Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“She’s not hurt,” Wolfe said quickly. “She killed all these motherfuckers by herself, Don. You raised her right.”
My dad came to me and immediately wiped the blood from my face with his clean palm. “Sweetheart, you’re alright?”
I nodded. “Yeah…I’m okay.”
My brother appeared, and his eyes flashed when he looked at me.
“How many more are there?” Wolfe asked.
“The last of them are near the warehouse. The shootout’s still going.”
Wolfe stepped into the hallway. “Let me clean house. Round up any survivors, and I’ll eat them for fucking dessert.”
Leo looked around at the sea of dead bodies as he slowly approached Dad and me.
Dad held me to him, resting his chin on my head in a way he hadn’t since I was a kid. His hand rubbed my back, and he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, showing the most emotion I’d seen him display for a long time. “I’ve never been so scared, Frankie.”
“I’m—I’m okay.” I closed my eyes as I treasured being held by my father, but I still wished he were Wolfe instead. “I’m just shaken up… It all happened so fast.”
“Roman said you were picking them off from the window with a scope,” my father said.
“In the beginning, yeah.”
Leo continued to stare at me, quiet and humble, like he didn’t know what to say.
I was the one to pull away from my father. I cleared my throat and tried to appear calmer than I felt. All I wanted to do was run to Wolfe. To stand in the hot shower with him and let the blood wash off me. To break down in front of him because he was the only person who was allowed to see all of me. “What happened?”
“Lombardi’s brother,” Dad said. “He wants revenge for what happened to Luigi and the business. He must have paid someone in our ranks to let him know when we were gone. You were the target—eye for an eye.”
I nodded in understanding. I would be a lot more scared at that revelation if I didn’t know Wolfe was going to kill every single person involved in this plan. He wouldn’t leave a single person alive. Would go into the fucking Congo if that’s where one of them went to hide. “How many people did we lose?”
“A lot,” Dad said. “But they lost a hell of a lot more.” He rubbed my back again before he walked out. “Let’s finish this. Frankie, you’re sure you’re okay?” He stopped by the door and looked at me once more.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just want to get cleaned up.” I tugged the Velcro straps and loosened the vest before I set it on the desk beside me.
Dad left, so it was just Leo in the room with me.
“Want me to stay with you?” my brother asked. “I can take you home.”
“No, I’m okay. I don’t want to leave until I know everyone is dead and the vineyard is secure.”
He moved to the desk beside me and leaned against it, arms crossed over his chest.
I waited for him to leave, but he stayed.
I stared ahead, and for the first time in my life, I felt awkward with my own brother.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” he finally said.
“I’m glad you guys are okay too.”
He stared at the destroyed doorway for a long time. “Thought I’d seen Wolfe mad before, but I’ve never seen him like this.”
My heart dropped into my stomach, and then a whole new wave of adrenaline washed over me. Thankfully, I was still covered in blood, so it was easy to hide my emotions behind the gore. And if he thought I reacted in a way I shouldn’t, I could remind him I’d just survived a fucking shootout. “He’s loyal.”
“I was gonna say crazy.” He pushed off the desk with his hips and started to walk away. “But loyal works too.”
26
WOLFE
“Alright, who’s next?” I tossed the bloody knife into the air and caught it again.
The last three remaining guys stood there with their hands bound behind their backs. After seeing what I’d done to their comrades, every single one of them had pissed themselves—and based on the stench, I was pretty sure one of them had shit himself too. “No volunteers?” I asked as I sauntered over. “Really?”
There was a pile of bodies beneath the oak trees, along with all the innards that I’d cut out of them. Intestines and stomachs and livers everywhere, along with so much blood that the ground would be stained for years.
“No one wants to jump at this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?” I asked with a maniacal laugh. “You jumped at the chance to come for Don Mancini and tried to take his daughter, didn’t you?” I spun the knife in the air and caught it again without looking at it. “Didn’t you?”
One of them trembled so hard he fell to his knees.