the licking of his lips turning my stomach.
Even as my shock at seeing him registers, there’s more in store. It happens so fast. These things always happen so shockingly fast.
Marcus moves his arm behind him and then there’s a click. Just a soft little click. I know my uncle hears it too because his grin falters as he begins to turn in the direction of Marcus. I wonder if he registers what is about to happen, as Marcus raises the gun, leveling it with my uncle’s forehead.
There isn’t any hesitation on Marcus’s side. Nothing but that cool smile on his lips.
It all happens in the span of moments. Split seconds. The man from the car turns, the sun’s shifting position not allowing me to see his face. He’s just a shape at the far end of the lot.
My uncle’s grinning expression morphs into one of terror.
Marcus pulls the trigger and for the third time in almost as many days, blood splatters across my face and into my mouth. My uncle’s body falls sideways to the ground. Dead. Just like that. Dead, while the woman who was shot moments ago still moans in agony as her life slowly bleeds out of her.
Dead. Final. The end.
I look at Marcus, his eyes on my chest travel lower as he tucks the gun into the back of his khakis. An erection presses against the front of his pants. He’s aroused. It’s not from looking at me. It’s from the kill. Violence always aroused him.
The other man from the car says something. He’s speaking English, but with an accent. I still can’t make out his face. The sun is blinding. But when Marcus steps toward me, my attention is fully on him as I try to free myself of the vise-like grips of the soldiers.
Marcus takes a syringe out of the breast pocket of his shirt and pushes the plunger, clearing any air.
“Long time no see,” he says in that voice that always turned my blood to ice. Without warning, he grips a handful of my hair and forces my head to the side to push the needle into my neck.
I feel the effects almost instantly as my knees give out, touching gravel, the soldiers’ hands still painful on my arms.
“Cover her for fuck’s sake,” the man with the accented English says and I feel something over my shoulders. I can almost place the aftershave, but my vision has faded. Voices, too, just sounds I can’t make out. I’m dragged to where I hear the water lapping against the boats, hear the sounds of frightened women. Their warm bodies the last thing I feel against my own before I lose consciousness.
Thank you for reading With This Ring. I hope you enjoyed this first part of Cristiano and Scarlett’s story. I truly loved writing it.
Their story concludes in I Thee Take, the second and final book of the To Have and To Hold Duet available in all stores!
One-Click I Thee Take now!
Also by Natasha Knight
To Have and To Hold Duet
With This Ring
I Thee Take
Dark Legacy Trilogy
Taken (Dark Legacy, Book 1)
Torn (Dark Legacy, Book 2)
Twisted (Dark Legacy, Book 3)
Unholy Union Duet
Unholy Union
Unholy Intent
Collateral Damage Duet
Collateral: an Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance
Damage: an Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance
Ties that Bind Duet
Mine
His
MacLeod Brothers
Devil’s Bargain
Benedetti Mafia World
Salvatore: a Dark Mafia Romance
Dominic: a Dark Mafia Romance
Sergio: a Dark Mafia Romance
The Benedetti Brothers Box Set (Contains Salvatore, Dominic and Sergio)
Killian: a Dark Mafia Romance
Giovanni: a Dark Mafia Romance
The Amado Brothers
Dishonorable
Disgraced
Unhinged
Standalone Dark Romance
Descent
Deviant
Beautiful Liar
Retribution
Theirs To Take
Captive, Mine
Alpha
Given to the Savage
Taken by the Beast
Claimed by the Beast
Captive’s Desire
Protective Custody
Amy’s Strict Doctor
Taming Emma
Taming Megan
Taming Naia
Reclaiming Sophie
The Firefighter’s Girl
Dangerous Defiance
Her Rogue Knight
Taught To Kneel
Tamed: the Roark Brothers Trilogy
Thank you!
Thanks for reading With This Ring. I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews help new readers find books and would make me ever grateful. Please consider leaving a review at the store where you purchased the book.
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About the Author
Natasha Knight is the USA Today Bestselling author of Romantic Suspense and Dark Romance Novels. She has sold over half a million books and is translated into six languages. She currently lives in The Netherlands with her husband and two daughters and when she’s not writing, she’s walking in the woods listening to a book, sitting in a corner reading or off exploring the world as often as she can get away.
Write Natasha here: natasha@natasha-knight.com
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