by M. Robinson
“You didn’t have to, you ungrateful fucking brat! Your father did it for you!”
“Of course he did! Because he’s just like you! A fucking criminal who murders innocent people in cold blood and justifies his sins by blaming his actions on preconceived notions from the men who are exactly like him! Call a spade a spade, Cruz! It’s all fucking bullshit! You kill in the name of family because you get off on the power! The control! Bow down to me or else! In the name of the father and of the son, take responsibility for once in your life! If you had, then your sister wouldn’t have been taken from under your thumb!”
She was playing with fire.
Burning.
Blazing.
Inferno.
There was no suppressing the devil inside of me this time. I didn’t give it a second thought. In two wide strides, I was in her face. Her eyes dilated as I sprang forward, shoving her backward against the altar with my hand over her throat. Her body hitting the aged wood with a loud, hard thud.
She hissed before spewing, “Go to Hell, Cruz.”
I snarled, “Where do you think I came from?” Tightening my hold around her neck, I bit, “You want to dance with the devil? Then get ready to burn in Hell with me. I’d never hit you, Sienna, but don’t think for one goddamn second I won’t punish you in other ways for speaking to me like I’m beneath you. If you mention my sister one more fucking time, I swear in the name of all that is holy to you, I’ll make your precious horse pay for it.”
Her nostrils flared. I wouldn’t do that to her, but she didn’t have to know that.
“Innocent lives have been taken since the day you were born, and that’s not going to change simply because you think it should. You’re Sienna Martinez, your name itself means fucking death. I don’t give a shit what you want, Princesa. What you think makes no difference to me. I’ll protect you from anyone! Except me! You’re my wife. Know your place, Sin, and if you don’t recognize that is standing proudly beside me, I will gladly show you a place on your knees instead!”
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re nothing more than an evil mafioso, pretending to be a real man.”
“No, baby.” I crept forward, inches away from her mouth. “I’m El Diablo.”
“And. I. Hate. You. For. It.”
Roaring from deep within my throat, I swallowed her words with my tongue. Slamming my lips into hers with so much abandonment and desire, I easily reached the back of her throat.
Claiming.
Branding.
Fucking her mouth with my tongue.
Taking what was mine and mine alone.
Once Sienna’s mind caught up with my assault, she tried to push me away.
“Surrender to me,” I scowled against her lips.
“Never!”
She shoved my chest, over and over again. Each push stronger than the last. Constricting my hold around her windpipe, I rammed her further into the altar, not letting up. Her body may have been fighting, however her lips wouldn’t stop this sinful dance our mouths were colliding in.
The push.
The pull.
The passion
Each stroke of our tongues was coming together as one.
Aching.
Throbbing.
Our lips moved like they were made for each other, while she struggled with her mind, ordering her heart to drive my body away from hers.
Our kiss was full of desperation.
Urgency.
Damn right insanity.
I could hear the pounding of her heartbeat and feel the thrumming of her pulse quickening along my fingers.
It was maddening.
Domineering.
An all-out war.
I jerked away, and she gasped at the loss. Her chest heaved up and down, almost in sync with mine as we locked eyes.
—Sienna—
I took a deep breath to will my emotions in check, but he wasn’t making it easy on me by any means.
My body wanted one thing.
My mind another.
Where was my heart in all this?
I hated him.
I wanted him.
I loathed not being able to control myself around him.
The kiss felt like the holy water I was burning in. He was a bad man, evil to the bone, but the moment his lips touched mine, I was his. Which was precisely the point the devil wanted to get across. The best thing he ever did was make people think he didn’t exist.
My head decided to speak for my heart and body, repeating what it believed to be true, “You’re nothing more than the man I thought you were. You’re just a mafioso in an expensive suit that’s bought and covered in someone’s else’s blood.”
His malicious expression widened. “Motherfucker!” he seethed.
I watched his eyes turn stone cold before he grabbed my arm, roughly throwing me in between the pews.
“What the fu—”
Within seconds, I was rendered speechless.
As my worst nightmare played out in front of me for the second time that night.
Chapter 36
—Sienna—
“Sienna! Stay down and cover your ears!”
The sound of bullets, opening rapid fire all around us was the first thing I heard. They shattered the stained-glass windows and ricocheted off the walls surrounding the cathedral.
Cruz sprang into action, instantly pulling out his other holstered gun from inside his suit jacket.
“When you fuck with El Diablo,” he threatened, aiming both his Glocks in the air, quickly returning fire. “You get the fucking horns!”
Shot after shot filled the air as bullet casings fell upon us. They pelted off the marble floors, ripping through the foundation. Colorful glass and debris poured down from the heaven’s above as if God was involving himself in this battle with the men who betrayed him and chose an alliance with the devil instead of his sanctity.
