“Rafe! Behind you,” she yelled.
Marco announced his presence with a snarl. Rafe didn’t hesitate. Spinning, he used the other man’s forward momentum to propel him straight into the wall. With a sickening thud, his head bounced off the concrete bricks, making him stagger backward and dropping the gun that had been in his hand.
“I’m going to kill you for that,” Marco growled.
“For that? Then why the fuck were you trying to kill me before?” Rafe cocked up an eyebrow, unaffected by the threat.
Marco ignored the banter, twisting his lips into a feral smirk. “I’m going to kill you. And then I’m going to start on your girlfriend. And you bet your ass I’m not going to make it quick. Maybe I’ll even make you watch, mi amigo. Would you like that? Do you want to watch your little piece of trash beg me for a hit of Freedom? Do you want to watch her do anything to get it?”
Maybe the bastard wasn’t so dumb after all. The thought of him laying another hand on Penny made Rafe too damn eager to shed the bastard’s blood. He charged, taking a hit to the jaw that felt like little more than a fly landing. Rafe slid his Glock back into his thigh holster and embraced every ounce of anger.
He could’ve shot him, could’ve planted a bullet right between his eyes, but that was too easy. It was too quick and painless a way for the bastard to die after what he’d done and what he’d obviously planned to do to Penny. Rafe wanted the piece of shit to feel every single painful thing about to come his way.
As if sensing his determination, the smirk on Marco’s face slowly slid away. Good.
Surprisingly, Marco didn’t just stand there and take it. He fought back. Uppercuts and jabs, Rafe shook each one off. In his periphery, he saw Rachel slip into the room. She glanced his way and then hustled straight toward Penny, careful to give him and Marco a wide berth.
“Let me take a wild guess and say that you’re the bastard son, huh?” Rafe purposefully kept Marco’s attention on him and not the girls. It was an old-fashioned standoff, and one of them would be going down, but it sure as hell wouldn’t be him. “What happened, Marco? Your mom wasn’t one of Diego’s favorites, and you were relegated to a life of hired help? That must’ve pissed you the hell off.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Marco paced the floor like a pendulum. His movements put more distance between them and where Rachel struggled to untie Penny’s restraints. “Because now I’m calling the shots. I have the power and the money and the means to run the Fuentes empire the way I want…the way it was supposed to be run.”
“Funny thing about running an empire is that you need to be alive to actually run it.”
Marco bellowed and charged, but Rafe had already registered the shiny blade in his hand. He ducked, letting Marco’s arm, and the knife, fly past his face before bringing it down on his knee with a loud snap. The man’s shriek echoed through the room. For shits and fucking giggles, Rafe drilled a kick straight across the bastard’s knee and took out his cap.
Rafe snuck a look toward the back of the room. Penny and Rachel stood huddled together, Penny’s face frozen in worry. Her concern both warmed his chest and fueled his own unease. He wanted her safe and out of the way. Far the fuck away.
Six long strides and he loomed over her, fighting the urge to take her in his arms. “You need to go. Both of you. Now.”
His order was met with a brisk shake of Penny’s head. “I’m not leaving you behind.”
“Damn it, Red! This entire place is wired to blow any second. You need to go. I’m going to deal with Marco’s sorry ass and then I’ll be right behind you—I promise.”
“And damn you, Rafe,” Penny shouted back at him. She gave his chest a small shove that didn’t budge him. “The last time I let you out of my sight, I thought I lost you! I nearly did lose you. I’m not moving from this spot unless you’re coming with me.”
Penny’s gaze snapped behind him. “Move!”
Before Rafe could react, she rammed her shoulder into his gut, knocking him to the left while her hand grasped something on the tabletop to the right. When she stepped between him and a wild-eyed Marco, Rafe finally registered the gun in the man’s trembling hand—the gun he must have picked up off the floor.
“Red! No!” he shouted.
Rafe’s heart shuddered to an abrupt stop, his feet frozen in place. No one breathed. No one moved until Marco backhanded Penny so hard it sent her into a spin that knocked her into Rachel. And then it was like time surged forward in one quick burst.
“You little fucker.” Rafe ripped the gun out of Marco’s already relaxing hold and cold-cocked him with a brutal uppercut that dropped him to the ground. And most importantly, unconscious.