Forbidden Temptations (Tempted Series Book 2) (33 page)

My mother hadn’t left my father’s side all night. I assumed he had taken care of her but I didn’t even know where Nikki was and instantly regretted that I had left her on the dance floor. What if she had gotten caught up in the crossfire? I’d never forgive myself if something happened to her.

I made my way out from underneath the table, crawling on all fours, afraid to stand up because bullets whizzed through the air. There were bodies lying all over the place, half of them may have been dead the other half prayed they didn’t die. I lifted my head, barely able to see more than a few feet in front me. Searching the room my eyes found my father near one of the bars.

He stood on top of the bar, a gun in each hand, firing both of them simultaneously at different targets. He looked like a mad man shooting at his enemies with the grimmest expression I had ever seen on his face. I had always known that my father was capable of some pretty fucked up shit but I had never seen him in action. He was a stone cold killer. His eyes held no remorse as he took another life.

I was taken aback by the image my father painted, distracting me from everything else going on around me. A body fell to the ground before me, blood pouring from the chest of a man I had never seen before. I screamed at the top of my lungs as he grabbed my wrist and tried to speak. I stared into his eyes as blood poured out the corner of his mouth and then he became perfectly still. He was dead and his eyes were still open staring back at me. A shrill sound escaped my mouth, and I knew that I’d always remember those eyes, that they would haunt me until I died.

I placed my shaking hand over his eyes and closed his eyelids, pulled my hand back and made the sign of the cross. I didn’t know if he was one of the good guys or one of the bad guys, or if there was a distinct difference, but he was a human being and his life had just been taken from him. He belonged to someone, was somebody’s son or maybe someone’s father, but whoever he belonged to would never see him again.

I peeled my eyes from his face and found the gun he was holding in his hand had fallen to the floor. My hand trembled as it closed over the weapon, carefully holding it, wondering if I could ever find the will to pull the trigger.

I turned my head, staring into the destruction and shouted. “Nikki!” Tears streamed down my cheeks, as I feared I’d never see my sister again. “Nikki!” I cried out again. “Dear God, please let her be okay…please.”

It was then, with my hand steady on the gun, I knew that if I had to kill someone to save someone I loved I would do it.

I was like a fucking machine, a goddamn robot, shooting through the people who stood in my way. I tried to find out who was behind this and put an end to the madness that erupted here. Victor was having a stand-off with two guys, Jimmy shot at anyone and anything, Vic’s men were all over the place trying to take down the enemy but Mike was nowhere in sight.

The hallway that led to Mike’s office was blocked off. I went through the fire door and rounded the building to get to the other exit near the hallway. I had pulled open the door just as he barreled out with Nikki in tow. They appeared to be safe, and I sent them down the alleyway to where Jack waited in an SUV. Adrianna had made the call just like I had asked her to, thankfully she listened. I instructed Jack to take Mike and Nikki to a safe house and stay with them until Vic got there.

I didn’t know what this was all about, who had declared war on Vic, but I knew that whoever was responsible for this shootout had just signed his own death certificate. It was time for me to get Adrianna the fuck out of here. I shot my way through the narrow walkway, taking out the man that aimed his gun at me. I was able to make my way back inside of Temptations, back to where Adrianna was.

The club looked like a war zone, the gunpowder in the air so thick you could barely see. I was on the main dance floor heading back to the corner where I had left Adrianna, figuring she would be safe and out of the way. I had left her behind, afraid she’d get caught in the crossfire, but I started to doubt my decision after seeing how serious the attack on the club was. I had left her for twenty minutes, but a lot could happen in that time span. She should’ve been with me, by my side, so I could protect her.

Please let her be safe.

She screamed out for her sister, her voice unmistakable and sounding a lot closer than where I had left her. My stomach dropped as I spiraled around, 360 degrees, trying to place her body to her voice. I spotted her out of the corner of my eye, crawling across the floor over the shards of broken glass. With one hand on my gun, I reached out with my other and closed it around her ankle. She screamed in terror, a sound that vibrated throughout my whole body.

“I told you to stay put!” I shouted.

She glanced up at me wide-eyed and I dropped her ankle, holding out my hand for her to take.

“Nikki!” She exclaimed.

“Is half way to the middle of nowhere, now come on!” I demanded, pulling her to her feet. I looked her over quickly, making sure she was okay, finally able to breathe again. My eyes zeroed in on the gun she held, the barrel of it pointed towards the ground.

“I took it off a dead guy,” she explained nervously.

I stared at her for a second before nodding. “You know how to use it?”

“Aim and pull the trigger.”

If it was only that simple. It took a special breed to pull the trigger of a gun, a specific mentality. As tough as Adrianna was I didn’t think she had the balls or the mind frame to put a bullet into someone. Not even if they aimed a gun at her.

“If someone points a gun at you and I’m firing off at someone else, you shoot them. You understand? You don’t think you just pull that trigger because they’re not going to hesitate for one second about killing you.”

She swallowed hard as she stared at me blankly.

“Adrianna, do you understand?”

She nodded her reply before speaking. “Yes,” she whispered.

I leaned forward, pressing my lips to her forehead. “It’s going to be okay,” I murmured.
     
“We’re going to get out of here.” I brought her close to my side and glanced around the club trying to figure the best way out of here. However, at every turn there was one of Vic’
s guys fighting off two of the other players.

“Anthony!” Vic shouted.

I turned to the right and saw him holding a gun to some guy’s head, holding him in a headlock.

“Get her out of here!” He roared, pulling the trigger on the man he had been holding, his blood splattering onto Vic’s face before he dropped the body like a sack of potatoes. Adrianna screamed behind me witnessing her father commit murder. Vic reached into his suit and pulled out a silk handkerchief, wiping the blood from his face with it.

