Page 95 of Bound By Flames

“I…I wish you could be there, like right now… I have a bad feeling.”

Fuck, why now?

Business over women.

The words of my father hit me in the guts, but this time, they hold less power, less meaning. As if something had changed. As if my priorities had shifted.

“Could… I know you’re busy but… Could you come backhomenow? I…I really need you.”

Fuck.

Mia needs me.

She wants me home.

She saidhomeas in her home as well.

Just as Mia's voice ends on the line, I notice Nero glancing at the window with too much insistence, and without even stepping toward it, he takes his gun out of his holster and raises it in my direction.

BANG!

“Ares? Ares, are you still there!?” Mia's little voice fades in the background as a rain of bullets starts falling.

Chapter 21

Ares

Fucking hell.

Everything had gone in a fraction of a second, our targets lying on the concrete floor next to the poker table. Even the one I wanted to keep alive.

I had been distracted. Mia’s voice chants in the back of my mind, pleading with me to come back to her when I have to focus, stay sharp, and know my priorities.

I intended to shoot Nero in the shoulder to avoid him pulling the trigger where I was waiting at the end of. But the call had messed with my plan, and Nero was suspicious, so we had to act, and in the midst of it all, the bullet went straight into his rib, resulting in the fucking Italian spasming on the floor, with barely enough time to get intel out of him.

Vox was the first in the room, followed by half of the brothers, the other staying on the outside to look out for any unwelcome visitors. My VP stared at me, clenching his jaw, and even the voices and rushed movements around us couldn’t cover his silent questioning. I could hear him think, shouting at me in his mind, “Why the fuck did you aim here?”

But I already knew the answer.

Because the man I had hunted, tracked, and shot in front of me, served on a fucking silver platter, had become the least of my priorities.

“Ares? Please answer me, or I swear I’m going to kill you right freaking now—” Mia’s blurred voice shouts from the phone I had put in my back pocket.

She must think I’ve been shot.

“Fu-fuck you…Malone….you’ll regret this—” Nero says, agonizing under me, blood pumping out of him at the speed of light. He would die soon and badly. That was the only relief from my mistake. But the intel, fuck, I need the intel.

“I’m here, Mia, don’t—” I tell her, keeping my voice even.

“Ares, God, it’s you, you…I thought, please, don’t hang up…” Her tone is panicked.

Vox steps toward me. “Is Rose alright? Did something happen?” His brows furrow and his gaze is sharp and violent. I shake my head, signaling to him with one hand. “Everything’s fine.” He nods, his gaze suddenly softening, circling the body spread beneath us.

“I’m okay. I have to go now.” Not giving a fuck that all my men were staring at me with wide eyes.

“Please, no, don’t. Come home, please, I have a bad feeling—” she pleads, her little voice reaching places in my chest it shouldn’t have.

“Mia, it’s alright. I’ll be home soon,” I try to reassure her.