Leo retracts his leg, ready to kick Rory again. I unleash the full power of my voice with my scream.
“Stop!”
The sound makes more than one man glance up, but Leo’s the only one I care about right now.
He throws his head over his shoulder, getting a good eyeful of me and what I’m about to do. Leo turns the rest of his body to face me, more fury and hatred on his face than I’ve ever seen.
“A little bug, holding a gun.” He takes a leisurely step in my direction and chuckles. “Pathetic.”
Then, he charges at me, fast and fucking furious. Quicker than I can pull the trigger. In fact, I can’t do anything at all before Rory tackles Leo to the ground from behind. The two of them go down ten paces from where I stand.
As they struggle, Rory grabs a fistful of his hair and slams his face into the stone floor.
With a strangled roar, Leo wildly swings an elbow back, nailing Rory in the gut. What he can’t see is that behind him, the Kings have already won. The Russians are retreating, and he’s the last De Luca alive.
Except for me.
Leo releases a howl of rage, scrambling out from under Rory, and lunges for me. Rory swipes for his feet, but this time, I don’t need the assist.
Aiming Rory’s gun at Leo’s chest, my finger rips back, once, twice, and the bullets fly. A cross between a gasp and a hiccup escapes my cousin—my half-brother—as he takes two bullets to the heart.
One for what he did to Rory. And one for what he did to me.
Leo doesn’t have the strength to clutch at his chest before he falls at my feet, bleeding out all over the sanctuary floor.
He gazes up at me, gasping his final breaths. Shock widens his eyes as he lies there. Dying.
He won’t get a chance to underestimate me again.
I drop my arm, Rory’s gun dangling from my fingers. Anxious tears stain my cheeks, but I manage to smile as I lean over to give him a final goodbye. “Fuck. You.”
Only a moment passes before Rory’s there, slipping the gun from my loosened grasp and wrapping his other arm around my waist. I don’t realize it until he’s there supporting me, but I’m three seconds from collapse.
My head falls against his shoulder, my eyes still locked on the sight of Leo’s face. The last man in my family is dead.
This horrible, awful, brutal family I’ve been trapped in my whole life is gone. Every single person on Earth who shares my blood is gone.
And I pulled the trigger.
Leo’s days of terrorizing me are over.
“I’m so proud of you.” The soft kiss Rory presses on my damp cheek nourishes me somehow.
“I never ever imagined killing Leo…” I lift my head to meet Rory’s warm, exhausted gaze. “But I think it’s the best idea I’ve had all day.”
Chapter 37
Rory
Leonardo De Luca is dead and gone.
That fact, while satisfying, isn’t very important.
Why should I waste another brain cell thinking about that bastard when Kiara’s standing by my side, gazing at me with love in her eyes?
I’m the luckiest bastard in the world.
A stampede of footsteps breaks the momentary quiet that’s settled over the sanctuary. Instinct propels me in front of Kiara, but the high alarm in my chest quiets when I recognize that the soldiers pouring into the room are our own.
