Chapter 148

Celine

“What was that?” he questioned, his fists clenching tightly at his sides.

“You heard me,” I went on, holding his gaze squarely. “You're a fucking weakling. That's why you waited this long to show yourself.”

My eyes scanned the building briefly, settling on his face again.

“Just look at the number of men you have working for you, yet you couldn't infiltrate Antonio’s territory, so you had to lure me out.” I let out a taunting chuckle. “Why don't you just admit that Antonio scares you? Even until now you can't bring yourself to face hi—”

I was cut off as he slammed his shoe against the side of my chair with force, sending it falling to the dusty ground along with my bound body.

I groaned softly, feeling the sickening impact on the side of my shoulder against the hard ground. Then he rushed forward and began to step on the side of my stomach repeatedly, a scream of agony tearing out from my throat.

“I wanted to go easy on you because I'd taken a slight liking to you, but you clearly don't deserve that!” he barked as he continued to angrily stomp his shoe mercilessly on my stomach, while I cried out helplessly, unable to block his attacks because my hands remained tied.

From the corner of my eyes I could see Armando relishing in my pain, from the smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

“I'll leave you in a state Antonio Gray wouldn't recognize,” the man added, each slam to my stomach, more brutal than the last. “Let's see if your super amazing husband can drop down from the sky and save you from my wrath.”

The stomping went on for a pretty long while, before he finally pulled away from me, gripping the roots of his hair and pushing it backwards.

“Fuck!!” he yelled in frustration as he paced restlessly, his heavy panting mixing with that of mine, as the metallic taste of my blood clung to the sides of my mouth.

I lost my vision for a split second, my eyes slowly fluttering open and close.

Every part of my stomach screamed for help from the insane pain as I tossed and turned my head, this close to passing out.

My eyes stayed open fully as he roughly yanked me up from the ground along with the chair, and leaned towards my bowed head, my shoulders slumped sideways.

“The games are over,” he spat, rage flaring in his cold eyes. “It's time to end it all once and for all. You want to challenge me, don't you? Now watch how I lure your precious mafia husband here, where he'll meet his end right before your very eyes.”

I grunted and spat my blood at his feet, slowly raising my head up to meet his gaze. Then the sides of my lips lifted up as a sharp smirk crawled up to it, lighting up my weak eyes.

He leaned up slowly as his brows furrowed in astonishment, the side of his lips curling into a dry scoff. “You're smirking?” he said, his lips hanging open in sheer disbelief.

“You have it all wrong,” I said, still wearing that smirk. “You're the delusional one here.”

“What?” he muttered arrogantly, his forehead knitting together.

“It's actually the other way around,” I said, letting out a faint chuckle. “You're the one who's about to meet his end.” I sat upright with a serious expression, my bloodshot eyes peering deeply into his. “Because you fell right into the trap you dug with your very own hands.”

Right at that moment, multiple gunshots rang out from outside the building, and the man's head, as well as that of Armando's, quickly snapped towards the direction the shots had echoed from.

His army of bodyguards hurriedly pulled out their guns, some holding up their batons, and others equally raising up their axes, their eyes darting around in high alert.

“What the fuck are you all standing around for?!” the man barked. “Go down there and see what the fuck is going on.”

Three of his bodyguards hurriedly stepped forward, swiftly making their way down the stairs.

But out of nowhere, multiple gunshots pierced the air and the four men dropped dead to the ground one after the other, bullet wounds stuck to their foreheads and chest.

The rest of the man's bodyguards charged forward in attack mode. But before they could even get a chance to retaliate, here came Antonio and the Luna Nera brothers, marching up the stairs in their tailored suits, their faces cold and hardened as steel, and their guns aimed high at the men.

In the lead was Matteo, holding onto the neck of one of the man's bodyguards I assumed had been standing guard outside the gate, his gun buried into the side of his head.

And beside him was Antonio, equally holding up a gun, leaving the bodyguards with no choice but to come to a forceful halt at the head of the stairs.

However, it wasn't just the guns that stopped them in their tracks, it was the state of the hostage in Matteo's grip.

He was strapped with a bomb vest, fear flickering in his eyes as his hands hung up in surrender.

“We'll all die right here and now if you don't step the fuck back,” Antonio said to the bodyguards with gritted teeth, pointing his gun at the bomb vest around the hostage as a show of warning to them.

The man’s bodyguards began to drift backwards gradually, giving Antonio and the Luna Nera brothers enough room to walk up the stairs into the main building.

The mastermind let out a sharp scoff coated in bitterness, the side of his lips curling upwards. Then he turned his head slowly to meet my fierce gaze, glaring at me in astonishment, while a satisfied smirk tugged at the corners of my lips.

“Take one step close to her and I'll blow up your brains, you fucking son of a bitch,” Antonio spat with anger burning in his eyes as him and the Luna Nera brothers came to a uniform halt few feets away from us, multiple guns directed at him from afar, and some at his bodyguards.

The man continued to hold my gaze without uttering a word or moving an inch, clearly stunned to silence.

People like him were slaves to their ego. Just a little push or threat to their domineering authority, and watch them dance to the tune of your music, and that was exactly the icing on the cake that made my mission even easier.

From the moment I stepped foot in this uncompleted building, I had just one goal, and that was to provoke him, in order to buy enough time for Antonio and the Luna Nera brothers to get here.