Carmine

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While I lie on the cold floor, I discount the sting in my left hand and jaw.

Cam’s sobbing, which is unlike her, and she widens her eyes at me once, signaling me.

Unexpectedly, Luca, who’s been quiet and on his knees the entire time, catches my gaze before he looks at Adriano and then both of them glance at me.

I cease my struggling and note that since Luca and Adriano have been inordinately cooperative, their guards are paying attention to whatever the hell Roman is doing to Eva.

Luca and Adriano shift backward slightly, and then Luca roars, “Now!”

“Son of a bitch!” Cam plunges forward.

The disruption causes my captor to loosen his hold, so I look up quickly and see Cam ripping Roman off of Eva just as Luca and Adriano spin on their knees and slam against each of their guard’s legs, making them collapse backward, seizing their guns. Adriano shoots one in the head while Luca wrestles with the other, putting a bullet in him as well. Then Adriano instantly turns back and fires a round, taking more guards out, I hope and fucking pray.

Meanwhile, I roll over, hurling my captor’s knee off and pulling his feet out from under him with a thunderous groan, and he lands on his ass as I surge upward. When he lifts his pistol, I kick it out of his hand before jamming my boot into his nose, breaking bones. Bending low, I snatch his revolver off the floor, and as I rise, I shoot him in the forehead without hesitation at the same time that Luca kills more of Roman’s soldiers.

When I swivel around, it’s pandemonium – Eva’s on the floor, kicking Gwen off her, and Cam’s wrestling on top of the man who was at Eva’s head, and in all the chaos, I can’t check to see how Eva’s doing.

“Cam, move!” I order, irate, and without even looking at me, she lurches to the side and I pull the trigger twice, murdering Roman’s last man when I hit him in the chest so that he flops backward.

After receiving a blow from Roman just as Gwen attempts to grab a fistful of Cam’s hair, Adriano shoves Gwen away and she runs off, but luckily, Luca goes after her.

Finally catching sight of Eva, I notice that her legs are bare and my outrage increases. But then Roman lands an uppercut to my chin, and although I sway backward, I manage to keep my eye on her, needing to know how she is for my sanity. Yet all I see is Cam pulling a crying Eva into her lap on the floor as Adriano moves in front of them, steadying his aim between Roman and me.

I duck beneath the swift arc of a fist—“Motherfucker, you’ll”—I block a left hook—“never, ever get away from me alive.” And I swerve to the side when Roman charges at me, causing him to stumble past me.

Roman turns and lunges at me, so I sidestep him, twist around, and bury my fist beneath his ribs. As he doubles over, I jam another fist into his temple, over and over, until he drops to his stomach, grunting and cursing. When Roman pushes himself up, I smash my shoe into his face with all my power, and he sinks down, disoriented, clutching his bloodied nose.

While I want to annihilate Roman, my desire to check on Eva wins out, so I command to no one in particular, “Detain him!”

To my surprise, Adriano shifts to me and presses his foot into Roman’s neck, snarling, “Well, well, well, seems like the tables have turned, motherfucker.”

At last, with numerous dead bodies and blood smattered around me, I go to Eva, my pistol dropping from my grip as I fall to my knees.

“Shhh...You’re okay now,” Cam says as she strokes Eva’s hair before peering up at me and mouthing, “I’m sorry.”

Disregarding her comment, I shout, “No, no!” when I spot blood spreading down Eva’s inner thighs.

Eva moves, relief flitting across her dirty face, and I take her into my lap, shielding her bare hips as much as I can with my arm. Witnessing marks on Eva’s normally unblemished legs softens my heart, and I cradle her cheek. “Please don’t tell me he fucked you?”

“No! He only tried to touch me,” she reveals – it doesn’t appease me, although I’m fucking thankful that Roman couldn’t take it any further, and she covers my hands with hers, always creating this intimacy that seems to soothe me just when I need it.

As my left hand and jawline burn in pain, my blood trickles onto Eva and she flinches. “Are you okay? Oh, my god! You’re bleeding so much.”

“Cover her up,” Cam says to me, grabbing Eva’s jeans off the floor and wrenching them up her legs and over her hips before she steps back again as I button them.

When I look up, Cam and Adriano are glowering at each other. “Did you have to jump on Roman?” he chides her, mad that his wife took such a risk.

“I know what it’s like to be assaulted, and it was our only chance to save ourselves,” she defends, and I understand why Cam’s so upset – she’s been in a similar situation before.

Impulsively, she rips off her sleeve, hunching next to Eva and me. “Give me your hand.”

While keeping Eva leaning against my arm, I give Cam my hand, wincing as she ties the fabric around it tightly, which stops the bleeding.

Then I frenziedly enfold Eva in my arms again as she grips my shirt like a lifeline, sobbing without sound, clearly in shock.

At that moment, Luca approaches with his arm hooked around Gwen’s throat and his gun pushed into her temple, stopping across from Adriano, who’s behind me with his foot still on Roman’s neck.

