Page 80 of Fatal Sloth

"What?" Nico yells, his voice rising in disbelief.

"It was me," Roman responds.

"Your father wanted to try to make a deal with the Russians. I told him it was a bad idea, but he never listened to me. He always wanted to do the right thing," Rinna says, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I thought Orlov was setting him up, but they made the deal. Your dad came home early that night to celebrate and caught us. It was the perfect cover-up," she muses, a sadistic grin spreading across her face.

"Caught who?" Nico asks, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I've been trying to make it right ever since," Roman interjects. "That's why I am willing to help your mom take down Sebastiano, so you can take your rightful position and get your girl."

"So, you killed my father because he caught you having an affair with mom?" Nico asks, his voice cold as he walks towards Roman, who is now coming down the stairs towards us.

Shit's about to hit the fan, and I shoot a glance back at Enzo and Dario, who are positioned by the door, ready for whatever's coming next. Rinna's still holding her gun to Mia's head. Still, her attention is on Roman and Nico, who are screaming at each other like rabid dogs.

While Rinna's distracted, Mia does something ballsy as hell. She pulls out a knife from her sleeve and lunges at Rinna's right shoulder, near her collarbone.

Where the fuck did that come from?

For a split second, the whole place goes quiet, and then chaos erupts as Rinna's eyes widen in shock, her mouth gaping like a fish out of water. My woman isn’t fucking around. Mia plunges the blade into Rinna's chest a second time, blood staining her shirt. With tears streaming down her face, Mia makes a run for it, heading straight for me. I reach out to her, my heart slamming against my ribcage.

But before I can get close enough to grab Mia, Rinna's voice slices through my ears, full of venom. "You're gonna pay for this, you little whore!" she screams, pointing her gun right at Mia, her finger twitching on the trigger.

My blood runs cold at Rinna's words, and in a split second, everything seems to slow down when Nico, that crazy motherfucker, jumps in front of the bullet, taking the hit for Mia. The sound of the gun rings in my ears, followed by a sickening thud as Nico falls to his knees, blood gushing out of him like a fountain.

Frozen in place, my mind struggles to process what just happened because this nightmare just went from bad to catastrophic, and I can't do a thing about it.

"I've always loved you, and I always will," Nico whispers to Mia before his eyes shut. And then Mia's there, cradling Nico's lifeless body, tears pouring down her face as she mourns the loss of the man, she once called a friend.

There’s more than just sorrow filling the room now––it's a cocktail of burning flesh, gunpowder, and blood.

"You ruined everything," Rinna spits manically as she raises the gun once more. Before I can even blink, Rinna's turning that gun on Mia again, her finger moving toward the trigger like it's got a mind of its own.

Instinct kicks in, and I'm moving before I even realize what I'm doing. I lunge forward, stepping in front of Mia, taking the bullet meant for her like it's a badge of honor. The pain in my shoulder is excruciating, white-hot pain screams through every nerve in my body, but I grit my teeth and stand my ground.

I raise my own weapon, aiming it straight at Rinna's sorry ass. And then, with a squeeze of the trigger, Rinna's on the ground, her body crumpling like a puppet with its strings cut.

“Bash, are you okay?” Mia asks between sobs, her eyes wide with fear.

“Never fucking better, Piccolina,” I say, pulling her close with my right arm.

The stench of gunfire and the deafening roar of bullets fills the room as Enzo, Dario, and all my soldiers unleash hell. My heart's hammering in my chest as I try to make sense of the chaos around me, soldiers flooding into the warehouse from every direction.

I can hear the screams of my men, and some of whom I assume are Roman and Rinna’s soldiers, flood into the warehouse—the sharp crack of gunfire ringing in my ears like a symphony of death. And then, in the middle of the madness, I see him—Roman, making a run for it like the coward he is.

Alessio catches up to him, his face twisted in a mask of fury as he delivers blow after blow until Roman stops moving. And then, without a thought, Alessio pulls out his gun and unloads round after round into Roman's lifeless body.

44

Sebastiano

I'm sitting in the back of the car, Mia next to me, her eyes fixed on the passing scenery. Enzo's driving, his jaw clenched tight as he navigates the streets. The air is filled with tension, and I can feel the weight of everything that's happened pressing down on us.

"Hey," I murmur, reaching for her hand. "You okay?"

Mia sniffles, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "Yeah, I'll be fine," she replies. "Just... processing everything. I got one man killed, and you shot."

I reach out, unbuckling her seatbelt and pull her onto my lap, not caring about the pain radiating through my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her closer until she's straddling me.

Mia lets out a surprised laugh, her hands landing on my shoulders, carefully avoiding my wound, which is wrapped in a shirt to stop the bleeding. "Seb, what are you—"