Killer Love

by Drake, Tabatha

  Fox keeps his grip on his sniper rifle, but he tosses my ammo clip back to me.

  I catch it and slide it back into my pistol, listening to that metallic sound echo throughout the empty warehouse as it clicks into place.

  “You say Snake Eyes will come looking for you?” I ask.

  “Yes.” He nods.

  “Then, we better leave them something to find.”

  Blood leaves a trail.

  If his people come and find nothing, they’ll keep searching. If they find blood instead, then they’ll surely think twice about sending another bastard to take me out.

  Fox stares at me for a moment before nodding in silent understanding.

  I slide a bullet into the chamber of my gun. “Hold still,” I tell him.

  I aim at his left bicep and pull the trigger, firing a round through the outer flesh of his arm. He cringes and stumbles back as he reaches for the crimson wound.

  “Let it bleed,” I say, knocking his hand away.

  His blood drips down his pale skin and taps against the floor beneath us. He watches it for several moments and the pain leaves his eyes quickly.

  “You’ve been shot before,” I note.

  “I have,” he confirms.

  “You take a bullet well.”

  He narrows his eyes. “Thanks.”

  I flick the safety back on as I slide my gun into my belt and glance up at Yuri’s shocked face. I’ll explain it to him later.

  “How long before this extraction team comes looking?” I ask Fox.

  “A few hours, at most,” he answers. “If it’s not too much trouble, I’d rather be out of Italy by then.”

  I nod. “You say someone hired Snake Eyes to kill me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Who?”

  He looks up from his wound. “Giovani Zappia.”

  Chapter 14

  Sofia

  The house is quiet. Too quiet.

  Granted, this house isn’t usually surging with activity but there’s something different in the air today… and it’s not just because of what happened with Luka.

  I won’t lie and say his offer didn’t tempt me, but leaving with Luka would only prove his guilt. No, if I ever flee from this place, it will be alone — with Lucian, of course. I’d rather die than leave him here to be brainwashed by the Zappia cult.

  I enter the kitchen, expecting to find the staff inside, chatting amongst themselves and preparing dinner, but the entire place is empty and spotless as if they all vanished into thin air.

  A cold dread stirs within me. I step out into the hall and make eye contact with a guard standing near the front entrance. He says nothing and merely gives me a firm nod as I pass by. His gaze lingers on me for far longer than usual before he opens the front door and walks outside. I slink away, feeling even worse than before.

  I pick up my speed and rush back toward the bedrooms across the house. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m not too keen to track down answers at the moment. There’s little else I’d rather do right now than take my son in my arms and hold him as tight as possible.

  I twist the doorknob and throw it open, eager to see his perfect, little face staring up at me from his crib.

  “Lucian?”

  My eyes jerk back and forth in my skull while the rest of me stays frozen. He’s not here. He’s supposed to be here.

  “Lucian!”

  My voice echoes down the hall but no one answers me.

  “Rosalie?” I call.

  Still nothing.

  I make my way toward Gio’s study, taking deep, slow breaths that don’t quite satisfy my lungs.

  Gio’s face fills my vision as I round the corner. I gasp through my clenched throat.

  “Oh, god… I’m sorry…” I say, forcing a laugh as my heart settles again in my chest.

  “Did I scare you?” he asks, smiling softly. “My apologies.”

  “It’s all right.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  “No, I…” I glance down the hall in both directions. “This house is awfully quiet...”

  “I gave the staff the day off.”

  I blink. “Oh. I suppose that would explain it, then…”

  He stares at me without blinking, studying my face harder than he ever has before and that little smile of his never wavers.

  I take a step back. “Is there a special occasion?”

  “You could say that.”

  I wait for him to explain more but he says nothing. The silence rings even louder in my ears, louder than the fiercest of alarms and I tremble inside. “Do you know where Lucian is?” I ask.

  “He’s fine.”

  Never in my life have I ever described Gio as taciturn. His vague, punchy answers do little to calm my nerves. Even his posture terrifies me. He stands thick and erect like a damn wall but structurally unsound. I feel as if I could pull out just one brick and the entire thing would crumble to the floor.

  “May I see him?”

  “No.”

  A surge of motherly instinct fills my gut. “Where is he?”

  Gio takes a quick step backward into the study. “Come in,” he says.

  I don’t move. “Where is my son?”

  “Sofia, come inside.”

  A lump swells in my throat. “Where is my son?” I ask again.

  His eyes twitch with impatience. “Do not make me tell you again.”

  I shiver in my skin, but I do as he says.

  The lights are down low. The fireplace is lit. For a moment, I think Gio has planned a bit of half-assed romanticism, but then I spot my sister sitting on an armchair near his desk.

  “Rosalie?”

  Another flinch travels my spine as the door latches closed behind me. I stare at her tear-stained face and my entire body grows cold.

  “I’m sorry, Sofia,” she whispers.

  “Oh, I don’t want to hear another apology from your lips, Rosalie,” Gio says. He passes around me and lays a comforting hand on her trembling shoulder. “Not another word…”

  I shake my head, refusing to let the worst-case scenario take me over. There must be another reason for all of this, something other than the obvious alternative. Rosalie would never betray me. It’s not possible...