I grabbed Adrianna’s hand, turned around to escape the mayhem, and came face to face with Rico, Nikki’s boyfriend. His shirt was covered in blood and he had a crazed look in his eye.

“Where’s Nikki?” He asked me.

“She’s gone and you should get the fuck out of here too,” I told him.

He stared at me for a moment before his lips spread into a grin. Motherfucker!

I pushed Adrianna behind me and began to raise my gun but he was quicker, pointing the tip of my gun to the center of my forehead.

“What’re you doing Rico?”

“What’s it look like I’m doing?” He asked. “Surprise! You’re not the only hired killer fucking one of Vic’s daughters.”

“Run Reese’s!” I said over my shoulder.

“No! Not without you,” she said shakily.

“Adrianna get the fuck out of here, now.”

“Yeah, Adrianna you better do as lover boy says,” Rico said, glancing over my shoulder.
     
“Such a tragic love story you two have,” he said, pointing the gun from me to Adrianna. I lifted my hand slightly making a move to take him down but his eyes pierced me. “Take one more fucking step and I will fucking kill her. Now drop your fucking gun.”

I stared at him, trying to figure out my next move but the fucker wrapped his finger around the trigger and shook the gun aimed at Adrianna.

“I said drop the fucking gun or I will kill her.”

I spread my fingers and let the gun fall from my hand. Never in my life would I have given him the upper hand but gambling with my life and gambling with Adrianna’s were two very different things.

Rico grinned again, holding his gun steady as he bent down and reached for the one I dropped.

“Fucking run!” I yelled at Adrianna.

“No! I’m not going anywhere without you,” she sobbed.

Rico had his gun pointed at me and mine pointed at Adrianna.

“Wouldn’t it be something if I shot her with your gun and made you watch the whole thing?”

“Just fucking let her go, Rico. You couldn’t give two fucks about her, you want me.”

“Actually, I don’t want either of you but killing you would be quite the bonus.”

“She’s got a kid man. A kid you’ve played Uncle to for the last year … let her go.”

Rico stared at Adrianna for a moment as he digested my words. I kept my eyes steady on Rico as I began to plead with Adrianna.

“Adrianna, please listen. Stop thinking about me and think about Luca,” she whimpered behind me. “Baby, run…he needs you.”

“So noble,” Rico taunted. “You know I always thought you were a sucker,” he said taking his gun off Adrianna and holding both of them on me.

“Now!” I shouted over my shoulder.

I heard Adrianna’s heels behind me.

“I love you,” she whispered through her cries.

I swallowed, staring into Rico’s eyes. “I love you too,” I said.

“How fucking touching,” He rolled his eyes. “I should’ve made her watch me kill you.”

“Game’s over Rico,” I said taking a step closer to him. “Now’s your last chance to kill me.”

He laughed wickedly in my face. “I’m the one with two guns pointed at you, you stupid prick. You’re right the game’s over. I win. You lose.”

I knew I could take him down with my hands, strip him of his weapons, and shoot him dead but I had waited for Adrianna to run, sparing her of the grim sight. I took a deep breath, about to go in for the kill when a gun sounded. I ducked out of the way, as the bullet whizzed through the air and pierced Rico right in the temple. Hell of a shot.

His eyes widened, the guns fell from his hands as his body collapsed to the floor in front of me. I bent down, grabbing the two guns, shoving one in the back of my pants, holding the other in my hand as I checked his pulse. Dead.

I straightened up and turned around to see who had shot him and froze in my tracks. Adrianna stood off the right, holding a gun with both hands, trembling like a leaf. Her eyes were wide in shock as she stared intently at Rico’s dead body.

I moved quickly, prying her fingers off the gun and lowered it onto the floor. I took her face in my hands and forced her to peel her eyes off Rico and look at me.

“Baby…” I searched lightly trying to read her eyes, but they were blank. She was closed off, shutting down, completely in shock by what she had done.

“Is he dead?” She whispered. Her eyes looked at me but I wasn’t sure if she saw me, it was almost as if she was in a trance.

“Let’s get you out of here,” I said softly.

“What the fuck happened here?” Vic said, grabbing hold of Adrianna’s shoulders and turning her around so he could get a better look at her. She stared up at her father just as blankly as she had been staring at me. Vic lifted his eyes to mine, and I looked back at Rico, his eyes following my lead.

“She did that?” He asked hoarsely as he lifted his head and looked at his daughter.

“Is he dead?” She repeated.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and brought her against my chest. “Yeah baby he is.”
I whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as I stared at Vic.

“Did you know he was no good?”

Vic shook his head. “Get her out of here will you?” He said with his voice sounding defeated.

“I killed my sister’s boyfriend,” Adrianna cried, pulling her head back from my chest and lifting her eyes to meet mine. “He was going to kill you. Why was Nikki’s boyfriend about to kill you?” She asked confused.

“I don’t know,” I admitted before looking back towards Victor, and with one look, I demanded that someone had better be able to give me answers.

“I saved you,” she whispered, and I tore my gaze away from Victor and stared at her. She reached up and touched my cheek. “I saved you,” she repeated before closing her eyes and dropping her head to my chest. I tucked my gun into my back pocket, alongside the other one that was there and tipped my chin to Vic. In one swift move, I gathered Adrianna into my arms and started to follow Vic out of the club. He led us to one of the exits, kicked the door, and held it open as I carried her out of Temptations.

“There’s a car out back, keys on the right front tire. You know what to do right?” He asked me.

“Yeah, I’ve got it,” I said, giving him one last look before getting the hell away from there. I found the car he was talking about, set Adrianna down on her feet, grabbed the keys, and unlocked the door. I gently placed her into the passenger seat of the car and knelt next to her, pulling the seatbelt over her hips.