Page 93 of Tainted Obsession 1

“Look at me,farfallina.” I shake her slightly, but she doesn’t obey.

“You promised you would stay,” I remind her, coaxing. “You’re mine, Evelyn. You’re not going anywhere. Evelyn!”

I can’t compel her to stop bleeding. I can’t order her to keep breathing. There’s nothing I can do to prevent her from slipping away from me.

There’s nothing I can do to save the woman I love.

Gunfire pops around me in a deafening, staccato beat. Carmen shouts something at me, but I can’t focus on the words. All I see is the blood staining Evelyn’s gold dress, blooming on the pale fabric like a gory rose.

For a moment, my mother’s frail, broken body shimmers before me, layering over the waking nightmare. Her blood had spilled over her sunshine yellow dress, and her caramel eyes had been wide with horror as the light faded from them.

My violent impulses led to her death—if I hadn’t tried to join the gang, the boys wouldn’t have been provoked into terrorizing my parents.

Now, my fragile little butterfly is bleeding out in my arms. Because I trapped her in my violent world and refused to let her go.

She told me so many times that she wanted to return to the safety of her mundane life in Albuquerque. But I selfishly kept her against her will and coerced her into staying, manipulating her with ruthless pleasure.

“Evelyn…” I murmur her name over and over again, but her eyes remain closed.

The beautiful pink flush that I love so much has drained from her cheeks, and her light dusting of freckles stands out in sharp relief against her porcelain complexion.

The gunfire slows, the shots becoming more infrequent. Whoever’s been firing an automatic weapon from the ground floor of Stefano’s club must’ve run out of ammo or been killed.

The cartel kingpin’s men are still shooting from the mezzanine level, mowing down whoever’s left from the assault team.Los Zetaswere fools to think they could take on Stefano Duarte in his own home, no matter how brutal their tactics.

Panicked shouts sound from below, rapid fire curses and calls to retreat.

“I want at least one of them alive,” Carmen barks, thirsty for vengeance.

Stefano is at her side, both of them hovering near us. He cages his wife in a protective embrace. His body shields hers, the gun in his hand held as naturally as an extension of his arm.

“Call the doctor!” she instructs him. “Evelyn was hit.”

My heart twists at the panic-stricken words. Evelyn’s breaths are shallow, the pulse at her throat weak and sluggish.

I love Evelyn. I love her, and now she might die.

Everyone I’ve ever loved has been murdered. Because of me.

The fight is over, but the ruined club hasn’t gone quiet. A car horn blares from downstairs;Los Zetasrammed their way through the entrance with an armored SUV, and the wrecked vehicle wails in protest. Glass crunches beneath the quick footsteps of Stefano’s guests as they scramble to capture their wounded enemies before they flee. And the deep pulse of the club music still thrums through the darkened space. Golden lights flash over the blood-splattered dance floor, a macabre celebration of violence.

The thin, dark-haired man I recognize as Stefano’s private physician appears at my side, his black brows drawn low over his round glasses. “Let me see her.”

It takes all of my willpower to unlock my arms and lay her down on the floor so that the doctor can inspect her.

He cuts her silk dress to reveal the wound at her side. The sight of her blood turns my stomach, and I swallow down the bile that burns the back of my throat.

“Will she make it?” My question is little more than a strangled rasp.

“I’ll do what I can for her,” the doctor replies, calm and clinical.

“Save her,” I demand, a savage snarl.

He’ll die if he fails.

He doesn’t glance at me; he simply continues to treat her injury. “If you want to distract me with threats, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

I growl a wordless refusal. I won’t leave her side for any reason. I’m not going anywhere until she opens her eyes and looks at me with complete devotion. She’ll promise me that she belongs to me, and she’ll never leave me.