a few feet away from my face, that I realized someone just shot him from behind. His lifeless body dropped to the ground in one loud, hard thud.
All eyes shot in the direction the bullet came from. For a few seconds, no one moved, no one made a sound, including me. There was an indisputable sense of awareness piercing through the room. Deep and arduous. Stifling and unsettling. Despairing and merciless.
Death.
“Holy shit,” I breathed out, when I saw her standing there by another door. Holding a gun firmly in her hand.
“No one fucks with my family. Not even…my father,” Mamá declared.
Almost knocking me on my ass.
Chapter 44
—Cruz—
Ari was the first to break the silence. “Oh my God. Christiano, are you okay? You saved my life.”
Christiano? She knew his first name?
The shocked expression on his face mirrored ours. It was obvious he was blown away by his own actions as much as we were. I didn’t know which was worse. Saving my sister’s life on pure instinct, or that it wasn’t his choice. Simply meaning, deep down…
He cared about her.
What the fuck?
Mamá hurried across the room, running straight toward our father.
“Alejandro,” she rasped, falling to her knees. Instantly grabbing ahold of his battered, bleeding face.
However, he snapped his chin away, stating, “I’m fine.”
His ego was a trait our mother was used to. She went to work on freeing him from the ties that bound him to the chair.
My fist connected with the mirror on the vanity, punching it, and grabbing a shard of glass. I walked toward Ari to cut off her ties.
Once she was free, she threw her bruised arms around my neck, whispering, “I love you,” in my ear.
I hugged her close for a few seconds, needing to feel her in my embrace. I’d been dreaming about this moment for what felt like decades. As soon as I let her go, she bolted toward Vitale to help him, but her efforts were cut short when our men rushed into the bedroom.
Guns ready for battle.
Followed by El Capo and Gino.
Vitale took one look at them and shoved Ari’s arms out of the way. With his hand firmly placed on his stomach, he jumped up and hauled ass toward the window. Shielding his face before busting through the glass. He tumbled onto the roof, disappearing in the darkness like he was never there to begin with. Our men leapt into action, tailing his escape.