Page 149 of Scorned Beauty

Do no harm.

That was a double-edged sword at this moment.

So I chose not to live in the guilt of inaction.

I chose to give Paulie a higher chance of survival.

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

Dom

I spottedAnton slipping between an alley.

“I see him.” I told them the street corners, but we each had our location dots on, anyway. Anton’s problem was he was a big guy who depended on brawn to intimidate but couldn’t run long distances for shit.

He was at the end of the alley in front of a fifteen-foot-high chain-link fence, bent over his knees.

He glanced at me, then straight ahead. “About time you fucking caught me.” Those were the words I made out, given they were muffled by his labored breathing.

“You need to lose weight,” I called. I slowed my strides, giving him the chance to recover, but held a gun loosely by my side. His hands were free of weapons, but I saw the bulge of a gun at his back beneath his dark shirt.

“Fuck you, De Lucci.”

“I could just shoot you.” I came closer.

“Why don’t you?” he jeered, straightening up and facing me.

“What’s the fun in that?”

He raised a brow. “You want to fight me? No weapons?”

“Like it’s hard?”

He gave a choked laugh. “You’re as arrogant and crazy as they say you are.”

“That’s Kirill, not me.”

At the mention of his pakhan, his face darkened. “He’s another son of a bitch. Traitor,” he spat.

“From what I hear, you’re the traitor.”

He sneered. “Are you gonna yap or take a swing at me?”

“Throw your gun away first.” I pointed mine at him.

He scoffed and threw his nine millimeter away.

The second I tossed mine, the fucker charged.

His linebacker shoulder drove into my gut and emptied my lungs. He tackled me to the ground.

I blocked the blow to my head and tipped him over, using my legs. Fuck. That motherfucker was the weight of a tanker.

We surged at each other in a flurry of fists and fury. Finally, I gained enough leverage to throw him over my hip. Not giving him an opportunity to stand, I jumped on him and straddled his body. I grabbed his head and cracked it on the ground. Then my fingers wrapped around his neck and squeezed.

“How does it feel to crave oxygen, huh, motherfucker?”