CHAPTER 13
ROMEO

I jerked awake and looked at the clock. Just before three in the morning. I couldn't remember my dream, but the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end. My entire body was poised to fight, and I didn't know why.

Until I heard it.

Someone was moving around the house.

I sat there and listened to the movements. The heavy footfalls and the boots sticking to the floor. I listened to see if I could figure out how many there were, but I only heard one pair of feet. One lone man in the house, and I knew from the sounds that it wasn’t my brother. How they got in without triggering the alarm system was beyond me, so I had to assume there were at least two of them. One in the house and one of them monitoring the outside. Ready to move in case anything spun out of control.

Like me.

I slid from my bed and grabbed my gun from my bedside table. I slipped the full magazine into itand held it tightly in my hands. My mother was just down the hallway from me, and my brother was head-deep in his night shift with the familyworking. And no one dared to come over at such hours without calling me on my phone first. No, this was an intentional break-in. Whoever was in my fucking home was gunning for something. Looking for trouble. And I was going to give them what they came for.

I opened my door quietly and cleared the corners, then went to peek my head in on my mother. If someone was in that room with her, they would be the first to die. I kept my steps as quiet as I could, holding my breath as I cleared each corner. I pushed open each door upstairs leading all the way to the room my father and her shared when he was still alive. I reached for her doorknob and silently opened her door, then thrust my gun out in front of me and readied myself to shoot.

But she was fast asleep and didn’t seem to be disturbed by what was going on.

I went into her closet and looked around before charging into her bathroom. Once I knew no one was in the room with her, I went and locked all of her windows. I don’t know why in the hell she slept with them unlocked, but tonight she wouldn’t. I went over and locked her bathroom window, then locked her bedroom door from the inside before shutting it.

I knew she had a gun underneath her pillow. She’d have enough time to grab it if someone broke through the door.

As I made my way downstairs, the rustling grew closer. I cocked my gun and felt my way around the wall, feeling for the light switch. My steps were silent, even though I towered over most people. It was one of the first things my father ever taught me how to do. Walk with purpose and silence. Never announce your presence until you mean to. It was a lesson that had stuck with me throughout my years, and I was suddenly glad for his training.

It would allow me to keep my promise of protecting Mom.

It was dead silent, and I knew whoever was in the house had heard me cock my gun, but I was ready for them. No one had a right to come into my home and startle me awake. To frighten my mother in any way. My fingers reached around for the light switch so I could illuminate the room around us, but I moved too slowly.

Before I could flip on the light, something hit me in the back of the head. A searing, blinding pain shot through my forehead and tunneled my vision. I stumbled forward and hit the ground, watching as my gun slid from my hand. Sliding away from me and out of reach as I tried to catch my breath.

It was hard to breathe, and my gun spun into the darkness of the room.

I rolled out of the way, less than a second to react. Instincts were taking over as my body tried to deal with the pain. Tried to work through it and overcome it to keep my body stable. Something heavy and thick hammered into the marble tile floors. My eyes widened. I kicked out with my feet and caught the intruder in the stomach, listening as he stumbled back and groaned in pain.

He fell toward the stairs, and I was on my feet in an instant. I stumbled over to the man lying against the stairs and grabbed his shirt. I delivered a punch to the man’s jaw and heard it dislocate. I delivered another blow before I yanked him off the stairs, holding him in midair. I pulled his bloodied face to mine and looked into his unwavering stare.

“I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but you made a big mistake tonight.”

I grabbed the mask over his face, but I couldn't get it off before I was hit again from behind, like the fucking cowards they were. They couldn't even look me in the face and fight because they knew they had a disadvantage. They knew I’d tear them limb from limb. But the pain shooting through my body blackened my vision and I could feel blood dripping down my neck.

I stumbled to the side and fell onto my back, my blurry vision staring up at the ceiling.

I saw the darkness creeping from the corners of my eyes. I was choking on blood as my hands began to shake. Nausea was rolling my stomach. I tried to get up, but every move I made sent painful jolts of fire surging down to my toes.

“What should we do with him?” one man said.

“We should kill him,” the other man slurred.

“But that wasn’t our command. The boss doesn’t want him dead yet.”

“Fuck the boss. If this little bitch is out of our way, he’ll give us a fucking medal.”

“We follow orders. Until boss wants him dead. Then, maybe we have a bit of fun.”

“Well, we got what we came for. We need to get out before someone finds us.”

The masked men were standing over me, and I was helpless to rip their heads off. The darkness was all-consuming. I could feel my body shaking with pain. Blood was dribbling down the side of my cheek. My head felt like it was splitting in two. I could feel blood drying on the back of my neck as the two men left.

I drew in one last breath as I watched them leave before the darkness took me under, relieving me of the pain I felt and thrusting me into another world.

A world where Julia was in my arms, pregnant with my child, while Matteo cuddled into my chest.