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“Idon’t know.He left me,” I cry, lying as best I can.

“A damn shame.” He points the silver gun to my head, then points it at Gil. “Well, until I get something, I’m going to have to execute your friends,one-by-one.”

“No!” I shake my head, grabbing onto Nicky’s collar pleadingly. “No. Leave them out of this. I swear, I was just taken into hiding.I swear.”

“By Stanzo’s son, huh? You expect me to believe he swept you away, and you didn’t kick and scream, asking a thousand questions?”

“Boss. Sirens reported a few blocks away,” one of his goons interrupts us, wiggling his cell phone.

Nicky smiles angrily at me. “Fate intervenes.”

I sigh with relief.

Nicky laughs at that. “This would’ve been the easy way, Cipriana. A quick bullet to the brain is heaven compared to what happens now.” He snaps his fingers and turns sharply away. “Wrap them up. They come with us.”

Arms bigger and rougher than Trino’s whip me forward and push my head down like I’m being arrested by the police. I hear my friends kicking and pleading behind me.

All I can do is cry as I try my hardest to glimpse Bruno bleeding on the floor on the way out. Chestnut is cradled over him, and there’s blood all over her.

No,I whimper. He was always so nice to me.

No…

Chapter 25

Tristano

I lunge for the big bouncer guarding the door, twisting my string around his neck while wriggling behind him.

Gunshots echo all around me in the confinedTaj Mahalof backroom gambling. Frankie Laundryis screaming at the top of his lungs for the card players to hold their fire, but it’s too late. The large bouncer is chock full of holes.

The vibrations of the big pile of meat ring through me, and all I can hear is my own thumping heart as the gunfire renders me deaf.

“Argh,fucker!”

One bullet went completely through him and nicked my side. It takes all of my arm strength to keep the fat fuck upright by the string around his throat. He’s been dead for ten seconds already, which might as well be an eternity amidst gunfire.

When Frankie finally gets his way, I hurl the fat fuck at the table and reach for the doorknob.

Bang! Bang!

The door sparks, acting as my next shield as I dive into the dingy hardware store. They’re expecting me to sprint as fast as I can out into the street, so I knock over a few heavy items and kick a shelf before taking cover in one of the far corners. Would they be smart enough to know I didn’t open the front door?

Doubt it.

They’re unprepared.

If they run out of the store with guns in hand, Snaps will know something is amiss. It’ll be high fucking alert war between the families.

My hearing slightly returns amidst the ringing, enough to have my wits about me.

Capri.I grit my teeth, thinking of NickyFritsmaking a move at Star Dust.Fuck.

I’ve never cared for someone this much. Not even close. Second would be my father, who’s been better at taking care of himself than his son for the past thirty years. But her?

She needs me.

And… I need her.