“It was a blast. You know. Gunfire and gruesome death.”
Lorenzo chuckled. “Tell me, Bianca, are you happy?”
The question took me off guard. No one ever asked me if I was happy.
I licked my lips. “It’s not the life I wanted. It’s the life that was chosen for me. Now I do what I have to so I can keep it. That’s all it boils down to anymore.”
“That’s what I worry about.” He glanced at Fox off to his side.
“It won’t be like this,” Fox growled back.
“You’re fucking seeing exactly what it’ll be like. Bianca here is fucking showcasing exactly what it’s fucking like!” Lorenzo shouted at him.
I looked between the pair, confused about what the hell was happening.
“It won’t be,” Ethan said in his soft voice. “She’ll be safe.”
Lorenzo snorted and locked eyes with me. “Do they promise to keep you safe? Do they worry? Control your every move? Make you question everything and drive you to the edge of your sanity? Make every decision for you? Maybe even hold you back?”
I swallowed hard. “It’s not an easy life, but it is my life.”
“Would you want someone else to have the same life?” he pressed.
I stared back at him, the answer on the tip of my tongue. I didn’t get to say it though because the back doors banged open, and Dominic and the kings swooped in.
“What the fuck?” Dominic shouted, raising his gun and rushing toward me.
Levin and Fallon were both armed as they swept forward.
The moment Dominic reached me, he eased the gun from my hand and handed it to Vinny, who pressed it to Lorenzo’s temple. Dominic’s hands cradled my face.
“Mia regina, what the fuck?” he choked out.
“I shot Cole,” I whispered. “I think he needs a doctor.”
Levin turned to Cole, who looked like he was barely staying awake as he slumped against the wall.
“We killing them or what?” Fallon demanded, circling Ethan.
Levin shifted behind Fox and pressed his gun into the back of his head.
Dominic released my face and turned to glared down at Lorenzo, still on his knees.
“We want to talk,” Lorenzo said evenly. “No bullshit. No games. Straight up truth. Can we do that with less weapons pointed at us?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Vinny snapped. “You don’t get shit, you fucker. You tried to carve me like a Thanksgiving turkey.”
“I’d like to explain that,” Lorenzo said. “Preferably out of this parking lot and somewhere Cole can get some help. If he dies on us, there’s no fucking negotiation.”
“Fine. Get up. But you pull any shit, you’re a dead man. It’s that fucking simple.” Dominic lowered his gun.
“Man,” Vinny grunted, lowering his gun and sighing. “What about my bucket of fucking chicken, Dom?”
“The night is young,” Dominic said as Levin and Fallon put their weapons away. “I can call someone to fix him up. We’re interested in talking.”
Lorenzo nodded. “Deal.”
“We’ll meet you at Sycamore and Sixty-seventh. The building looks like an office building. Wrap his wound and bring him. I’ll have help waiting.” Dominic wound his arm around my waist and tugged me away.