Page 144 of Twisted Temptation

"Eighteen months, Anton. And every move you made, I called in. Every deal, every meeting, every fucking plan." He leans closer. “I helped destroy you from the inside out, you evil piece of shit.”

Anton looks dazed as he realizes his entire operation has been infiltrated with a Di Zaro mole this entire time.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Anton growls with pain and betrayal.

"I’m his cousin." Tommy straightens up. "On his mother's side. Gallagher blood. Di Zaro loyalty." He looks at me. "He's all yours."

When I walk toward Anton, he tries to crawl backward, but I reach him before he can and crunch my foot down on his wounded knee. He lets out a scream.

"Your father built the Grazalov name on discipline and patience. You inherited it and turned it into a trafficking pipeline. You traded in women’s misery, and then you thought you could come for my casino." I crouch so he can see my face. "You were never going to build because I was never going to let you."

Tears cut through the sweat and saliva on Anton’s face. He murmurs insults at me in Russian like I wouldn’t understand what he is saying. But I’ve dealt with scarier bratva men than this crybaby, and I’ve heard them all before.

"Your father would spit on you," I tell him. “You never had what it takes to be a pakhan. You’d never be anything but a wannabe."

Anton looks up at me with glassy eyes. "My men will be in here in two minutes, and you will die.”

“I don’t think so. My men will be in here within seconds.”

He’s holding on to the last shred of hope that this will still work out in his favor. “You’ll never get away with this.”

Gunfire rattles outside. “Hear that? I just did.”

It’s John Marco and our security team taking out the remainder of Anton’s soldiers.

I’m not foolish enough to walk into a hornet’s nest without backup. The moment I parked my car, I sent John Marco the location and told him to bring hellfire.

I just needed the head start to make sure Sunny was safe before all hell broke loose.

"But what comes next," I say quietly, "that's for putting your hands on my wife."

I lean down and press the gun to his chest.

This is not the ending I want for him. I want to kill him slowly, take my time with him for putting his hands on my wife. But my wife doesn’t need to see the kind of gruesomeness that would involve.

What she needs is the closure she’ll get from his death. Not me pulling him apart organ by organ.

I look at her over my shoulder. “Look away, baby.”

When I turn back to Anton, he opens his mouth to beg.

But I pull the trigger before the first word leaves his lips.

The sound of the gunshot echoes off the concrete walls, and Anton falls backward onto the concrete, blood spreading across his fancy silver suit.

I stare at him for a long moment. Then I lower the weapon and turn to look at Sunny.

She’s watching the scene with wide eyes.

I go to her and pull her into my arms. "It’s okay, baby, he won’t ever harm you again."

She looks up at me with big eyes, and I wait for the horror to show on her face. But it doesn’t appear.

Instead, she takes my face in both her hands and pulls me down to her so she can kiss me hard and fierce, a kiss that tells me everything I need to know.

You came for me.

You did this for me.