Page 16 of Righteous Enforcer
This isn't just about survival anymore.
It's about making sure my daughter has a future, even if I'm not in it.
I grip my knives tighter, ready to fight, to survive or die trying.
The first attacker takes a step forward, gun lifted, lips parted to speak when his head snaps violently forward as the unmistakable sound of not one, but two gunshots echoes through the alley.
He crumples to the ground.
My heart leaps violently in my chest, the sound triggering primal fight-or-flight responses throughout my body.
"What the fuck—" The second man growls, turning toward the fourth intruder, who I’m getting the sense isn’t with them.
Two more shots ring out, one hitting him in the chest, the other in the head.
He drops.
Confusion washes over me.
I press back against the wall, my mind racing to make sense of what's happening.
The third attacker whips around, drawing his knife.
He lunges at the fourth man, who grabs his wrist, forcing his hand upward, driving the knife under his jaw and upward.
His body twitches until the fourth man releases him and he slumps to the ground.
I want to think we’ve been saved, but I’ve never been saved before.
Perhaps this is just a competitor wanting to keep whatever bounty the Bratva has on me.
"Mama?" Mirabella's terrified voice reaches me.
Unable to stop myself, I turn to her. She rushes out, and I drop to my knees to embrace her.
But I’m not sure the danger has passed. I turn toward the man as he approaches, ready to fight.
And then, my breath catches.
Adriano.
My Adriano.
For one heartbeat, joy floods through me—pure, unfiltered happiness that bursts through years of grief and longing.
The urge to run to him, to touch his face and make sure he's real, overwhelms me.
Then reality crashes down, cold and merciless.
He found me.
My blood turns to ice water in my veins.
This wasn't supposed to happen. He was never supposed to know I survived.
The elaborate deception, the staged death, the years in hiding, all of it for nothing.
Everything I've done to keep her safe, to keep us both hidden, has just shattered.
