weapon in his hand as I prepared to try and fight him off if he came at me again. He knew my plan. Was he trying to get rid of me so that he could implement it himself? But if he knew it then he knew I was relying on Jerome and Dante too and there was no way he could get either of them involved without me, let alone try and replace their skills.
Somehow, his jumpsuit didn't have a speck of blood on it, despite how much of mine was pulsing from my body, pooling on the floor.
"Don't forget who's in charge now," he said, his eyes glinting hungrily as he looked to my stomach and the blood oozing between my fingers where I clamped them down against the wound. I couldn't even try to fight him while I was bleeding this bad or I was likely to bleed out the moment I stopped exerting pressure on it.
"A morte e ritorno," I snarled at him, spitting my family motto in his face and promising him death by my hands one day soon.
One of Gustard's lackeys appeared around the corner, his eyebrows lifting like he hadn't expected to see this when he'd come here, but he had clearly been invited all the same as he made no comment and just waited to one side of the space like he was expecting something.
"You're my girl," Gustard said, taking a step closer to me, his eyes wild with excitement and my heart beating out of rhythm because that sounded a hell of a lot like the words my papa had spoken to me right before he drove that sun steel blade into my side and began to carve me apart with it. "My pup," Gustard went on, confirming my fears as he quoted the man I hated most in all the world like he fucking admired him or something. "My bitch. And you'll always be that no matter what else happens."
With a growl of fury, I gritted my teeth, blocked out the pain in my body and launched myself at him with nothing but tooth and claw to defend myself.
The hot, wet flood of my blood spilling down my stomach inside my jumpsuit drew an inch of my attention, but I ignored it in favour of ripping this motherfucker's head from his fucking body.
Gustard's eyes widened half a second before his little stooge slammed into me, knocking me away from his boss and I crashed down onto the floor beneath him with a cry of agony. He punched me in the gut and I screamed before rearing up and head butting him clear in the nose.
The moment he fell back, clutching his battered face, I managed to get my legs between us and kicked him as hard as I could, launching him away from me towards Gustard.
I rolled over, pushing up onto my hands and knees, my fingers slipping through the puddle of blood beneath me just as I saw Gustard hand the shank over to the little nobody and turn away from me.
I struggled to my feet, one hand to my gut as I expected the guy to come at me again, but he just stood there, smirking at me until the sound of pounding feet drew my attention to the corridor beyond him.
Hastings and Officer Rind burst around the corner and I sagged in relief as my little choir boy ran forward with a curse and managed to catch me before my legs gave out.
Rind slammed Gustard's man up against the wall as he shouted out, "I did it! I hate the bitch and I wanted her dead!" and I snarled at the conniving son of a bitch. That motherfucker would be going to the hole in Gustard's place with a confession like that and no one would even bother to double check his story. I wondered what Gustard had promised him to take the fall, but it didn’t matter. Point was, the wrong man was going down. He held a weapon which was covered in my blood and had been found here alone with me before making a confession. The only way that I could change that was if I ratted Gustard out and I'd die before I snitched.
Hastings was saying something to me and it took me a moment to realise it, blinking through the fog of my brain as he lowered me down to sit against the wall and yanked my jumpsuit open.
"I can fix it," he