Page 92 of By Blade, I Love
“Nothing to do with this?” he asked incredulously. “Literally the wife and kids of the Mafia head over here.”
“Being related doesn’t mean they’re involved,” I said.
He cocked his head. “Are you involved?”
“I am now, aren’t I?” I snapped.
The grin returned, and it looked like he tried to restrain it and failed. “What’s your plan, Lady Wolfe?”
“Let them go.”
“In exchange for…?” He cocked his head to the side.
“You can deal with me instead.” Despite the effort I was putting into trying to spare their lives, Rosaria and her girls continued to panic silently, like they were just a second away from their doom. The youngest girl had a visible stain on the front of her pants.
“You want to be hanged instead?” he asked in disbelief. “Oh sweetheart, you’re too pretty for that.”
“Don’t call me sweetheart.”
Within the snap of a finger, he changed. A flash of anger moved across his eyes, and he barked at me, “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.” He pushed to his feet with such force that the chair slid back.
I forgot how big he was until I watched him move like a goddamn bear.
“Let me guess.” He took a couple steps toward me, and even though he was still at least ten feet back, I felt like he was right up against me. “I let them go, and if you offer to take their place, you think your husband will scoop in at the last minute and save the day?”
I held my silence and stared.
“Because this little puppy sure ain’t gonna do shit,” he said as he looked at my brother. “Hate to break it to you, but Wolfe is dead.”
“No, he’s not,” I said automatically, because there simply wasn’t a reality in which I existed and he didn’t.
“You sure about that?” He cupped his hand to his ear and pretended to listen. “Hear all that out there? Doesn’t sound good.” The gunfire continued like the other side of the building was a literal war zone. “So your little plan isn’t going to work. You’ll die for nothing, and then I’m just going to kill everyone anyway.” He gave a shrug. “My boss’s orders. Pillage, execute, destroy…and claim. Making my way through the list. It’s hard to remember it all.” He crossed his arms over his chest and came to a stop in front of me. Then he stared me down. “So, you want to proceed with this?”
“Yes.”
He took a step toward me, stopped, and then took another step toward me, his chin tilting down the closer he came in order to look at my face. “Wow, you aren’t flinching. Impressive.”
“Let them go,” I repeated.
Now he was really close to me, and I definitely felt his evil aura wash over me like salt from the sea that stung cuts and burned. I didn’t have a clue how Wolfe had managed to handle this guy at the cemetery and agree to being buried alive. I would never understand the constitution of that man.
Leo moved slightly in front of me, his shoulder blocking mine.
Icarus found him so unthreatening that he ignored him. “I really didn’t want it to be this way. Wolfe may be my enemy, but who says you can’t respect your enemy? And I respect mine. I never intended to hurt you. Never intended to put you in that grave. And it’s a shame that you’re here now, because I have to hurt you.”
“Let them go?—”
“I’m not going to let them go!” He yelled unexpectedly once more, the echo coming back just as loudly as the words left his throat. “What I’m going to do is—” He reached into the back of his jeans and grabbed a pistol before he pointed it at me. “I’m going blow your fucking brains out, and then I’m going to hang them for all to see?—”
A gunshot went off.
And then another.
It happened so fast, I didn’t know what actually went down.
All I saw was Leo in front of me, and then he was on the ground. And then there was blood. And then Icarus was on the ground, and there was more blood. My ears started to ring from the sound, and my eyes suddenly went weak when I saw my dad lying on the floor, a pool of blood underneath him, his eyes losing their light as he slipped away.
Wolfe rushed over, and then there was a fight. Icarus was up from the ground, and the two men went at it.
