Page 108 of Ruthless King

“No,” I snarl, my finger closing around the trigger. I shoot off a hailstorm of bullets into the murky space. “Stella will kill me if anything happens to you. I already owe your fiancée enough. I don’t need to add to the debt.”

He remains silent for a blissful minute. My stubborn younger brother has always believed himself to be invincible. Until he met her. Now everything has changed. The idea of dying becomes much less acceptable when you’re forced to leave behind someone you’re fucking crazy about.

Lucky for me, I don’t have that problem.

Luca shoves me off and crouches beside me, drawing out the handgun from his inside jacket pocket. As C.E.O. of King Industries, myfratellinodoesn’t have use for a weapon on most days. But today, those Chinese assholes got the drop on us.

“Where the hell are Tony and the other guys?” Luca hisses as another spray of bullets zings over our heads.

“On their way,” I mutter through clenched teeth. I never should’ve let my brother come today. So much for a quick check on our supplies. How the fuck did Feng Zhang and his men know we’d be here? And unprotected?

“I still can’t believe thatfiglio di puttanais still alive,” Luca grits out.

I nod and squeeze out another round before reloading. Feng was supposed to be dead, along with his cousin Bo who’d nearly killed us three months ago. Bo’s father Jianjun was the head of the Chinese Triad. His bastard son captured Luca’s fiancée and my brother lost his shit. We thought they were all dead, then last week a fucking ghost appears.

Feng.

The thirst for revenge changes a man.

I know this well enough. After Papà died and Luca slid into the King’s throne, vengeance was all I lived for.

The sudden silence jerks me from my musings, and I glance around the dark warehouse.

“Why’d they stop?” Luca whispers.

I inch up and peer over the edge of the bullet-riddled crates. Feng stands across the sprawling space with two men at each side. They’re all in red from head-to-toe, the guys surrounding him wearing hoods.

“I’ve come to deliver a message.” Feng’s voice cuts through the unnatural silence.

Luca stands, but I wrap my fingers around his wrist and jerk him back down. “Stay down,” I hiss. “You’re too valuable.”

“Oh, fuck off, Dante.”

I throw a narrowed glare at my brother. “Stella,” I mouth.

He huffs out a frustrated breath and shrinks down behind the splintering crate.

“We’re listening,” I shout back.

Feng clears his throat, then reaches into his pocket and something silver glints beneath the dim halogen lights.

“Merda,” Luca mutters.

He creeps closer, hands extended palm up. His men trail him on either side, guns trained at us. As he nears, I finally focus on the silver circlet. A ring. Feng slides it onto his middle finger and squeezes his hand into a fist.

Then he glares at me from across the room, lips twisted into a snarl. “You slaughtered my cousin and his men, nearly killed me, and now you will pay. The Chinese Triad has declared war on the Kings.”

“That’s bullshit—” Luca leaps up and a bullet whizzes just past his head.

I shove him down to the floor again, muttering curses. “I told you to stay down, youstronzo.”

A dark chuckle fills the tense air. “One more thing. The Triad has placed a price on Luca Valentino and Stella Esposito’s heads. Dead or alive. One million dollars each.”

“Fuck,” Luca hisses.

Feng sneers, and I can feel the tension radiating off my brother in waves. “You’ll have every low-life scum gunning for you and your precious fiancée.”

Luca jolts up again, digging his elbow into my side when I try to stop him. “If you lay a hand on her, Feng, I’ll tear you up from limb to limb, piss on your entrails and drag your remains across China Town.”