Violence had always been a part of my life, but this was the first time I was experiencing it quite like this.
“Cruz!”
“Sienna, stay the fuck down!”
Each blast resonated deep within my core. I was suffocating in the massacre.
In their blood.
Their deaths.
Their souls.
If blood was thicker than water, then why was I still drowning in the devastation of every life brutally being ripped out of this world…
I was paralyzed.
Frozen in fear.
Was I crying? Screaming?
No, angels don’t weep for Satan.
I shut my eyes, covered my head, and did the only thing that came naturally in the gruesome reality of my life.
“Our Father, who art in heaven,” I frantically prayed as a single tear escaped my eye, slowly falling down the side of my face, off my chin, and onto the dusty floor.
Bathing in mafia blood.
I swear I could taste it.
The pain.
The loss.
My future forever changed.
“Hallowed be thy name,” I cried, letting my tears flow loosely.
More bullets.
More glass breaking.
More. More. More.
Opening my petrified stare, I watched the violence unfold in front of me. Life after life dropped to the ground injured or dead. I felt it on every inch of my skin.
Their screams.
Their faces.
All the blood.
So much blood.
It mixed together, creating Hell on Earth. In this church, it comprised my own personal purgatory.
“You come for me!” Cruz interrupted me, his voice sounding further away from the pews he threw me in.
The church was massive, I knew he was trying to execute as many men as he could, but they weren’t backing down. I couldn’t believe this was happening when Cruz was alone. The remorse for taking Uncle Gino’s car hit me all at once. If I hadn’t stolen it, he’d be here helping Cruz with his men by his side.
If
something happened to my husband, it’d be my fault.
“You know who I am! Show yourself and stop hiding! Come at me like a man in the Lord’s house!”
I shook my head, trying to tune out the darkness dragging my body into the abyss. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
“Man up!” my husband roared like a lion, his tone shook the depths of my soul. “I’m standing right here! Right fucking here!”
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
“Man the fuck up and show yourself to me!”
Cruz was fighting for my life, while I hid fighting for the divine Holy Spirit to help guide us to the light.
My heart was beating so fast. I found it almost impossible to breathe. Escalating with every gunshot that fell from everyone’s hands. Cruz was a possessed man on a mission, and no one could stop him.
Especially me.
My mind raced, and my chest heaved with each passing movement.
Through desperate breaths, I continued on, “And lead us not into temptation.” Raising my teary eyes toward heaven, I held my hands together in prayer gesture while several shots echoed off the wooden panels. “But deliver us from evil...”
Darkness was summoned.
Out of nowhere, all the air from my lungs was gone within a blink of an eye. Vanished like a thief in the night. A man I didn’t recognize was suddenly standing above me.
“Amen,” he mocked, precisely aiming his gun directly over…
My heart.
—Cruz—
Launching bullets in the direction they were coming from outside, I unleashed several rounds. Desperately trying to take the motherfuckers out. An endless stream of ammo kept coming at us from all angles, making it was hard to keep up with their unexpected assault.
“You come for me!” I yelled as loud as I could, hauling ass further away from the pews I threw my wife into. “You know who I am! Show yourself and stop hiding! Come at me like a man in the Lord’s house!”
Ducking.
Dodging.
Dropping to the ground.
I knocked over anything in my sight to shield myself, shooting back when the coast was clear. Emptying clip after clip, reloading several rounds. Quickly, starting to run out of ammunition. Adrenaline tore through my body like a speeding bullet.
I pulled out my cell and hit call. “Gino! Where the fuck are you?” I pulled the trigger, taking out another motherfucker in the shadows to my right.
“Your wife took my car,” he paused, hearing the commotion. “What the fuck is going on?”
Rolling to my left, I got behind a column. “An ambush! Get here with all our men! Now!” I hung up, preoccupied with the men creeping in the darkness ready to fuck me over.
My heart pounded as I unleashed fury brought on by this unexpected outbreak. Knowing in my gut it had something to do with Adriana. I was getting closer to finding her.
This wasn’t an attack.
It was a warning.
“You got it all wrong! If you don’t back down you’re going to be the reason your sister dies! Do you hear me?! Her death will fall on you!”
Giovanni’s words from my office once again attacked the forefront of my mind as I shouted, “Man up! I’m standing right here! Right fucking here!”
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
“Man the fuck up and show yourself to me!”
It felt like forever had passed before my men appeared, picking up where I left off. I didn’t waste another second, I sprinted back toward Sienna. I hated that I had to leave her unprotected, but I was one man going to battle against at least twenty, if not more.
“Cover me!” I ordered, taking off full speed ahead.
