Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Our house.
“Francesca, get up.” I left the window and grabbed the clothes I’d left on the floor. I tugged everything on quickly and then stepped into my boots.
She sat up in bed. “What—”
“Get dressed. Now!”
I’d never yelled at her before, so she tumbled out of bed in her rush to get up.
I didn’t help her. I headed down the stairs and took them two at a time to reach the bottom. I knew where Francesca kept her guns, so I opened the door to the cabinet in her living room that was filled with rifles and handguns and ammunition. I grabbed a rifle and hooked it over my shoulder, put a handgun in the back of my jeans, stuffing magazines and rounds in my pockets.
Francesca raced down the stairs then stopped when she saw me in front of the guns. Her eyes went to the windows, the drapes closed but the sounds of vehicles becoming audible outside. “Shit.”
“Baby, come over here.”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
I knew she was in shock, so I grabbed the vest, moved to her, and started to strap it onto her. “Listen to me.” I secured it in place before I shoved the key to my Range Rover into her pocket. “You go out the back where my car is parked. Get in and take off. I’ll hold their attention until you can get away.”
“What?”
“It’s bulletproof—”
“I’m not leaving you.” She looked at me with wide eyes, like I just told her the craziest thing she’d ever heard.
“Francesca—”
“I’m not leaving you.”
I didn’t have time to appreciate her loyalty. I had to move. I hooked the strap of the rifle over her shoulder, along with a shotgun. “Come here.” I directed her into the kitchen behind the counter. It was the only place in the house where no one could sneak up on her from the rear. “Cover me from here.”
“Cover you?”
I went back to the cabinet, grabbed all the guns and ammunition I could carry, and then came back to the counter.
Gunfire rang out as they shot out the windows.
“Cristo…” She was pale as snow now, already drenched in sweat.
“Your family will come when they hear the gunshots,” I said. “I need you to cover me until they get here.”
“I—I don’t know—” She gripped the rifle in her shaking hands.
“Francesca, look at me.” I grabbed her by the neck and directed her stare to me. “It’s going to be fine.”
Her eyes quickly shifted back and forth between mine. “How—how can you be so calm about this?”
“Because I’ve done it a million times,” I said. “And you’re a tough fucking bitch, remember?”
She continued to breathe hard as her forehead gleamed with sweat, her hands still trembling.
“Tough. Fucking. Bitch. Come on, say it.”
“To-to-tough fucking…bitch.”
“Attagirl. Now let’s clear out these assholes.”
She nodded. “Okay…okay.”
I readied my gun then walked out from behind the counter, moving closer to the front of the house and taking my position behind a wall. A hand reached through the broken window and unlocked the front door so they wouldn’t have to crawl through the window frame. The door flew open, and the first guy walked inside, carrying his rifle with it pointed toward the floor.
They probably expected Francesca to be here alone and defenseless, so I would be a big fucking surprise.
I waited for him to come close so I could stab him with my knife, but Francesca popped up from the counter, fired her shotgun, and hit him square in the chest. He wore a vest, so he jerked back, but she had another round so she shot him in the face next.
I couldn’t help but smile.
Once one of them was dead, more rushed in.
I stayed out of Francesca’s line of fire and came at them from the side, firing my AK-47 and spraying down the first wave. The windows in the living room were suddenly blasted with gunfire, and I quickly dodged out of the way before I could get hit.
I didn’t see how many cars were outside, so I didn’t know how many we were up against. But there had to have been at least five SUVs, so somewhere between twenty and thirty guys. Seemed like overkill just to take one woman. Probably needed the backup for when Don Mancini came running.
My goal was to kill them all before her family could get here.
I took the opportunity to reload before I leaned against the wall and waited for the next wave.
Then someone tossed a grenade through the open window. Either to kill us or draw us into the line of fire. There was a standing lamp right next to me with ornate arms sticking out of it, so I grabbed that and used it to hit the grenade back out the window. I swung the lamp like a golf club and hit the grenade right away, making it fly back the way it’d come.