Beautiful Savage - Caroline Peckham Page 0,186

together. It wasn’t something we ever put into words, but on jobs like this we all knew the risks. It was part and parcel of being who we were. What we were. Romeros fought their own battles and looked their enemies in the eye when they tore them down. That came with plenty of risk though.

“Let’s end this then, fratello. And remind the cartel exactly who rules Sinners Bay,” I said and with that we all mounted the stairs with one goal in mind. To protect our family and bring Nicoli’s girl home.

I gave up hunting the cupboards in the bathroom as Ramon threw his weight against the door again with a cry of rage. The hinges rattled, the wood was splitting. I was down to my final seconds and as my gaze fell on my reflection in the oval mirror above the sink, my breath hitched. I saw a predator gazing back at me, her cheeks flecked with blood, her eyes burning with the fires of hell. And she knew what to do.

I grabbed a towel, wrapping it around my hand and punching the centre of the glass. It shattered in a cascade of jagged shards and I jumped back before picking up a long triangular piece, keeping the towel around my palm as I gripped it. Then I hurried to switch the light off and stand back against the wall opposite the door.

My breathing came heavily and I urged it to slow, falling into a calm and deadly place in my mind as I gazed at that door. My fate awaited me beyond it. No force in this world could change it now. I would face my final demon, but god only knew if I would win.

Time seemed to slow as I waited, the seconds stretching into little pockets of eternity as Ramon kicked the door hard enough to crush a man's skull and the lock shot off of it, the gold fixing skittering across the tiles with a tinkling noise.

I held my breath and readied my weapon as Ramon stood in the doorway. Darkness greeted him and he squinted into the gloom, buying me the precious moment I needed.

I ran at him, barefoot and wild and launched myself at his chest with the shard poised to kill. He jerked aside and I missed my target as he reacted, the glass sinking deep into his shoulder instead. He fell back with a cry of pain, stumbling as he caught my waist and tried to shove me away. But we were already falling. His back hit the bed and I straddled him, yanking the glass free from his shoulder with a grunt, about to drive it into him again as energy coursed through my veins like jet fuel. His fist snapped out, catching me in the jaw and my skull rang as I fell off of him and he rolled over on top of me.

He hit me again and hope snuffed out like a flame in my chest. My head spun and pain burst through my skull. I barely held onto my consciousness as the weapon slipped from my fingers and Ramon's hot hands curled around my throat.

"Look at me," he demanded. "Stay awake."

My eyes cracked open enough to see him glaring down at me, sweat beading along his brow and his gaze full of rage. His face was red and veiny, his handsome looks distorted by his fury.

"Beg me to stop," he growled. "And maybe I'll be merciful."

His grip on my throat eased enough that I could access my voice if I wanted to. But he wasn't going to get my words. And he certainly wasn't going to get me to beg.

"Beg me!" he roared, spittle flying from his mouth as his grip tightened once more and I choked as he held me down.

My fingers grasped for my weapon, but it wasn't there and I couldn’t turn my head to search for it.

I was forced to look up into the cold eyes of my husband. The man who had destroyed my life. Who had taken everything from me. Who’d had Nicoli killed, the man who’d been every good thing I’d ever dreamed of, and now he’d been stolen away from me by this fucking asshole.

"You asked for this," Ramon hissed, leaning lower so all I could see were those dark eyes which held an abyss in them where I was about to be trapped for the rest of time.

My heart pounded so hard, I could feel it in

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