Page 32 of The Bonventi Hitman

A flicker of light shines from the front of the house, and before I know it, a figure stumbles out and into the street.

Luca, caught off guard, curses under his breath.

"Shit. Fuck, fuck," he says as his hand instinctively reaches for something hidden beneath his seat.

The figure reaches out to us, limping in our direction.

"What the fuck," I say aloud, unable to control myself.

The man stares at us, and I can tell he's hurt and badly bloodied. Just as Luca raises his gun, a spray of crimson mist explodes across Luca's driver's side window. The man's eyes go wide, andhe collapses to the ground mere feet from our car, his lifeless body slumping in the desolate street.

My hands fly to my mouth to cover my gasp, as if that could somehow suppress what I've just witnessed.

The man's body lies motionless on the pavement, and I can't turn away as blood pools beneath him, staining the street.

Luca curses again, this time more forcefully, and slams his hand against the steering wheel.

Out of the shadows from behind the dead man emerges Gabriel, his gun with a silencer attached pointing down at the man. He looks like he's covered in blood, like a demon standing in the middle of the road, but I quickly realize most of it is the mist of blood covering Luca's windows.

As I stare at Gabriel, I feel a mixture of fear and fascination. Luca is visibly relieved to see his enforcer and lets out an audible laugh. He's unfazed by what he just saw.

I, on the other hand, witness Gabriel's cold, efficient mafia hitman side for the first time.

Our eyes lock, and I don't look away. I can't, and neither does he.

For a moment, I'm transported back to our dance, to the way his hands felt on my body. The same electricity that ran thought me that night, and the night he held my hand while rubbing my scar, is what's coursing through me now, even as he stands there with someone else's blood on his shirt.

This is so wrong. He just killed someone. Actually killed someone, and here I am, getting lost in his eyes.

But I can't help it. There's something magnetic about him, something that pulls me in despite everything.

I feel my skin getting hot under the intensity of his gaze.

Then Gabriel shifts and quickly hides his gun, breaking the spell.

"Gabriel, what the fuck?" Luca exclaims, popping open the car door. "You scared the shit out of me."

"It's all taken care of," Gabriel says, his voice cold.

Luca nods. "Good."

He then turns to me and commands, "Stay here."

He gets out of the car and slams the door so hard it makes the car shake. I watch him and Gabriel exchange hasty, hushed words. I lean forward, peering through the blood-stained window, trying to make out their conversation, but their voices blend into a coarse whisper, slipping away into the night.

I catch Gabriel stealing glances at me from the corner of his eye as he speaks with Luca.

I force myself to maintain a casual demeanor, but like a moth to the flame of his dark allure towering over Luca, I can't help but meet his gaze. I justify it by telling myself the only other place to look is down at the dead body, and I don't want to do that.

Luca's voice breaks through the silence as he turns and walks over to the trunk of his car and calls Gabriel over.

He opens the trunk, and the two of them have a brief conversation before I see them approach the lifeless body lying in the street.

In tandem, they lift the man and toss the body into the trunk. Gabriel's face is emotionless as I stare at him, showing his familiarity with such a task.

Despite the scene unfolding before me, I can't seem to take my eyes off Gabriel. My eyes trace the contours of his face, his chiseled jawline, and set of perfectly placed lips. There's a raw, primal energy radiating from him, and in this moment, more than I ever have before, I find it intoxicating.

The trunk slams shut, jolting me back to reality.