  “What’s going on?” I ask, clearing the void from my throat.

  Gio looks over at me, his lips once again curling as he slides his hand off her shoulder and back into his pocket. “This morning, I noticed that Rosalie was acting… strange. Not her typical, jubilant self. I thought that maybe one of our guests did something to upset her. So, I waited until after they left before confronting her about it and when I did…” He pauses and tilts his head. “Her answer was quite unexpected.”

  She looks up at me. Her bright eyes sit obscured behind long lashes, but I still read them clearly.

  Gio knows. He knows everything.

  “Rosalie,” he says, staring at me, “would you like to tell Sofia what you told me?”

  She stays silent, barely able to hold herself together let alone speak.

  He turns and looks down at her. “Rosalie.”

  “Leave her alone,” I say, the words spilling out before I can stop them.

  “What did you just say?” His voice grates across his vocal cords, giving it a hard, impatient edge.

  “I said, leave her alone.”

  Gio smirks, genuinely surprised that I had the nerve to repeat it. “Okay, then. I’ll tell you myself.” He steps closer, drifting toward me like a ghost. “She told me that she saw Luka Lutrova assaulting you in the laundry room yesterday. Is that true?”

  I pause, blissfully feeling his Russian hands on me again, but I force the sensation away. “He…”

  “She thought to tell me immediately,” he continues, his face dropping, “but then… you told her not to. Now, why would you want to protect him like that?”

  My voice falls, refusing to leave my throat, but I don’t know what I’d say even if I could. “It…”

&nbs
p; “Say it. I want to hear it from you.”

  I close my eyes as the darkness settles in.

  “Sofia…” He leans in to whisper in my ear. “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice that my son has his eyes?”

  Chapter 15

  Luka

  Giovani Zappia ordered a hit on me.

  I blink at Yuri, meeting his stunned face once more. “Are you sure?” I ask Fox.

  He nods and flexes his bicep to coax a little more blood to fall to the warehouse floor. “Positive.”

  I furrow my brow, feeling a cold ache forming deep within my brain. One minute Gio’s calling us family and passing booze around and the next he’s sending an assassin to kill me? It doesn’t make any fucking sense.

  Unless…

  “When were you sent here?” I ask.

  “Giovani made contact yesterday afternoon,” Fox answers. “Shortly after, I was assigned to the job. I flew in this morning.”

  “Yesterday?”

  “Yeah.”

  If Gio planned this in advance, he would have gotten in touch with Snake Eyes long before then. This was last minute. A sudden, gut reaction to something big.

  “This hit…” I choose my words carefully, “was it just me?”

  Fox nods. “He wanted it to look like an outside job so no one would suspect the Zappias of being involved. They sent me with evidence that would lead to the Petrovin family. I was supposed to make it look like retaliation for you killing Hans.”

  “But Luka didn’t kill Hans,” Yuri points out, still barely following what’s going on, but I’m not too far behind him.

  “No, one of our agents did,” Fox confirms. “A hit also ordered by Giovani Zappia.”

  Yuri throws up his hands.

  “So, Gio wants to start a mob war in Russia,” I say. “Why?”

  “It’s not just Gio,” Fox says. “Snake Eyes and the Lutrova family have a long history of butting heads. It started with Viktor. He stood up to the organization and when he tried to push them out, they silenced him. That scared your father enough and there’s been peaceful co-existence ever since… until recently when you started digging a little too deep.”

  Yuri fires an accusing look in my direction, but I don’t tear my eyes away from Fox.

  “You’re saying our father knows about all of this?” I ask.

  “Yes.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Ask him yourself,” he says with a shrug.

  I pause. I can try and deny it all day, but the truth sinks in quickly. No wonder my father always ordered us to ignore them. Let the kobra do what it wants. He didn’t want answers because he already had them, and he was too much of a coward to do anything about them.

  “The conflict in Russia has been in motion for a while now,” Fox begins. “The truce was legitimate. Antony and your father really did bring peace between the families, but Snake Eyes deals in war. Once Antony exported the family to America to run the Chicago branch and left Giovani in charge of Italy, Snake Eyes approached him with a new status quo.”

  “And he took it,” I seethe.

  “Killing Hans Petrovin was just the beginning of a slow build. They knew you’d lean on the Zappias for help. Giovani would use his power to whittle your family’s influence down to nothing, but he wanted to honor the truce. Worst-case scenario: you’d all be working under him when the Italian mob took over Russia, but then… yesterday, he wanted you out of the picture entirely.”

  Yuri shakes his head. “We grew up with Gio,” he says. “He’s our friend. Why would he send an assassin to kill Luka?”

  Fox glances at me, reading my expression before I can hide it. For a moment, I wonder just how powerful Snake Eyes really is. Mine and Sofia’s secret love child might not be as secret as we thought.

  I tilt my head. “I might have an idea…”

  “Like what?” Yuri asks.

  I bite my inner cheek, hesitating to say it, but I don’t have much choice here. “Lucian is my son.”

  “What?”

  Fox smirks. “That would do it.”

