BANG.
The moment Kassian says it, a gunshot lights up the room. I scream, startled, my ears ringing as a bullet flies right by me. So close. Too close. Lorenzo didn’t flinch, didn’t move, not a flicker of emotion on his face when he pulled the fucking trigger.
Kassian shoves me, moving, trying to dodge the gunshot. Or maybe he’s trying to throw me into it, I don’t know. I don’t know. All I know is seconds later, in another blink, there’s movement. The guy on the couch, the one Lorenzo smacked with the bottle, comes to with a jolt, the loud bang rousing him back to consciousness.
Lorenzo doesn’t notice. The guy is in his blind spot.
“Lorenzo!” I scream.
Kassian’s hand clamps down on my mouth as he pins me against him, hissing, “Stupid girl, shut up.”
Lorenzo turns just as the guy hits him, fists swinging. Oh god. Lorenzo fires a shot that misses entirely, the bullet hitting the mantle over the fireplace, ricocheting my direction. I cry out into Kassian’s palm, panicked, my vision blurring, struggling to break free but it’s not working.
They start going at it, hitting, grabbing, the gun ripped from Lorenzo’s grasp and kicked across the floor. My stomach drops. Lorenzo’s at a disadvantage, not only because of his blind spot, but because Kassian’s guys are built for this. They’re trained to disarm, to subdue, to inflict pain...
“You see that?” Kassian whispers in my ear. “He is weak, your little plaything. He cannot save you.”
Lorenzo puts up one hell of a fight, using everything he’s got, but it isn’t long until he’s knocked down, dropping to his knees. Blood streams from his busted mouth as he breathes heavily.
My heart damn near stops.
“Aw, look at that, suka,” Kassian says. “Now you get to watch him take his last breath.”
I struggle, flailing, kicking my legs, swinging my arms. I throw my head back, slamming into Kassian’s chin, my elbow jabbing him in the rib, but it’s still not enough.
Fuck this.
I bite him.
My teeth clamp down on his palm. He rips his hand away from my mouth, cursing, and shoves me, throwing me to the floor by the fireplace.
I wince, my ankle twisting in the goddamn heels as I land... hard.
“Stay,” he barks, glaring at me, furious. Turning away, he stalks over to Lorenzo, shaking the hand that I bit before he snatches the gun from the floor. He steps right in front of Lorenzo, raising the gun, pointing it at his forehead. “It is a shame it has come to this, Mister Scar. You and I could have been friends.”
Lorenzo says nothing, just staring up at him, his tongue slowly running along his busted lip.
“But friends do not steal from each other,” Kassian continues. “My friends do not try to take what is mine. I may let them have a taste, from time to time, but the suka belongs to me. She is not theirs, and she is certainly not yours. The stupid girl, she does not know what is good for her. She let you believe you could keep her, she let you have parts of her that were not hers to give away, and that, Scar, is why we can never be friends.”
Anger flows through every syllable from Kassian’s lips, his hand shaking as he grips the gun. He doesn’t use them. He prefers his bare hands. But his finger is on the trigger, and I know he’s going to pull it. Any fucking second, the gunshot is going to echo through the air.
No. No. No.
Frantic, my eyes dart around, my mind working fast, looking for a way out. Where are Lorenzo’s guys? Where’d Declan go? Where are the others? Where’s Seven? Why aren’t they here, protecting him? Why is nobody doing anything to stop this?
Why isn’t Lorenzo fighting?
It makes no sense.
It’s insane.
A smile creeps up on Lorenzo’s lips. It sends a chill down my spine. Oh no. Oh god. Why the fuck is he smiling? A light laugh escapes him as he spits blood on Kassian’s shiny shoes, like none of this bothers him.
“You’re right, Aristotle,” Lorenzo says. “You and I could never be friends.”
As soon as he says that, I hear the front door of the house open. I don’t know who it is. I don’t know who’s coming. All I know is that if somebody doesn’t do something, this is it. It’s all over.
He’s going to die because of me.
I can’t let that happen.
Kicking off the heels, I shove up to my feet, grabbing the first thing I can reach—the fireplace poker. I grasp it tightly in my sweaty palms, clutching it with both hands as I lunge right for Kassian, ramming it in his back. It doesn’t go far in, the thick metal curving, my bruised body too damn weak to shove it through, but it pierces him enough to knock him forward.
His minion grabs me before I can do much else, ripping the poker out of my hand, out of Kassian’s back, before he throws me across the room. The gun goes off as soon as I hit the floor, the noise harrowing in my ears.
BANG.
I scream, desperately turning.
Don’t let him be dead.
I watch, eyes wide, as Lorenzo finally fights. He’s on his feet again, twisting Kassian’s arm, forcing him to pull the trigger again.
BANG.
The bullet grazes Kassian’s shoulder, throwing him off enough for Lorenzo to get the upper hand. He snatches the gun back as Kassian staggers, stunned.
People swarm the room as adrenaline flows through me, the rush nearly making me black out. The first person I see, the first face I encounter, is one I haven’t seen in a while.
Seven.
Behind him is Declan. Beside him, Frank. Declan and Frank carry guns, assault rifles, while Seven holds his hands up in front of him, almost defensively.
Lorenzo stands up straight, no hesitation, pumping a few bullets into Kassian’s last minion, dropping the guy before he points the gun at Kassian.
“You see, the thing is,” Lorenzo says, “I could never be friends with someone who doesn’t know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek.”
He doesn’t pull the trigger.
No, he swings.
BAM.
Lorenzo beats him, slamming him in the face with the pistol, blow after blow, unrelenting. Lorenzo backs him up into the wall, hitting him so hard Kassian drops, sliding to the floor. His face is a streaked mask of red, blood pouring from him, coating Lorenzo’s hand.
“Damn, boss,” Declan says. “Just pop a bullet in the guy... would be more humane.”
“No,” I yell, my own voice surprising me. “Wait, you can’t. Don’t kill him!”
The guys cast me peculiar looks.
All except Lorenzo, who doesn’t even look my way. I’m invisible again. His attention is on his guys, scanning them as his expression darkens. He raises the gun again, aiming, this time at Seven.
I have no idea what to make of that, no idea what’s happening, but I don’t have time to figure it out. Kassian’s eyes are drifting closed, like he’s going unconscious.
I rush over, dropping to my knees beside him, grasping his bloody face and shaking him. “Kassian, look at me.”
His cold gray eyes meet mine.
“Tell me where she is,” I whisper, my voice cracking. “Tell me where I can find Sasha.”
He curves an eyebrow. “Markel did not tell you?”