Page 100 of A Madness of Crows

Standing back, I watch as he slumps in the chair.

“I’d leave you like this,” I muse. “But men like you tend to be cockroaches. You just keep coming back.”

And I slam that knife into his throat.

When the twitching has stopped, I pull it back out.

Stefano bangs on the door, his voice coming through.

I pull the chair away. “Did you get them?”

“Merda, Cat.” He steps inside, his arms full. “Are you hurt?”

I glance down, taking in the crimson that covers my body. My gold dress is no longer recognisable. “No.”

His eyes move past me, to the lump of flesh in the chair. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

Relief shines in those eyes as he turns from his uncle’s body. “You won’t be able to run in that dress.”

I grab the steak knife and start sawing, ripping the material away from my lower legs to free them up. “This knife is surprisingly versatile.”

He dumps the weapons on the charred table, picking through them. “No knives here. We only ever use guns.”

I’ll take whatever weapon I can get. We load up with several Glocks apiece, strapping additional ammunition to our arms with black straps. Stefan eyes me when I slide the steak knives beneath the holsters on my upper arms, but he doesn’t say anything as we move out.

The smell of smoke lingers in the air. We move quickly but quietly, Stefan pointing out a route as I pause to kick off my useless slippers.

Gunfire sounds, and Stefan pushes me into an alcove. He looks down at me. “You ready? Stay with me.”

That energy still surges in my veins as I reach up, pressing my lips against his in answer.

Just in case.

Day 100 – Gio

Ican barely see through the smoke.

We fight our way through, inch by inch. Guns are replaced by fists and knives as we meet more and more Asante men. A few feet away, Dante tackles a soldier fighting with Marco, taking him down and slamming his fist into his face.

My distraction nearly costs me. The shot barely misses my face, grazing fire along my cheek as I throw myself to the side.

The Asante goes down with a clean shot through the forehead, and I raise a hand to Vincent in thanks. His face is bloodied, too, but he’s still fighting.

I’ve lost sight of Johnno. He and Rocco took another route, Tony and Danny with them as we split to cover more ground.

“More coming!” Marco roars the words, pulling Dante back as he calls to me. “We’re getting pinned.”

Fucking roaches. They swarm us in endless lines of black uniforms that look military-grade.

But we keep fighting.

Day 100 – Caterina

We reach the first soldiers as we round the corner.

The recognition in their eyes, the hesitation as they recognise us, costs them as we fire. Stefano pushes me forward, his hand on my back keeping me steady as my feet threaten to slip in the blood at our feet.

Every shot only stokes that fire in my chest, pushes it to burn hotter and hotter until every part of me feels alight.