Tension coils my muscles, and I contemplate what to do. Eva’s wrecked and fearful shivering make me want to slaughter Roman as pure, unadulterated rage courses wildly through my every nerve and cell, and I ache for retribution. No one touches what’s mine.

“L-Let my sister go,” Roman stammers, trying to lift his head.

In reaction, Adriano pushes his foot harder into his nape and his arms flail. “No, no, Roman. You hurt my brother, then I will kill your sister.”

“He betrayed you!”

“Shut up! You know nothing. We are the Syndicate, and when push comes to shove, we will always protect our own. Too bad for you.” He applies more pressure, choking Roman.

“Stop it!” Gwen objects, crying, and at last, that arrogant look is wiped off her vindictive features.

And when Eva’s trembling runs through me, my fury expands to global proportions. So many thoughts roar inside me, but the last week with Eva has made me realize that I’d do anything to protect her. To keep her.

I now realize why I used to avoid affection. It’s torture to be attached to a woman who brings out these kinds of emotions. It’s heaven and hell. Affection complicates matters, and I’ve never experienced this kind of extreme outrage. She makes me lose all control, all reason. Like Luca loses control when it comes to Fallon. Like Adriano loses control when it comes to Cam. The one woman I wasn’t supposed to fall for has now brought me to my knees.

I rest my forehead against hers, eyes falling closed. “I need my revenge, Eva. For you, for me. This is the kind of man I am.”

She frowns as I guide her to stand up. Then I dip down, seize Roman’s knife from the floor, and turn around to him. Steadily, I go down on my haunches in front of him, ignoring the pain as I swipe some blood off my chin, and without warning, I yank his head back by his hair.

“What are you doing, Carmine?” Adriano demands, not lifting his foot from Roman’s neck.

“Let him, Adriano,” Cam requests, and he regards her for a second, then he nods at me to continue.

All I’m focused on is getting retribution. In an even tone, I tell Roman, “Do you know what I can’t stand? I can’t stand it when someone touches what’s mine. It really grates on my nerves. Now I’m going to do to you what you did to me. And so much more.” I glide the sharp edge of the blade over Roman’s stretched throat, lightly breaking the skin.

Then I take one wrist and slam it palm down onto the floor. “Since your filthy fingers have been inside my woman, I’m going to cut them.” And I repeatedly jam the tip of the knife into his fingers, using all my strength to shove in deep.

A piercing howl comes from Roman, and bones crack as I break his knuckles, blood spraying out and puddling on the floor.

Behind me, Gwen’s shrieking like a maniac, and I grin at a weeping Roman, ordering, “Shoot her in the knee.”

Eva recoils, yet contempt drips from her while she watches me practically chop off Roman’s fingers before Adriano aims his revolver at Gwen’s leg and pulls the trigger, hitting her knee just as Luca releases her so that she tumbles to the floor.

Roman is so weak at this point that Adriano steps back. Capturing his chin, I throw his words back at him, “Now I’m going to let you wonder how I’m torturing Gwen.” Then I raise my arm and slice the knife into his right eye, blood streaming into his mouth and a pathetic scream erupting from him as I slide it out slowly, and while he sobs, I cut the corners of his mouth.

“Oh, my god.” Eva shuts her eyes for a moment.

Adriano commands, “Carmine. Enough! We need to get going – we’re in a public place. You have your revenge. There’s no time to draw this out.”

Although I want to keep going, I do comprehend the need to act fast. I swipe the sweat off my upper lip while Roman shouts in sheer agony, gazing in disbelief at his deformed hand and shuddering in the aftermath of the pain. When he’s about to pass out, his head swaying, I release him and drop the knife, which clanks to the floor.

“Fine,” I say, standing up and turning to Gwen, who’s lying there curled up into a ball with an injured knee.

I tilt my head as I tell her how I really feel, “I would’ve never loved you because you’re not her.”

And with that, Adriano rushes us into action. “Carmine, take Eva and go. I’m sending Marc to your apartment to tend to your wounds. Luca, call Henry and have him check to see if there are any video cameras here. If so, he needs to delete any footage. Then have soldiers clean up this place and dispose of the bodies at our warehouse. They also need to rummage through some boxes to make it look like a break-in. Cam stays with me.” He beckons Cam to him.

“Fine. But what do we do with these two?” Luca inquires, signaling at Gwen and Roman.

Adriano glances at me in reaction, proving to me that he still sees me as his Consigliere.

“Kill them both,” I advise, holding out my hand to Eva and knowing she’s witnessed the mafia man inside me now. She’s seen my true killer’s soul, and I wait a few agonizing moments to see if it’s scared her.

Yet she entwines our fingers, and I guide her toward the exit while, behind us, a round of gunshots ring out.

Exhaustion pulls at me just as Adriano adds, “I’m coming to talk to you later, Carmine.”

“I know,” I reply right before we walk out the door, needing to be alone.

“Are we going home?” she asks in a voice that’s husky with drowsiness.

“Yes.” I don’t even second-guess that she refers to my place as home. No, I’m happy being with Eva. A battered but not broken Eva.

The streets are deserted as we stride back to the Astoria in the dark, holding on to each other yet still not knowing our fate.