“Finish him off,” I whisper. “I want to go home, and I want you to fuck me.”
He pulls back and smiles, carefully moves me out of the way. “Excuse me.”
I hop up onto the table and giggle as Ro puts his fist out for me to bump and then hands me a beer. Taking a sip, I watch in awe as Kage beats and brutalizes Vlad until there isn’t a single part of him undamaged. Kage whispers something in his ear and then finally slits his throat so deep it damn near decapitates him.
Pulling a different blade out of his back pocket, he carves the letters A.M. into his torso. Once he’s done, he comes over and puts his hand out for me to take. I smile as I hop down off the table and slip my hand in his. He tugs me into him and looks at Roman.
“Brand the words you’re next under my father’s initials and put him right back in the seat at the poker table we took him from,” he orders.
Ro nods. “Yes, sir.”
Kage drapes his arm over me and leads me from the room. As we get outside, it’s dark and pouring rain. My adrenaline is so high that the rain feels ice cold against my skin. I look up at the sky and close my eyes as it washes away all of the pain that’s been eating me alive.
I feel Kage’s hands on my hips and I spin into him, jumping into his arms and wrapping my legs around his waist. Running my fingers through his hair, I press my lips to his and kiss him like it’s the only thing keeping me alive. He smiles against my mouth, and when I pull away, I tilt my head back once more.
It’s liberating.
It’s invigorating.
It’s everything.
He puts me down and leads me to the car, opening the door for me before going around to his side. And as he pulls away from the building, I say the one thing that comes to mind.
“Best. Date. Ever.”
Some things have a way of making you feel alive. They reach into your soul and pull at the parts you thought were dead but just needed the right thing to wake them. That's exactly how I felt tonight, and goddamn is it amazing.
I run my fingers through my hair as Saxon sleeps soundly on my chest. It’s the first night she hasn’t tossed and turned, finally able to get a good night's sleep and not be haunted by nightmares. Her head rests over my heart, and I’ve never felt more content.
Watching her now, looking so innocent as she sleeps, you’d never believe the little monster she was only hours ago. All I wanted was to keep her away from the violence, but seeing her tonight and the way she inflicted pain on Vlad—she came alive in ways I never imagined.
She may have been born into an elite family and treated like a society princess, but she was destined to be a mafia wife.
With Vladimir taken care of, it’s now two down and one to go—not including Dalton, who Saxon is one-hundred-percent set on killing herself. She says she has a plan for them both, one she intends to keep to herself until the time is right. They deserve to suffer, and there is no doubt in my mind that she will make sure they do.
THE CLOCK IS TICKING, both literally and figuratively, as I stand in front of my house, waiting for Mattia to arrive with one of his friends. Dmitri will have found Vlad’s body by now, and knows that we’re coming for him next. That’s exactly what I wanted, but it comes with its fair share of risks. Dalton is getting closer to having legal possession of all our properties, and the second that happens, he’s going to sign them over to the Bratva.
I need to kill Dmitri before that happens.
A black car pulls into the driveway, and the two men get out. Mattia has always been a trusted PI to the family, so when he suggested I hire one of his friends to give him a better chance at finding Dmitri, it was a no-brainer.
“Mr. Malvagio,” Mattia greets me. “I’d like to introduce you to Costello Lugeri.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say, shaking his hand.
He nods. “The pleasure is mine. Mattia speaks very highly of you.”
“Yes, well, let’s hope he doesn’t say too much,” I counter.
“Of course,” Mattia answers. “So, are we going to go inside and discuss?”
I clasp my hands together. “Unfortunately, I’m having some renovations done. But I have the money here,” I pull a stack of bills from my pocket and hand them to Costello. “I added a little extra as an urgency incentive. I’m sure I can trust Mattia to get you up to speed on everything.”
Costello’s eyes widen when he sees the money. “Oh, okay. You don’t have an NDA for me to sign or anything?”
I chuckle, giving him my most charming smile. “Tell you what. You don’t fuck me over, and I’ll leave your limbs intact.”
He swallows harshly. “Understood, sir.”
“I thought so.” I shake both of their hands once more and nod once. “Thank you, gentlemen. I look forward to hearing from you soon.”
With that, I turn around and head back inside. Saxon waits impatiently in the living room, bouncing on her toes while in a tank top and shorts. When she sees me, a smile stretches across her face.
“Are you ready?”
I can’t help but snicker at her enthusiasm. “Just let me get changed.”
THE HOME GYM I have isn’t like many others. While you’d expect to see a bunch of workout equipment, a treadmill, and maybe a bike or an elliptical, that’s not the case for mine. Mirrors line two of the walls, making it so you can see the moves you make. The floor is spring-loaded and softer than a usual floor. There’s a punching bag in the one corner and different colors of tape sitting on a table with a stereo on it. The only gym-like equipment I have is a set of weights that sit in the far corner by the door, with their own mirror in front of them.
Saxon shifts from one foot to the other as I tape her hands the same way Ralph does mine. Once I’m done, I pick up the focus mitt and hold it in front of me.
“Okay, I want you to punch this as hard as you can,” I tell her.
She focuses on it, rearing back and throwing a punch into the padding that I can barely feel.
“No,” I deadpan. “Try again. Really throw all your weight into it.”
Her eyes narrow, and she tries again, a little harder this time but still not nearly enough. I shake the mitt from my hand and throw it to the ground, stepping toward her.
“Hit me.”
She takes a step back. “What? No.”
“Come on,” I taunt her. “Hit me!”
I take another step toward her, and she takes one more back. “Kage.”
“Do it!”
This time she does. She makes a fist and sucker punches me in the stomach, but a quick flex of my abs before impact makes it so she hurts her hand more than she hurts me. I shake my head, wrapping my hand around the back of her neck and pulling her so she stumbles to the other side of the room.
“Take me to the ground, Saxon,” I demand. “If you’re going to dance with your demons and do the fucked-up things we do, you need to be able to defend yourself. You’re not always going to have a weapon to fight someone off with. Take. Me. Down.”
Her jaw locks as a look of determination takes over. She moves quickly, dodging my attempt to block her by ducking underneath it. Before I can tell what she’s doing, she spins around and kicks backward. Her heel slams into my balls, sending an intense pain straight into my core.