Two assassins fired back at us, hitting one of my men several times in the chest. Jolting his body backward upon impact, he tumbled to the ground, instantly dead. My other guard tried covering me as best as he could, but an endless stream of bullets kept flying in our direction.
All at once, I felt a burning sting graze the side of my neck and then again at the side of my stomach. Blood splattered everywhere, I didn’t know if it was theirs or mine.
“What the fuck?” Gino exclaimed, walking into the church with both his guns in his hands.
I followed the movement of his stare, narrowing my eyes, searching the cathedral, trying to locate what he saw.
Never expecting…
What stared back at me.
Chapter 37
—Cruz—
Consequences.
I dealt with them on a daily basis.
Positive.
Negative.
They were one and the same. I couldn’t tell them apart anymore.
My life.
My world.
The one I wanted, and the one I had. Both defined who I was as a man. Violence became the answer to everything and for everyone.
What started with Sienna…
Ended with her as well.
My heart dropped.
My chest seized.
All the blood drained from my face when my past and my present collided, coming face-to-face with another one of my worst nightmares.
Oh, God. Please, no.
Sienna was standing by the altar.
A knife to her throat.
A gun to her head.
Held hostage by a man I didn’t know or recognize, standing tall and proud behind her. The motherfucker smiled ear-to-ear, watching me while I watched her.
The fear in my wife’s gaze would forever haunt me, whether I am awake or asleep.
“Order your men to stand the fuck down or I’ll slit her throat right here, right now,” he demanded, pushing the blade into the vein pulsating on her neck. “Now!”
She whimpered as blood trickled down her chest.
Words couldn’t describe the immediate, intense guilt I felt take ahold of whatever was left of my soul. There was no way I’d get the shot I needed to kill him without hurting her, and I wasn’t willing to take that risk. There was no choice to be made. Not when my whole world was standing in front of me at the mercy of a madman. I did the only thing that made sense, the only thing that felt right over all the wrong in my life.
I surrendered.
With my hands in the air, I slowly laid my guns down on the ground. Ordering my men to do the same.
“She smells like honey,” he rasped, sliding his nose along her tear-soaked face. “I wonder if she tastes like it too.”
My hands fisted.
My jaw clenched.
I wanted to slice him open from one end to the other.
I could read Sienna’s emotions like they were my own. She checked out. Her body was there with us, however, her mind was entirely somewhere else.
Her vacant eyes.
Her void expression.
Her stiff composure.
She was seeking refuge within herself.
“Leave my wife out of this,” I gritted, battling to keep myself in control from the scene unraveling itself before me.
My father’s advice from months ago resonated through my ears.
“You make damn sure you control your tone and emotions. It only clouds your judgment. You’re making it far too easy for me to use it against you.”
It was blatantly evident this man knew what Sienna meant to me, or he wouldn’t be holding her captive in my presence. Despite wanting to rip him to shreds, I was able to govern the stability I needed. Allowing him to think he had the power over me in this situation.
He wasn’t going to kill Sienna, at least not right this second. He would have done so already.
This was a cat and mouse game he wanted me to play, obviously having no idea who he was fucking with.
Not then.
Or now.
“But she’s so fucking pretty.” He sadistically grinned, bringing my attention over t
o him.
“I’ve been waiting to finally hold her in my arms, since the day I took your sister. Your wife is much stronger than her though. Adriana cried as soon as I touched her.”
I saw red.
Scorching.
Hot.
Red.
Recalling Giovanni’s reply when I asked him who he worked for, I bit, “You Vitale?”
“The one and only.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s where I left her.”
“Where the fuck is that?”
“From the smell of my cock, she’s still in my fucking bed. Your sister loves waking up with my dick inside her cunt. What can I do? She begs like a bitch in heat.” His sickening psychotic laugh echoed all around us.
Who was this guy?
If it wasn’t for him holding Sienna against her will, I’d make him eat his words after I sliced off his tongue. The images of what I was going to do to him were the only thing keeping me sane and steady.
I asked the question that’d been plaguing me since the moment he took my own flesh and blood, “What the fuck do you want?”
“What is this? A therapy session? I want what every man wants. Money, sex, power…Adriana gives me all three. Sienna will just be an added bonus.”
“Is that what this is about? Money?”
“I think you need to reword your question, Cruz. You asked me what I wanted, not the man I work for. He’s behind your sister’s kidnapping. I just get to enjoy the perks and fuck me…Adriana was worth the tears it cost me to break her.”
“Break her for what?”
“To be my pet.”
“You motherfuc—”
“Hey!”
Sienna jolted from his sharp tone.
“I’m in control!” He dug the knife deeper into her skin, making her whimper again. “I’m running the fucking show right now! Do you understand me? Piss me off one more time and I’ll make your wife bleed for me, and I’m not talking about slicing her throat.”