Chapter 50 Chapter 50
Chapter 50
Nina’s POV
My knees hit the wet asphalt with a sharp crack that sent pain shooting up my legs, but I barely felt it. The world narrowed to a tunnel of black spots and flashing red lights, my lungs seizing up like they had forgotten how to work.
The sheik’s men advanced, their dark suits blending into the shadows cast by the burning cars, earpieces glinting under the strobe of emergency beams. The leader with the scar sneered, his scarred cheek twisting as he reached for me. “Time to go, package. The sheik hates delays.”
Enzo stepped fully in front of me, his body a solid barrier between us and them. His gun was already up, steady in his grip, the barrel catching the orange glow from a nearby flaming sedan. “You’re not taking her,” he said, voice low and deadly, no hint of the tease I once knew.
He fired once crisp, controlled. The lead enforcer jerked back, blood blooming across his chest like a dark flower, and he crumpled to the pavement with a wet thud.
The other four scattered, drawing their own weapons in fluid motions. Gunfire erupted, sharp pops echoing off the surrounding buildings. Enzo moved like a shadow, dodging behind a barricade of overturned police cruisers, his tuxedo ripping further at the seams.
He returned fire, dropping another man with a shot to the knee—the enforcer screamed, leg buckling as he fell into a puddle reflecting the flames. Blood mixed with water, turning it crimson.
Amanda screamed beside me, her hands clutching my arm, but I could not respond. My vision swam, chest heaving in futile gasps, the air thick with gunpowder and burning rubber stinging my eyes. Enzo peeked out, firing again.
A bullet grazed his shoulder, tearing fabric and flesh—he grunted, blood soaking his shirt dark, but he did not stop. His face was a mask of grim determination, jaw clenched, eyes narrowed against the smoke.
He dropped a third man, the enforcer’s body twitching on the ground, gun clattering away.
But they were too many, too coordinated. The remaining two flanked him, one circling left through the wreckage of a SWAT van, the other advancing straight. Enzo spun, firing at the closer one, but the man dodged, returning a shot that hit Enzo square in the thigh.
He staggered, leg giving out slightly, blood pouring down his pants in a hot rush. Pain flashed across his face—raw, unfiltered—but he bit it down, leaning against the cruiser for support.
“Nina,” he rasped, voice strained over the gunfire. “Run. Get to the—”
A bullet whizzed past my head, embedding in the barrier behind us with a metallic ping. Amanda yanked me sideways, but my body refused to move properly, legs numb from the panic attack.
The enforcers closed in, one grabbing Enzo’s wounded arm and twisting it hard. Enzo roared, headbutting the man in the nose with a sickening crunch, blood spraying from the enforcer’s face.
He broke free, firing point-blank into the man’s chest. The enforcer dropped, lifeless, eyes staring blankly at the night sky.
The last one lunged, tackling Enzo to the ground. They rolled in the puddles, fists flying, water splashing up in dirty arcs. Enzo’s gun skidded away, lost in the shadows.
The enforcer pinned him, knee on his wounded thigh, drawing a knife that gleamed under the flashing lights. “The sheik said alive, but he didn’t specify in one piece.” The blade descended toward Enzo’s throat.
I tried to scream, but my voice came out as a wheeze. Amanda clawed at the man’s back, her nails raking his suit, but he elbowed her hard, sending her sprawling.
Enzo bucked, fighting with everything he had, blood smearing the pavement beneath them. The knife inched closer, Enzo’s face turning red with strain, veins bulging in his neck. They almost had him. Almost.
Then the thump of rotors cut through the night, louder than the sirens, closer than the flames. A helicopter descended like a dark angel, its searchlight blinding, wind from the blades whipping debris into whirlwinds.
Water hoses still dangled from its sides, dripping foam onto the war zone below. The enforcer looked up, distracted for a split second.
Enzo seized the moment, kneeing him hard in the groin. The man doubled over, gasping, and Enzo rolled free, scrambling for his gun.
