Page 13 of Blood in the Water

I ducked just in time for another spray of bullets to shatter the side windows. Glass rained down onto both of us.

“Leona!” I unhooked my seatbelt and yanked the door handle open.Please, God, let her be okay.

“I’m fine,” she groaned as she started to straighten. I yanked her back down while using the back of my hand to wipe glass shards off the top of her head and the open skin of her back. Shestill had that dress on, and the fact that she was so exposed made anxiety tighten my chest.

“Do not get out of the car,” I commanded. We couldn’t stay here like sitting ducks. I had to kill these motherfuckers before they killed us.

The glass of the rearview and side mirrors were still intact, thank fucking God. Two men wearing all black with balaclavas covering their faces crept up on either side of the vehicle. In just a few steps, they’d be near enough to see Leona. I had to actnow.

With a hard kick, the door flew open, and I tumbled out, quickly firing a shot at the man on my side of the car. The bullet tore through his neck, and he fell, thunking into the side of the vehicle.

The attacker on the other side of the car swiveled toward me, but I ducked behind the first’s body, and bullets slammed into the dead man’s back.

Without another moment’s hesitation, I lined up my sights and shot the fucker in the head. He crumbled to the ground just as the dead man in front of me slid down the side of the car and landed in a pool of blood.

The empty street echoed with the sounds of gunshots, violence, and heavy breaths.

“Cas?” Leona choked out a sob. “Are you dead? Am I going to die?”

I ran to her door and pulled it open before I gathered her in my arms and plastered her against my chest. “No, princess. You’re going to be fine. We’re fine.”

Her face was buried against my shirt, and her hands clawed into my forearms. Uneven sobs broke through her chest. I pressed my lips against her hair and murmured whatever soothing sounds came to mind, but I could barely recognize what I was saying.

“What just happened?” she asked when she finally caught her breath.

I briefly glanced behind me at the corpse of the second attacker. Max’s men wouldn’t have bothered wearing masks. If it were Italians of any kind, they wouldn’t be dressed in such shitty outfits.

This was amateur. They attacked us on purpose, but they clearly weren’t experienced or at the caliber of the more powerful families—semi-professionals, yet clearly not good enough to finish the job. I gritted my teeth as the realization set in.

“Max put out a hit on us,” I finally replied as I pulled her closer to me. He likely sent the hit out city-wide, maybe even down the entire East Coast. Any up-and-coming gang banger could be on the lookout for us. “Come on, we have to get the fuck out of here.”

We had to get to Don Tommaso’s. I couldn’t fight off every fucking assassin known to man with just one clip of ammo remaining and no fucking car.

I pulled Leona to her feet and ducked back inside the car to reach for my phone when my hand paused mid-air. Another thought laced through my brain.

How did they find us so quickly?

If Max put out a hit on us, and these fucking amateurs took it, how did they get a lock on our location so fast?

Our fucking phones. Max was tracking us through our phones. I should have realized that fact so much earlier, but it was thenextthought that had me frozen in place.

All five Dons were at the party tonight.

Don Tommaso.

Don Lucchese.

Don Rossi.

Don Sandrini.

The other Four didnothingto help. They all had brought at least ten of their own security forces. Yet all of them disappeared as soon as shots echoed through the mansion. Max’s soldiers had secured the Vero estate so quickly that the coup was almost seamless.

Which could never have happened if the Dons were not aware of, and approving of, Max’s actions.

“Fuck!” I slammed my hand against the center console.

Leona jumped behind me. “What? What is it?”