Page 25

E verything seems to happen in slow motion. What takes seconds, feels as if it’s hours. Tennant’s change of trajectory, the sound of gunshots echoing around the concrete room, Dad and Il Padrone’s shouts of protest… None of them make any sense to me, not when both Ten and Lio hit the floor.

Instinct has me firing my gun, but it’s too late. It’s too fucking late.

I prided myself on being a good shot, not the best, certainly not as fast or accurate as Leandro, but good enough to hit my mark before they got me… As my world crashes down around me, I wonder if I was ever any good at all.

Ten warned me my arrogance would get in my way one day… I just never thought he’d be the casualty.

“Fucking hell, Roman,” Hollis says in my ear.

The devastation in my lover’s voice knocks me out of my shock, and even with people streaming into the room to help, I’m torn over where to go, who needs me more.

Tennant is down, steadily bleeding out in front of me.

Blood covers every-fucking-thing. And Dad is trying his best to escape his manacles.

Someone—don’t ask me who—works on freeing him, though I can tell it’s hard with Dad thrashing around.

“Roman,” Hollis says, his voice firm. “Help Cristian.”

“I…” My throat closes up. “Ten…”

“Is being looked after.”

He is?

I look over, and sure enough, they have him on his back, his shirt ripped open as they tear pieces of their own apart to staunch the heavy bleeding. There’s so much blood. I can’t tell where he was hit because of it.

That bullet was meant for me.

“Roman, fucking focus. You can fall apart later, Amore. Cristian, Tennant, and Emilio need you now.”

Oh God. Lio. My friend. My best fucking friend is bleeding out. If I thought there was a lot of blood around Ten, that has nothing on how quickly it’s pooling around Lio’s prone body.

“One thing at a time, Roman,” Hollis snaps. “Focus on the person you can help now.”

Dad’s chains are undone by the time I stumble over to him on numb feet. There’s blood around his wrists from his struggles, and I’m sure it will be on his ankle as well, where the other manacle was.

I quickly examine him visually, noting the bandage around his throat, and one on his side—his shirt torn away for access. “You’re hurt,” I say unnecessarily, looking at the body of Tom Fucking Court.

“I’m fine, Figlio Mio,” he assures me. “Just a little banged up.”

“ETA on medical?” I ask Hollis.

“Few minutes out. Keep it together until then. Does the Boss need immediate attention?”

Looking Dad over again, I clock the crude and dirty bandage around his finger, but aside from those three injuries, I don’t see anything life threatening. “Not that I can see.”

“Then check on Ten for me. Please?”

It’s the soft, quiet please that brings the feelings of failure rushing to the surface. Fuck .

Trusting our men to have Dad, I quickly make my way to Ten’s side, shoving aside anyone in my way.

I don’t cry as I fall to my knees next to his ghastly pale body, but the lump in my throat threatens to choke me. “There’s so much blood, Hol,” I whisper. I want to touch him, but I don’t dare, not wanting to injure him further.

“I know, I know. It’s okay,” he soothes in my ear. “Kail and Rose are in the first ambulance, and they’ll take care of him, okay? You trust them. Soren and Donovan will take care of Lio. Doc and Dr. Ranlen are prepping now. It’s an all hands on deck situation. No one is fucking dying tonight.”

I don’t know if he’s trying to convince me or himself, but as Ten’s face seems to get paler by the second, it doesn’t matter.

Arms wrap around me, and I recognize them enough as Dad’s.

I should feel bad that, after being held captive, he’s the one comforting me, but…

nothing is ever that simple, is it? Tennant is Dad’s best friend.

They’ve been through more together than I can ever hope to learn and understand.

The two of them have a bond that none of us—not even Hollis and Benjamin—will ever be able to touch.

Fuck. Benjamin. And Jude.

Looking up, I find my lover’s pale green eyes, a source of comfort and strength. Even in the chaos surrounding us, he’s an island of calm, though if I know my lover, it’s a facade. Carefully hidden feelings that I do my best to draw strength from.

“Med team is there,” Hollis says, almost distantly. “Let them do their job, Roman. Cristian will ride in with Ten.”

“But…”

“Stay with Jude, you’re still the Boss, Roman. Help Jude and Benjamin with organizing the men.”

“Stay on the line?”

“Of course, Amore. I’m not going anywhere.”

Some knot unlocks in my chest. Knowing that, for now, he doesn’t blame me for the state our lover is in.

I have enough guilt for all four of us, anyway.

The crushing, oppressive feeling threatens to keep me on my knees, but as Dad stands, he takes me with him.

When he staggers, I jolt into action, steadying him.

“You’re not okay.”

He gives a small, tired smile. “I am; don’t worry about me. Tennant is more important.”

Before I can argue, the medical teams rush in and prepares Lio and Ten for transport, and I kick myself once again for forgetting Lio also got hurt.

They whisk Lio off before I can check on him, but I have to believe he’ll be okay. Soren wouldn’t let anything happen to him. And with Il Padrone riding along, he’ll fight. Right? So close to his Master, he wouldn’t give up the fight now.

“Ti voglio bene,” Dad says, pressing a kiss to my hair, before letting me go. “I’ll go with him. I'll remind the fucker he can’t leave me to this hell alone.”

Vaguely, I realize I never told Dad the plan. Either someone else filled him in, or his instinct of being a Boss is more honed than mine.

I want to hold on, to beg him to stay with me, to tell him that he can’t leave my sight after just getting him back, but that’s not fair. I don’t deserve his comfort, not when I might have killed his soulmate.

So I let him go, taking with him a broken piece of my heart.

Standing in the middle of the chaos, I’ve never felt so alone, so…lost.

I know people are waiting for me, that I need to stand in front of the men I led into this battle and give them a reason to follow me back home, but how can anyone trust me when I can’t even protect those closest to me?

Failure.

Inadequate.

Not fit to be the Boss.

The weight of my knife is heavy in its sheath at my hip. And for a moment, I wonder if anyone would notice if I used it on myself…

“I’m here, Roman,” Hollis’s voice knocks me out of my dark thoughts. “Go finish this, Little Prince.”

Tennant’s nickname for me spurs me into action, and I look for Jude and Benjamin, finding them ordering people around, looking in their element as they do so, acting like the Seconds they are.

Taking a breath, I let Hollis’s words, and the weight of Tennant’s expectations for me, buoy me into seeing this out.

Two pairs of green eyes meet mine when I join them, both looking as determined as I want to be, and as devastated too.

Strength in numbers and all that.

We’re stronger together than apart, we’ve proven that. Martelli and Amato. We didn’t find two, just to lose two others.

No, this isn’t the end, not for us. My time as Amato Boss isn’t over, and it’s time I prove it, no matter how undeserving I might be…