  Yuri grows several centimeters taller in anger. “What did you say?”

  “Lucian.” My heart lurches. “He is mine.”

  He blinks at me with great confusion. “How is that possible?”

  “It’s a long story, brother.”

  “Tell it quickly.”

  “Yuri…” I sigh. “Sofia came to me and asked for my help.”

  “Why?”

  “She wanted to destroy the Zappia family from the inside,” I explain. “Humiliating Gio was the only way she knew how.”

  “When?”

  “The night before the wedding.”

  He scoffs. “Why didn’t you say no?”

  I cast a sideways glance. “You wouldn’t have said no either, Yuri.”

  Fox shifts on his toes and I catch his amused eyes before he turns away to gather his gun case from behind a shelf.

  Yuri shakes his head. “You’re a damned fool, Luka,” he says. “Did you even think of the consequences?”

  “Of course, I did.”

  “Bullshit. If you had, you never would have done it.”

  “I couldn’t ignore her.”

  “Why not?”

  I pause, overwhelmed by how difficult that question is to answer. “What’s done is done, Yuri.”

  Anger trembles his face as he backs away from me. I don’t blame him at all. I’d probably have the same reaction if I were in his shoes. He stomps toward his gun. Fox watches him closely as he picks it up off the concrete floor.

  “It’s safe to assume that’s why Giovani wants you dead,” Fox says, relaxing his tension as Yuri hides his pistol away in his belt.

  I nod as a sudden fear twists my gut.

  If Gio knows, then that means—

  Sofia.

  He won’t let something like this slide. Sofia sought to destroy him — or tear him to shreds, as she so eloquently put it that night. He was willing to kill me over what we did. There’s no doubt in my mind that he won’t do the same to her. Or worse.

  I reach into my pocket for my handkerchief and I toss it at Fox. “Come on,” I say, taking fast steps toward the car. “We have to go.”

  Yuri stands still. “Where are we going?”

  “Back to the Zappia estate.”

  “Wait…” Fox says, shaking his head as he wraps the handkerchief around his bleeding bicep. “You can’t go back there. If he sees you, he’ll know I failed and that will get back to my squad. They’ll come looking before we even get out of Italy.”

  “I’m not leaving them behind.”

  “Luka…” Yuri says. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am.”

  Fox follows me toward the car. “You don’t understand. The faster we leave, the better off we’ll all be.”

  “Except Sofia.”

  “Even if you could get inside, you’ll never make it out again,” he says. “The Zappia estate is notoriously guarded and you can’t take out that many of them by yourself.”

  I smirk. “Then, you’ll help me.”

  He hesitates. “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “That isn’t part of the deal. I agreed to give you the file, not take part in murder and kidnapping.”

  I spin around to stare him down. “I agreed to send you home. Until then, you will be useful.”

  “By killing dozens of mafia guards?”

  “That’s what you do, isn’t it?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “What do you want?” I ask. “You want money? I’ll pay you. Fifty-thousand American for every kill. Easy money for a guy like you, yes?”

  “I’m escaping Snake Eyes because I never wanted to be a killer,” he says, furrowing his brow. “This isn’t about money.”

  “No, you’re right,” I say. “It’s about family and I’m not leaving mine behind to be slaughtered in their sleep by a fucking rat like Giovani Zappia. You want to go home? This is how you get
there.”

  Fox exhales, releasing the tension in his face. “Fine,” he says.

  Yuri passes around us with his head down.

  “Yuri,” I say.

  “I won’t take part in this.” He keeps his eyes low. “You do what you want. Leave me out of it.”

  I follow him to the car. “Brother—”

  “Don’t call me that,” he says. “No, you don’t get to be my brother right now, Luka.”

  He yanks the car door open, but I slam it closed. “You’d take Gio’s side over mine? After everything he was planning to do to us?”

  “You got in bed with the Zappias first.”

  “And I’d do it again,” I growl. “It might not look like it, Yuri… but I did the right thing.”

  “For who?” he asks. “The way I see it, what you did helped nobody but yourself. You betrayed their trust, you betrayed our family, and, in the end, every drop of blood shed over this will be on your hands. Did you even consider that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then, why do it?”

  “You saw how he treated her — how they’ve always treated her.”

  “So, what? That wasn’t your problem.”

  “I made it my problem.”

  “You certainly did.” He scoffs as he pulls the door open again. “And here I thought you were the smarter brother.”

  I let him lower himself into the car and he jerks the door closed behind him.

  There was only one way this could end. Gio may have been content with whittling the Lutrova influence down in the beginning, but now…

  Sofia said she wanted to start a war and that’s exactly what this is.

  Still, I meant what I said. I’d do it all over again if it meant looking into that boy’s silver eyes one last time.

  I look over my shoulder at Fox. He stands there, calm and silent, with a blank expression on his face.

  “You have something to say?” I ask.

  He shakes his head once.

  Fox Fitzpatrick. He’ll prove his usefulness, but that’s as far as I’ll let this go. I don’t know what to think of Snake Eyes nor do I know where to even start with dealing with them. The only thing I know is that I must keep this problem contained. He already knows more than anyone ever should.