“I’m so sorry,” she cried. “I’m sorry.”
“Take care of yourself,” I said, taking Bryce’s phone from his hand. “We’ll find her.”
“What are we going to do?” I asked Bryce once I hung up on Andrea.
“I’m going to hunt Tilucci down and kill him myself,” he growled, striding for the door. I stuffed my belongings into my bag, trying to keep up with him.
As he opened the door, I heard a fist making contact with flesh. I spun around to see Bryce on the ground, clutching his face. Max Malone stood over him with his signature smirk on his face.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Max said, “but I’ve got orders from the boss. It was really nice to know you, Jane.”
Conning Tilucci
Bryce
When I wrenched open the door to leave the room, I saw the blinding light of the sun, and then everything went black. My face felt warm and sticky and I could smell the metallic odor of blood.
My hands went straight up to my face to see what the damage was. My face started to swell instantly and my nose bent at an odd angle. Blood poured from my nose into my mouth and I began to choke. I rolled over onto my stomach to let gravity help my situation.
I tried to get up, but my limbs felt heavy. The room started to spin every time I lifted my head. I shut my eyes and rested my forehead on the rough carpet. It was easier this way.
I don’t know how long I was out, but suddenly, I heard Jane pleading with Max. I cracked open one eye and saw him crouched over her on the bed, Jane flat on her back. Her hands were pinned above her head and she was struggling, but Max was using his body weight against her.
As I watched him tear at her shirt, white-hot rage boiled up inside of me. Still dizzy from the blow, I struggled to push myself onto my hands and knees, then onto my feet. I slowly stumbled toward the bed, wiping the blood out of my eyes.
I grabbed Max’s shoulder, jerking him away from Jane. Her lip was cut and she had a red welt in the shape of hand forming on her cheek.
He lost balance, falling into me. We both fell onto the ground, Max on top of me. With one hand on my throat, he pushed me into the carpet, scowling at me. I wildly swung my arm, making contact with the side of his head. Looking dazed, he reached for his gun, pressing the barrel to my temple.
“You’re making this hard on me,” Max grunted as I struggled. “Don’t tell me that you’re in love with Jane,” he cackled. “You’re an idiot if you think she’d ever go for someone like you. I guess it doesn’t matter now, anyway. You’ll both be dead in a minute.”
I closed my eyes. It would all be over soon. I spent a lifetime attempting to protect the people I loved, and I failed every single time. I was ready to accept my fate.
With a wild shriek, Jane jumped on Max’s back and pulled him away from me with all her strength. Startled, his grip loosened enough that I could knock the gun out of his hand, sending it falling to the ground. We both dove for the weapon, only causing it to slide further out of reach.
As we crawled to reach it before the other got there first, Max kicked me hard in the head with his boot, sending me reeling. He wrapped his fingers around the gun, drawing his outstretched hand in closer to his body. We both scrambled to our feet, ready to face off. I knew that fighting back at this point was futile, seeing as I was unarmed.
Max aimed the gun at me and I prayed that it would be over soon. Then, out of nowhere, Jane charged in front of me, grasping the silencer in her hand. I heard the gun discharge, but no one was hit. She swiftly forced the barrel toward Max’s abdomen and squeezed his trigger finger with the other hand.
Max fell to the ground, grasping his gaping stomach as blood poured out of him. He squirmed around on the ground, gasping for air.
“Should we let him bleed out?” Jane asked me, her body speckled with Max Malone’s blood.
I paused. As much pain as he had caused Jane and me, I couldn’t stomach the sight of him flopping around like a fish out of water. I pressed the gun between his eyes and pulled the trigger.
It was finished. I dropped the weapon and backed away from the body. Jane came running into my arms, and for a brief moment, we stood in the middle of the crime scene, just holding each other. I rested my battered cheek on her head, thankful that I had at least one more opportunity in this life to hold her.
“Find his phone,” I said, coming back to reality. “If Tilucci doesn’t get proof of our murders, he’s going to send someone to check up on Max.”
