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“Why are you fucking doing this, Philip?” I roared. “What have you got against Donte?”

He cracked up with manic laughter, relentlessly, and he wouldn’t stop.

“Well, seeing as you're both dying tonight, I might as well tell you,” he sneered. “I planned this whole thing from the fucking start, Maya. There's a reason why I sent you on the mission and not Brett. Because I knew only a pretty woman would be able to get inside Donte’s pretty little head.”

“You better start making some sense, you filthy bastard!” I screamed bloody murder.

“Donte is the man responsible for my father's death,” Boss said quietly, his voice ice-cold, dropping to barely below a whisper. “He killed my father in cold blood many years ago. And this mission was the perfect chance for me to get my own back… For me to get my revenge.”

I felt the colour drain out of my face as I came to the realization that this wasn’t just a little feud that my boss had with Donte. This was something that he’d been planning for years and years and years, to precision. And he used me as bait. The sheer thought of that made me nauseous.

I felt so fucking sick.

“Because of Donte Abruzzi, I don't have a fucking father,” Boss seethed. “Because of Donte Abruzzi, my father was fucking robbed from me!” He rattled his fists, letting out a bellow. “I was only twenty, and Donte was just a few years older than me. It's been over a decade, nearly fifteen whole fucking years, and I still can't forget! I still can't forget what he fucking did!

“And now, I can finally get my revenge!”

“Your father was a fucking paedophile!” Donte roared, his veins pulsating to the surface of his skin. Looking like he wanted to torture. Looking like he wanted to kill. Looking so hungry for blood, that not even his conscience could stop him from strangling Philip and making him struggle for air. “I was working in the area, and I saw him lure a little girl into the alleyway. You thought I was going to turn a blind eye to it? That I was going to let him rape her?” He broke off his sentence, seething. “I'd barely got to the alleyway when he had his hand up her fucking skirt! Of course I was going to fucking kill him!”

“All hail fucking Saint Donte Abruzzi!” Boss sneered bitterly. “You think you're such a good man! You're a liar! Why should I believe the words that come out of a criminal's mouth like yours? A Mob boss like yours?!”

Boss rattled his fists angrily, his eyes bloodshot.

“My father was a good man!” he bellowed in his own defence. “A church-goer. You did all you could to tarnish his reputation! You didn't even get charged for his murder because there was no fucking evidence!

“You're a dead fucking man, Donte Abruzzi. It's time to put my father to justice.”

Before another word could tumble out of Philip’s filthy mouth, I hurled at him, punching him for all I was fucking worth. Punching him with all of the strength that I had inside of me, with every fibre of my damn being. Punching him repeatedly, relentlessly, not stopping for a gasp of air, not stopping to spare him some pain. He deserved everything that was fucking coming to him. This bastard… This motherfucking bastard…

“You should know better than to fight me, Philip,” I snarled, “when the very fact you recruited me in the first place was because of my fighting ability. The reason you took me under your wing.”

“Playtime's fucking over!” Boss roared, cocking his gun, catching me off guard and pushing me off of him.

Philip shot me straight through my fucking shoulder. I cried out in pain, but I knew I couldn't die yet. I had to fight a little more… I hadn't even got Donte off the wall…

“NOOOOOOOO!” Donte screamed bloody murder. “SAPPHIRE, NO!”

I charged at Philip, knocking the gun out of his hands before I kicked him hard in the crotch, causing him to fall backwards onto the cold, hard tarmac. I punched him hard in his face, dislocating his jaw as I climbed on top of him, grabbing hold of the gun from the floor, pressing it against his temple.