Chapter 408 410

Chapter 408 410
Rhys crouches low and snakes out of the room. I’ve got three bullets left in my second firearm. Two of those are ready for anyone wants to die today. The third is saved for the fucker who abducted my woman.

“Is this the don you are?” I demand, shouting out to make sure every single one of his men hear me. “The kind who hides in the darkness while his men take the hits?”

No answer. Just the pop-pop-pop of gunfire and splintering wood.

“No wonder you had to ally with the Lombardis and the Marianis,” I continue, noticing that my words are starting to puncture through the men, one by one. “You’re lacking in the charisma department.”

“You fucking boy!” Rokiades screams as he pushes past his men. He doesn’t quite make his way all the way through the front line, though, which I’m sure is no accident. He keeps himself angled conveniently behind the bodies of his men.

But I can see his face clearly. It’s red with rage and embarrassment.

I smile. The fastest way to goad a man like him is to hit his ego in front of his people.

“I’m going to enjoy killing you,” he adds with what he no doubt thinks is a menacing aura.

“You?” I mock, standing from behind the upturned table. “You haven’t fired one fucking bullet this whole time.”

His gun hand twitches as though he’s about to raise it. But he decides otherwise. “You know what?” Rokiades hisses. “I was going to be merciful. I was going to kill you. But now, I think I’ll take you alive. I’ll keep you in chains in my darkest cell. I want you to be alive for my wedding day. I’m going to take Renata Lombardi so hard, so completely that I fuck a baby into her on the first fucking night.”

He’s laying the groundwork. But he’s out of his fucking depth.

I know I shouldn’t respond in kind, and yet, I can’t help it. The words rip from me in a blaze of rage, “Sorry to disappoint you, but I beat you to it. There’s already a baby in that belly. And I was the man that put it there.”

Yannis’s eyes go wide with fury. “Oh, don’t you worry,” he rasps. “All it will take is a visit to my doctor to wipe the scum from her womb and fill her with my own son.”

I’m about to open fire on the motherfucker when I see a silhouette pass by me. My jaw drops as I realize what it is.

Or rather, who.

Renata Lombardi walks into the room as though she fucking owns the place. Her back is straight and her chin is tilted upwards. I can sense her fear, but she’s doing a good job of hiding it.

“Stop!” she calls out in a kind of voice I’ve never heard from her before. Proud. Royal. Defiant.

She turns, catches sight of me, and immediately rushes to my side. “Are you okay?” she gasps, cupping the side of my face with her palm.

“Jesus, Renata,” I growl, “what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Your brother tried to stop me,” she blurts out. “Don’t be mad at him.”

From the corner of my eye, I notice Cillian and Artem enter the room. Both look a little banged up, but there’s definite bloodlust in their eyes.

They’re ready for the big fight.

We all are.

“That is my woman!” Rokiades says furiously, his eyes flitting over his men.

The thing about “his” men, though, is that it’s not quite accurate. Some of them are Greek, yes. But some of them are Lombardi. And more still are probably Mariani.

And Renata—the true heir to the Lombardi and Mariani families—has just walked in and run straight to me. After I’d told the entire room that she’s carrying my baby.

I take another quick scan, realizing that Drago isn’t here. He’s not high on my list of priorities, though. My only priority is standing right in front of me, acting oblivious to the warzone she’s just entered.

“Renata!” Rokiades screams. “I will kill that Irish cocksucker right in front of you.”

He raises his gun-wielding arm, but Renata acts immediately. She steps in front of me. I try to push her behind my men, but she grabs the table and refuses to budge.

I’m pissed she’s here, but I can’t help marvel at her. The woman’s fucking amazing.

“The only way to kill him right now is to put the bullet through me,” she calls back. “Are you willing to kill me, Yannis?”

He flinches when she uses his first name. His hesitation is the only answer she needs. The only answer any of us needs.

Renata Lombardi is too fucking important to kill.

And she finally knows it.

“My name is Renata Lombardi,” she says, raising her voice. “But I have Mariani blood in my veins.”

I notice several men exchange glances. A fissure starts to form in the ranks. A few of them seem to want to set themselves apart from the throng crowded around Rokiades.

“And I do not choose Yannis Rokiades,” she says, her voice strong.

Rokiades’s face turns black. Vengeance, fury, betrayal… it’s all written across his sagging features.

Something is happening.

Then a man steps forward. He’s probably around my age, perhaps a little older. He turns grey eyes on Renata before looking straight at Rokiades. “When you approached our don, you said that Renata Lombardi was under your protection. You told us that she willingly agreed to the marriage.”

Rokiades snarls at the fissure opening up in front of him. “Who the fuck cares?” he rasps. “She doesn’t get to pick.”

The man glances back towards us. I meet his gaze.

“Renata,” the Italian commander booms, “are you aligning yourself with the Clan?”

“I am,” she says without hesitation.

A thrill of some unnamed excitement courses through my body. Has she derailed Rokiades’s entire power grab with her mere presence? Her refusal to be the victim anymore?

The Mariani commander nods slowly and glances towards his men. “Then we no longer find ourselves in common cause with Rokiades and the Greeks.”

Renata smiles slowly, her eyes trained on Rokiades. “Do you hear that, old man?” she taunts. “It’s over. Tell your men to put down their weapons.”

“Over?” Rokiades snarls. He shakes his head. “It’s not over until I say it is.” He holsters his gun and pulls out a small device from the pocket of his jacket. He holds it up, making sure everyone can see it. “This denotator is rigged to a bomb that will take out the entire compound,” he explains. “All I have to do is press the red button.”

There’s a tiny little light at the upper left corner of the device, just above the red button. It’s blinking fast.

“If you press that button, you’ll die, too,” Renata points out.

“Yes,” he replies. “But I’ll take all of you down with me. Are you willing to have all these lives on your hands, Renata? Are you willing to die? Are you willing to allow your child to die?”

“Don’t listen to him,” I hiss at Renata.

But his words have already pierced through her. Her eyes go wide with shock as she realizes that Rokiades has kept an ace up his sleeve the whole time.

“You’re the only one with the power to stop me, darling,” Rokiades continues in a sickly-sweet tone. “You know what you need to do.”

She looks down for a moment and I notice her hands clench into fists.

“Renata—”