She dug through his pockets until she recovered a cell phone. Lifting Max’s hand, she pressed his thumb onto the sensor to unlock it.
“Move his body and lie down where he was shot,” she directed. I obeyed her order and lay in a crumpled heap in a pool of my assassin’s blood.
“Okay,” she said, sending the picture to Tilucci. “My turn.”
“You don’t look bloody enough to be dead,” I told her. She knelt down and wiped some of Max’s blood on her body.”
“Better,” I said as she took her spot on the bed. She looked like she was straight out of a slasher movie. I took the picture and handed it back to Jane. She sent it along to Tilucci.
“I’m going to wash this blood off me,” she said, staggering over to the bathroom. Without even shutting the door behind her, she started the shower and got in.
Feeling like I couldn’t go out into public in that state either, I too walked into the bathroom to scrub some blood off me.
My face was nearly unrecognizable at this point, worse than any fight I had been in. My nose was badly broken and still trickling blood. My eyes were turning black and swollen, and I suspected my jaw was broken too.
After wiping my face with a towel, I decided that it was hopeless to try to make myself look presentable. I had to save my baby girl.
While Jane dried off and wrapped herself in a towel I checked Max’s phone. Tilucci sent Max a response in return.
Very good. Expect to see a large bonus in your next paycheck. Now that Bryce is taken care of, I guess I don’t need to kill the girl after all. It’s a win-win situation for me. She’s young, but I think she’ll be a stunner like her mom. She’ll be worth a lot of money to me one day.
I could hardly type; my fingers were shaking so badly. After a few tries, I managed to write a response.
What do you want me to do with them?
I waited a few seconds for a response. Jane approached me, reading the messages over my shoulder.
Just leave them. We have no use for them now. I’ll send the cleaners over in a little bit. Meet me at the warehouse as soon as you can.
“Let’s go,” I said, turning around to face her. She had a pained expression on her face.
“What?” I asked.
I followed her eyes down to her hip. A red spot was growing on the bleached white towel.
“What is that?” I asked in disbelief.
“When I was wrestling the gun away from Max, the gun went off. I got hit in the side.”
“Let me see,” I said, gently setting her down on the bed.
“We don’t have time.”
“Let me see,” I demanded. She opened the towel, revealing a hole in her side.
“Holy shit,” I gasped. “We have to get you to a hospital.”
“I’m fine,” she said. “I think it mostly hit muscle tissue. Help me take the bullet out and we can go find Arianna.”
“How?” I cried. I had no experience with this kind of stuff. I was in no way qualified to remove bullets from people’s bodies.
“You need to stay calm and listen to me. I’ll talk you through it.”
Jane grasped my hand. I nodded and let out a deep breath.
“Good. In my makeup bag, there should be a pair of tweezers. I also have a small bottle of vodka. Grab those things and a few extra towels.”
I retrieved the items from her purse and brought them to her.
“Do you need me to sterilize the wound with this?” I asked, holding up the bottle.
> “No,” she said, snatching it from me and twisting it open. “I’ve been shot and it really hurts, if you can believe it. This is for me,” she explained, knocking back the drink. “Now, take the tweezers and dig around in there until you find the bullet.”
I hesitantly plunged the instrument into the wound, searching for the metal slug. I tried not to look at Jane’s face. She was doing her best to hide the pain, but I could tell she was really hurting.
“I think I found it,” I announced.
“Good,” she said through gritted teeth. “Now carefully grasp it and pull it back through the direction it went in.”
I followed her orders and lifted the bullet out. I let it hit the floor with a soft thud.
Jane grabbed a washcloth and pressed it to the bleeding injury. She ripped one of the fraying bed sheets into strips and wrapped them around her torso like a bandage. Then, she got dressed as if nothing ever happened.
“What are we waiting for?” she yelled at me. “Let’s get the hell out of her and find Arianna.”
