“Headed south, toward Obi and Wynn,” Ciel added. “There are targets between you. Stay alert.”
Rage filled me, my grip on my weapons deadly.
“Caspian, wait to engage until we catch up with you,” Obi warned.
I barely heard him. I cocked the hammer of my gun, ready to blast a bullet through the back of his head, but Max turned, gun pointed directly at my chest.
“Cas,” he said, eyes locking with mine across Chiara’s shoulder. Her body blocked my shot.
“Max,” I growled, anger twisting my voice. My fingers ached where they curled around the triggers of my guns, the fingernails only half-grown back.
Max stared down the barrel of my guns, completely passive. That fucking face. He used tolaughwith me. Bastard.
“I thought the Shadows might come.” He looked around. Vincenzo’s face went hard behind him. They didn’t know that Obi and Wynn were headed for their backs. “But I don’t see them anywhere.”
I said nothing. Chiara still stood in front of him and Tommaso stood next to him. With even a simple move of their bodies, he could put them at risk. I couldn’t fuck this up by making the decision that screamed in my blood.
“I don’t have a visual,” Ryuji said into my earpiece. “Get him moving down the hallway. There should be a window in thirty feet.”
I stepped forward, and Max mirrored my step, only backward. The more I could herd them down this hallway, the more I could get them within Ryuji’s line of sight, and then it would be all over.
“Cas?” Chiara whimpered, voice small. “Where’s Leona?”
I glanced at her. The naturally boisterous and confident young woman cowered in fear. She stepped backward, but Max shifted to keep her between us. Fucking coward.
“Far away from here.”
Max chuckled, a hollow sound that grated in my ears. He kept his movements precisely controlled, backing away with a purpose, despite that limp. But what he didn’t know was he was moving closer and closer to his death. “Now that I wasn’t expecting. I’m pleased, though, to hear she survived the blast.”
“Stay calm, Caspian,” Obi warned in my ear. “We’re clearing each room to be safe, but we’re almost there.”
“Donotget yourself killed, Cas,” the love of my life commanded in my ear.
“Before you pull that trigger, son,” Don Vincenzo began, a gun appearing in his hands, “I think we should have a discussion, like men. Like the bosses we all are.”
“Fuck,” Leona whispered. “Cas, please be safe.”
Two guns were now pointed at my body. My arms were on fire, but I couldn’t give up now. I wanted to shoot Max in the face and be done with it, but I had to keep stalling until I could guarantee they stood no chance. Leona would never forgive me if Chiara ended up collateral damage.
“Vincenzo, I’m only going to give you one chance to separate yourself from thisfiglio di puttana,” I spit. “Get your daughter and get out of here. Leave Max to me, and the Shadows will have no quarrel with you.”
He frowned but said nothing.
“If you don’t move,” I added. “You’re a dead man.”
“Vincenzo and I have come to an arrangement,” Max said as he continued to step backward. Only a little more, and he’d be exposed through the opening of that window. Ryuji better be fucking watching.
“Oh, yeah?” I scoffed. “An alliance between cowards?”
If that were the case, then we’d have every excuse to take them both out. Leona could take sweeping control of two empires tonight. I almost wished Vincenzo would do something stupid.
Max smirked. “Precisely.”
Chiara’s eyes flicked around. She shifted backward, closer to her father, with fearful eyes.
“I’m not surprised. It’s funny how scum attracts scum.” My lips curled. “Vincenzo, I wish you were a better man.”
“You’re a boy who understands nothing of how criminal Families truly operate,” he growled. His hand darted out to grabChiara and yank her behind him, but there were still two guns pointed at me and only mine pointed at Max. I had to wait. “You have no blood, no family name. Luciano was a fool to promote you so high.”
