Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I’m smiling when a steel wire wraps around my throat.
Seamus says something, but I don’t hear it. The garrote pulls tight, gagging me, and the phone drops from my hand. I’m too slow to get my fingers in between my skin and the wire, and I start to thrash, throwing elbows and stomping down, but whoever’s got me knows what he’s doing.
I kick off the alley wall and slam him back against the door. It thuds and my attacker curses, but the wire only tightens as my vision starts to turn black. Blood trickles down my throat, and the bastard’s going to saw my fucking windpipe open, and I’m going to choke on my own fucking vomit. I try elbows, I try anything, desperation filling me. I was distracted, I was stupid, I was thinking about Claudia instead of watching my back, and now—
I can’t breathe. I can’t move. I’m getting weak and sluggish. I try to twist, but it won’t work. I’m sinking down and my attacker’s sinking down too. I feel his breath on my neck. I hear him panting and straining with effort.
I can’t die here. I can’t leave Claudia. Fuck, I can’t let this happen.
My arms feel like lead. My chest is heaving, but there’s nothing in my lungs. I’m seeing everything tinged in red and from the end of a far tunnel, and my brain’s going slow, getting sluggish. Cigarette butts on concrete. Claudia’s smile. The feeling of her legs wrapped around my hips. Her laughter in the shower. Her lips on mine. The cold mattress in my prison cell. My father shouting at me from across the room. Laura in my bedroom reading with a flashlight. Mom brushing my hair from my face, you’re a good boy, Angelo, but you’re too much trouble, and I’m floating.
There’s a thud. And a scream. Then air rushes into my lungs.
I’m gasping for breath and thrashing like hell. My vision expands into a blurry mess and I’m coughing like my lungs want to collapse, but I’m breathing. I want to crawl away and curl up into a ball but I can feel my attacker still behind me, his legs still wrapped around me, and the wire’s still at my throat.
I slam my skull backwards. It snaps into my attacker’s face. I feel bone crunch and he groans as I shove the wire away and twist. I’m moving like I’m at the bottom of the sea, but I don’t care.
I recognize him. It’s Skinny, the bouncer. And standing behind him, holding a tray in the air and looking terrified, is Claudia.
No time to think. I jam my thumbs into Skinny’s eyes. He screams, tries to kick, but I feel them pop under my weight. Once he’s blinded, I wrap my hands through his throat and squeeze, strangling him tight, holding him down against the ground with all my weight. He kicks, punches, thrashes, and I don’t move. I take the pain. I can barely think, barely breathe. Blood’s trickling down my chest from the wound the wire cut in my flesh, and Skinny’s fighting like a rabid animal.
He slows, he slows, his hits get weaker and weaker, until he stops, mouth open in a gurgle. I keep holding, holding, holding, until I’m sure he’s dead.
Then I roll off, gasping, and Claudia’s at my side.
“Oh my god,” she whispers, pulling my head into her lap. “You’re hurt. Oh my god, Angelo.”
“My phone,” I croak. My voice is a fucking wreck. “Seamus.”
She takes a second to process then finds my fallen cell. Lucky for us both, Seamus didn’t hang up. She holds it up to my ear.
“Send men,” I manage to gasp. “Cage. Right now.”
“What the fuck was that?” he asks, sounding panicked. “Were you just in a goddamn fight?”
“Hurry.” I take the phone from Claudia and hang up.
“What do we do?” she asks. “You killed Skinny. He tried to kill you. Angelo, what’s happening?”
“Tommy,” I say, leaning back against her, exhaustion threatening to drag me under. “He took his shot and he fucking missed.”
Chapter 34
Angelo
Isound like a fucking chronic smoker and my head’s pounding so hard it’s like an unbalanced washing machine is trying to rip itself to pieces inside my skull. I check the chamber of my revolver and flip it closed as Seamus pulls up and parks outside of Tommy’s condo.
“Maybe you should stay here,” he says, frowning at me as he checks his own gun. Four more black SUVs spread out around the property, a mixture of Quinn and Bianco soldiers behind the wheels led by my brother Davide.
“Fuck that.” I give him a hard look. He’s probably right, but I’d rather die than stay behind.
“Seriously, you look ghastly. That goddamn line across your throat. It’s like your head’s about to fall off.”
“And fuck you.”
He laughs and shrugs. “Whatever, bro. Your call.” He seems amused as he waits for the sign from Davide to get moving. “I hear the girlfriend saved your life.”