Ultimatum
Jane
Being back at Tilucci’s abandoned warehouse brought back so many memories from the first night I met Bryce. It had been just over a week ago, but I felt like I had known him for longer. I remember thinking instantly that he was impossibly cute for an ex-gangster. He was different than any other employees of Tilucci. He was the most human out of a gang of monsters. How cruelly coincidental it would be to lose him here, too.
“There’s no way we can just walk inside, right?” I asked Bryce as I put firm pressure on my gunshot wound with my left hand.
“Probably not,” he said. “Do you have your gun loaded?”
I reached my other hand into my handbag, reaching into the hidden pocket on the side. “Yes.”
“There’s a good chance you’ll have to use it. Don’t lose sight of it.”
“Okay,” I squeaked, feeling a knot in my stomach.
“Let’s just make it out of here alive,” he said, brushing the back of his hand across mine. “If I don’t make it, take Arianna somewhere safe. I’m counting on you.”
“If I don’t make it, give Tilucci hell for me and make sure the news station gets all of my research.”
We approached the side door of the massive brick building. It was rush hour, but we were several blocks out from any main streets. It was the perfect place to Tilucci to establish his territory—no bystander could ever disrupt his work, and no average person would willingly walk into an abandoned industrial park.
Bryce walked slightly ahead of me looking cautiously around the corner.
“Get him!” a man shouted. I followed Bryce’s footsteps, my hand on my weapon.
A second man grabbed my arm and I spun around, whipping his skull with the butt of my gun. As he stumbled back, I kicked him hard, straight in the gut. He fell to the pavement with a large thud. He wheezed on his hands and knees before getting back up and lunging at me. He punched me in my already very sore abdomen. Luckily, the towel I had shoved under my shirt provided some cushion. It hurt like hell, but he couldn’t stop me.
Just as the man was about to grab me again, Bryce pushed his opponent with such force that he knocked mine over. Jumping at the opportunity to subdue them, I kicked every inch of the attackers as I could. Rage flowed out of my body as I stomped on men. I was tired of being attacked for doing the right thing.
Bryce grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me away. “They’re out, Jane. You’re going to kill them.”
I stopped. It wasn’t my intention to do them any lasting damage. I just needed them to leave us alone. If I wanted them dead, I would have used my gun. The remaining shots I had left were reserved for one person, and one person only.
Bryce nodded toward the door and I led the way this time, feeling confident and ready to retrieve Arianna. In a strange way, I was looking forward to confronting Tilucci, if only to let him know that he wouldn’t walk away from this confrontation unscathed.
If it came down to it, I would sacrifice myself if it came down to it. My story was basically finished and in a place where any one of my coworkers could retrieve it. I didn’t have a family to look out for, and I didn’t really have friends. Bryce had a daughter that needed him.
And that little girl had so much to live for, too. From what Bryce told me, it sounded like she was a smart, sweet girl. She had guardians that could give her everything she needed for a happy life. She was so innocent. She shouldn’t have been caught up in all of this.
In the wide-open space, I saw Tilucci and the little girl. He had her in the middle of the boxing ring, seated on a wooden chair. He only turned one bright light on, and it shone directly onto the ring, like a spotlight. As we quietly approached him, I realized that he might not be able to see us.
“Max,” he called out into the void, “what took you so long?”
I strode ahead, stepping into the light. Bryce followed closely behind. I heard Bryce gasp when he saw Arianna up close.
The beautiful little girl with long curly hair was tied to the chair. She looked unnaturally drowsy like she had been drugged. I wondered how long she had been like that.
Tilucci, finally spotting us, exasperatedly threw his hands in the air. He seemed annoyed, but not completely surprised to see us standing before him.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said, looking down at us. “I felt like something was different about the way Max was messaging me, but this? My cleaners said they picked up a body, but I was hoping that it would have been one of you two. I suppose that means that Max is dead.”
We didn’t have to respond. Tommy already knew the answer to that.