The chopper hovered low, door sliding open. Nikolai leaned out, strapped in with a harness, golden-hazel eyes scanning the ground like a hawk. His hair whipped in the downdraft, face set in stone-cold fury.
He fired a shot from his pistol—clean, precise—hitting the enforcer in the shoulder. The man spun, knife dropping, and Enzo finished him with a final shot to the chest.
Blood pooled around the body, mixing with rainwater into pink rivulets that flowed toward the gutters.
Nikolai rappelled down fast, boots hitting the pavement with a splash. He moved toward us without hesitation, his body coiled and powerful, tuxedo soaked and torn but his presence commanding the space.
Enzo pushed himself up, leg bleeding badly, face pale but eyes fierce.
“Get her out,” he grunted to Nikolai, handing off his gun. “I’ll cover.”
I tried to stand, but my vision tunneled further, black edges closing in. The panic attack gripped me hard, lungs refusing air, body going limp.
Amanda caught me as I slumped, her arms trembling. “Nina! Stay with me!”
Nikolai reached us in two strides. He scooped me up with one hand—strong, effortless, his arm wrapping around my waist like iron—while his other hand gripped the helicopter door’s edge for balance. The chopper hovered just above, rotors thumping so loud it vibrated through my bones.
Water from the hoses sprayed around us, cold mist mixing with the heat of flames. Nikolai’s face was inches from mine, golden-hazel eyes locking on my gasping form. “Breathe, Nina,” he murmured, voice low and steady amid the storm. “I’ve got you.”
His grip was unyielding but not cruel, his body heat cutting through the chill of my soaked gown. I dangled in his hold, legs weak, the ground swirling below as the helicopter lifted slightly.
Enzo, wounded but unrelenting, fired at shadows—more enforcers emerging from the SUVs, bullets pinging off metal. One grazed his arm, fresh blood blooming, but he kept shooting, dropping one man with a headshot that sprayed red mist into the air.
Nikolai hauled me into the chopper with a powerful pull, his muscles straining under the wet tuxedo. He set me down on the cold metal floor, then reached back for Amanda. She grabbed his hand, scrambling up as Enzo covered them, his shots ringing out in rapid succession.
Bullets whizzed past, one ricocheting off the chopper’s side with a metallic twang. Nikolai fired back with his free hand, his aim deadly even while pulling Amanda in.
Dante piloted from the front, hands steady on the controls, face illuminated by the dashboard glow. He banked the chopper sharply, rotors slicing the air with a deafening whir. Enzo leaped for the door,
Nikolai catching his arm and yanking him inside just as another bullet tore through his calf. Enzo hit the floor hard, groaning, blood pooling beneath him. Nikolai slammed the door shut, bullets pinging off the hull like hail.
The chopper lifted higher, tilting as Dante pulled away. Gunfire followed us, enforcers below firing up at the retreating craft, muzzle flashes blooming like deadly flowers in the night. Enzo, though wounded, pushed himself to the window, returning fire through a small port, dropping another man who crumpled on the pavement. His face was ashen, sweat mixing with blood, but his eyes burned with determination.
Nikolai knelt beside me, one hand pressing a cloth to Enzo’s leg wound, the other hovering near my face, his touch almost gentle as he checked my pulse. “Stay with us,” he said, voice rough over the engine roar.
I gasped for air, the panic easing slightly in the confines of the cabin. The city sprawled below—flames licking the skyscraper, law enforcement lights flashing in a sea of red and blue, bodies and wreckage scattered like broken toys.
Sirens faded as we climbed, but the enforcers’ SUVs peeled away, headlights cutting through the smoke. They were not done.
The chopper shook from a final stray bullet, warning lights flickering on the dash. Dante glanced back, his dark eyes meeting mine for a split second—unreadable, intense.
Then he banked harder, the world tilting. Enzo slumped against the wall, gun slipping from his fingers, blood trailing across the floor.
Nikolai’s hand tightened on mine, his bloody golden-hazel gaze locking with mine, a storm of unspoken words swirling there.