Page 211 of Caught in the Crossfire

“Them? Or her?”

I didn’t answer. He could read it on my face.

Greco nodded. “I thought so.”

He looked over my shoulder, and I only had half a breath to react before hiscapo’sfist came flying at my head. I ducked to the side to avoid the blow, but I couldn’t avoid the four men who immediately jumped me, yanking me from the chair at my parents’ table.

Two held my arms while the other two laid in on me. Blow after blow landed in my stomach, my chest, my face all while Greco watched on. Only when my eyes were rolling back in my head and I was about to pass out did Greco hold up a hand. His men paused, throwing my body to the ground. I caught myself just before my face slammed into the hardwood.

A flicker of hope bloomed in my heart that he might not kill me, but I knew the truth. I was barreling toward my end.

Still, my answer wouldn’t change.

“Maximiliano, I am disappointed.”

Your father would be pretty fucking disappointed in you, Max.

Cas was right, per usual. Look at what I’d allowed to happen. I’d opened the door, and the Camorra had simply walked right through it. I thought this was the way to save us, but I’d only spelled our doom. I’d told both Leona and Cas that I couldn’t let them ruin everything I’d worked for, but look at this. I’d done it my-fucking-self.

I wiped the blood from my mouth, holding back a choked laugh. “Join the fucking club.”

Greco stood, staring down at me from that perfect fuckingsuit. He toed me with his leather loafer, jamming the tip right into a bruise on my chest. “I had high hopes for you, but it seems I’ll have to finish the work you started. You’re just like your father, after all. Far too sentimental. If one thing could be said for thatfiglio di puttanaLuciano, it’s that he at least had ambition.”

Sentimental?Logic over emotions.It’s what he’d taught me my whole life.

“Kill him,” Greco said.

“Wait,” I started, reaching out a hand. What did he mean about my father? What was he saying?

Greco’scapokicked my hand, and I hissed in pain, clutching it to my chest.

“Andiamo,” Greco spoke to his men, completely ignoring me while turning on his heel. “We shall retrieve the Dons andSignorinaVero ourselves.”

Most of the men followed him out, leaving only three behind to deal with me. I struggled to breathe. My lungs were on fire. My ribs had to be broken.No.

Hands grabbed my shoulders, yanking me to my knees. A gun cocked at the back of my head. In the distance, I heard the sounds of cars starting and doors slamming shut. Suddenly the house felt so empty, so silent.

I closed my eyes.

Dead at my father’s table. Nothing to show for it except driving the people I loved most in this world away. If this was going to be my end, then what had I done everything for?

What was the fucking point?

No.

Not fucking happening.

Fight!My father’s voice echoed in my ears.

Fight, Max!Her voice.

My eyes flew open.

I yanked the knife I kept strapped to my ankle ever sinceLeona stabbed me at Club Thunder and stabbed it into thecapo’sleg. The gun fired, but the bullet missed my head and embedded into the wood floor in front of me.

I rolled to the side while twisting his wrist, forcing the man to drop the gun. I caught it using a move Cas did to me once while we were training together. Within a second, I fired one bullet into the firstcapo’shead and another into the second man. Both dropped dead, but the third came at me with a knife. He sliced my arm, and the pistol flew from my grip, landing somewhere beneath the table and its chairs.

He lunged for it, but I dropped my shoulder and slammed into him, locking us together in a flurry of fists and blades while we rolled around the floor. My teeth grit together when his knife jammed into my side. I only had a moment to be grateful that the blade didn’t cut my heart in half because it instead scraped my rib bone and turned, tearing up the flesh of my torso. I barely held in my scream, but I didn’t know if there were any other men outside, and I couldn’t afford to fuck up again.