“Get up here and say hi to your little girl,” Tilucci said to Bryce. “I hear that you haven’t seen her in a while. See how big she’s gotten.”
Bryce hopped into the ring and slowly approached his daughter. I cautiously followed behind. Tilucci was being oddly civil and it was making me uneasy. I could deal with the screaming, tantrum-throwing man he usually was. His calm demeanor signaled that something bad was about to happen; it was the calm before the storm.
He knelt to get a closer look at Arianna. By now, she was fast asleep, her head bobbing forward. The only thing keeping her upright were the ropes fixed around her arms and legs.
Bryce took her tiny hands into his and Tilucci pulled out his gun.
“Step away from her,” Tilucci warned Bryce. “Don’t make me do something I don’t want to do.”
Bryce lifted his hands by his head and took three large steps back. Tilucci stood behind Arianna and pointed the gun at her drowsy head.
“Please don’t,” Bryce begged.
“Please don’t,” Tilucci mocked in a whiny voice. “Why should I give you what you want? I asked you repeatedly, warned you, to leave me alone. Yet for some reason, I keep catching word that you’ve talked to a new person or you’ve stolen more things from me. When does it stop? It doesn’t, does it?”
“Let the girl go,” I said firmly, standing alongside Bryce.
“You two just never learn. I spent five years in prison because of you,” he bellowed, pointing his gun at me. “Get on your knees, both of you. And you,” he screamed, pointing the gun at Bryce, “decided to team up with her and gave her the trade secrets. You were a hit man. Why isn’t she after you?”
“I never killed anyone,” Bryce retorted, kneeling beside me.
“No?” he questioned. “I’m sure I ordered you to at some point. Well, I suppose you’ll get your chance someday. This one has,” he said, gesturing at me.
“How—” I started to ask, so shocked that I was unable to finish my question.
“I’ve got people who know things,” he said. “You killed three innocent civilians, and you’re after me because you have this hunch that I’ve committed similar crimes.”
“It was war.”
“This is war,” Tilucci raged. “You’re trying to pin me for the same crime you’re guilty of. Were you
ever punished?”
I was silent.
“Didn’t think so. Today’s a day to make up for lost time. Bryce will finally do the job he was paid to do and Jane will finally serve a punishment fit for her crimes.”
“You can’t hurt her,” Bryce pleaded.
“Someone’s going to get hurt. Otherwise, little Arianna is going to get sold somewhere and you won’t like the work she’ll end up doing. I’m thinking of selling her to someone in a remote part of Southeast Asia. You’ll never see her again, but you’ll die knowing that her life was ruined, all because her father couldn’t stay out of other people’s business.”
“No!” Bryce shouted.
“You can’t have it all, Bryce,” Tilucci screamed in his face. “You’re going to lose something and it’s going to be more than just your little finger.”
“Kill me if you have to. Leave them alone.”
“Fine. I see how upset this is making you. I don’t like to split families up. I’ll make you a deal, Bryce Baron.”
“Anything.”
“I don’t want another life on my hands. It’s your turn now. Kill Jane, right here, right now, and I’ll let you take your daughter far away from here. I’ll leave you alone if I never hear from you all need to do is kill your friend with your bare hands, and it’s all over. Otherwise, I’ll shoot you both and take your daughter with me.”
He looked at me, his entire body shaking. It wasn’t a choice at all for him. He had the option to have the life he always wanted so long as he took my life. Tilucci would get his hit without getting his hands dirty. I couldn’t look him in the eyes. I couldn’t make this harder for him than it already was.
“Deal?” Tilucci asked.
Bryce’s eyes pleaded with me. What did he want me to say, that I was fine with dying? I knew it would happen eventually, but I still had that instinct in me to preserve my life. I didn’t want to die. I especially didn’t want to suffer.
“Do it,” I whispered as a tear rolled down my cheek. For the first time in my adult life, I was truly scared. Fear was only thrilling after you survived it. I knew I wouldn’t survive this time.
Her Protection: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Omerta Series Book 2) Page 17