Page 19 of The Forever One

“Stay down, Tesoro. We’ll finish this.”

After checking the gun, taking the safety off that Eleanor had left on—rookie move—he places a chaste kiss against my lips and moves to a crouching position. Then he joins in the gunfight, wincing as he uses his wounded arm to throw my vacant chair to the side.

I swear there weren’t this many people in the barn before I hit the deck. The space is filled with bodies, the noise quieting down as people fall to the ground one by one. At some point, Enzo must have been freed, because he’s currently back-to-back with Marco as they beat the crap out of seven men at once. Guns have been discarded in favor of fists and knives.

From my position on the floor, I look around for Lina, who is exactly where she was left before this all started. Huddled in a corner of the room, surrounded by a wall of men not allowing anyone near her. Then I spot J and I realize our people must have arrived at some point.

They found us.

That thought almost breaks me and I struggle not to let the tears fall out of pure happiness. Lina’s safe. Marco’s going to be safe. They found us.

Okay, lying here on the ground isn’t going to help anyone. My face hurts and my body aches, but I need to get to Lina. She may be safe and surrounded by our people, but she’s also alone. Slowly getting to my knees, the glint of a knife beside a bleeding corpse catches my eye and I grab it as I crawl toward Lina, trying to stay low and out of the line of fire. I’m not totally stupid, I know what my strengths are, and getting in the middle of a gunfight isn’t one of them.

Tracking my surroundings as I creep across the floor is difficult with so much going on around me. Grunts and groans from the injured and those still fighting distract me enough that I jump and gasp as a foot on my back pushes me down, hard.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

It’s Elizabeth.

I look over my shoulder at her standing high above me, one foot on my back and her hands on her hips, one brow raised and a smug smile on her face as she bends down to grab what she can of my hair. Before she can lift my head even an inch, I swipe my arm out and slice into the back of her ankle with the knife I picked up. In the movies, it looks a lot easier than it is. The resistance caused by the bone and flesh is almost jarring, but I put all my strength into it.

Her scream is like music to my ears and she lets go of my hair at the same time as she drops to the floor.

“You bitch!” The words are barely audible through her piercing cries and I smile down at her as I get back onto my knees.

“Yes, I am. A badass one, to be exact. So, fuck you.” I stab into her thigh, not daring to stab her anywhere more debilitating, although the sheer amount of blood seeping through her linen slacks is alarming. I know death is all around us, but if I can avoid being the physical cause of it, then I will. The squelch as I remove the knife almost makes me wretch a little, but I refrain, trying really hard to maintain my composure as she continues to scream bloody murder.

Fucking drama queen.

Finally reaching Lina—the men surrounding her separated enough to let me into their little circle of protection—I bring her into my now-blood-covered arms.

“Lina, babe, we’ve got this. Okay?”

She nods slowly, almost frozen in time, with unfocused eyes just staring straight ahead. She’s numb, probably in shock, and I get it. I’m not going to force her to get through this any quicker than she’s ready.

One of the seven men in front of us goes down, quickly followed by two more, and another… and I’m frantically looking around to see where the shots are coming from as they begin shooting back.

Giuseppe Ambrosio is standing ten feet away, aiming his gun in the direction of the remaining men. Another one goes down and I know I need to act before his gun is pointing in my direction. I grab a gun from one of our fallen soldiers and aim as best I can in Giuseppe’s direction.

Following the instructions Enzo gave me what feels like years ago now, I focus on my target’s chest and exhale as I pull the trigger. I guess I need more practice, because it completely misses and one of the soldiers I recognize as ours yells out as the bullet grazes the edge of his arm.

“Sorry!” He doesn’t hear me, but the distraction was enough for Giuseppe to now be a lot closer than before. He throws his gun across the floor and the murderous look on his face promises pain the instant he gets hold of me.

I pull the trigger again, realizing too late that the gun has run out of bullets, because he’s now only a foot away. The remaining guards surrounding us are fighting off some of the Ambrosio soldiers, leaving this one on me.Fuck.

I scramble for another gun, but they’re all too far away, so I grab the knife covered in Elizabeth’s blood and thrust my arm up as Giuseppe reaches for my throat. The knife scrapes along his arm before he grips my wrist tightly in his hand, trying to force me to drop it as his other hand circles my neck. I have no time to make sure Lina is okay, but his focus is on me right now.

“You think I don’t know who you are, little girl? I should have finished the job myself years ago. If only you’d stayed in your place, away from my world, my daughter would be married to the head of the Mancini family and the Ambrosios would finally have what they deserve. It would have been a matter of time before Marco met an untimely death, leaving New York City to us.”

These things are always about power. Greed. Alwaysmore.

Interrupting his evil villain speech, because his grip is becoming uncomfortably tight, I heave my leg up as high as it will go, kicking him in the crotch and hopefully causing his balls to jump into his throat. He yells, loosening his hold on me, and I take the opportunity to jump on him, pushing him backward and straddling his chest. I don’t give him a chance to fight back or myself a chance to think about what I’m doing as I slam my hand down into his neck.

His eyes go wide as the knife goes through his throat, his arms struggling underneath my knees to move me away as his body becomes weaker. Pulling the knife out makes me gag at the sound and the sight of all the blood and flesh coming from the fresh wound. He tries to speak, causing blood to pour from his mouth before his eyes begin rolling into the back of his head, his noises more garbled, but I don’t stop. I plunge the knife into his chest several more times before he stops moving and before I can catch my breath, I see Ugo storming toward us with rage etched in his features.

Searching for a gun on a nearby body, I scramble to find something I can use because the knife I just used is slippery with blood. A shot rings out from behind me and I watch as Ugo flinches backward, a spot of crimson growing on his shoulder through his white shirt. I turn to find Lina with a gun raised in his direction, determination on her face as she pulls the trigger again. It would’ve gone straight through his head if one of his soldiers hadn’t jumped and pushed him away. Then the coward runs. He fucking runs toward the exit, and Lina continues to pull the trigger, the clicking sounds of the now-empty clip causing her to scream in frustration.

There are no more gunshots and as I look around for Marco. I spot him next to Enzo. They’re both throwing punches into Ambrosio soldiers who already look dead.