Mafia War by L. Steele

28

Michael

Am I a fool to trust JJ—the man who stole her from my island, under my watch, and brought her here? Am I totally stupido to follow him as he walks us down another flight of stairs to the basement?

He reaches a closed door, presses a code into the keypad, in the space next to the doorframe. He places his eye in front of the retinal scanner which glows green, and the door buzzes open. I shoulder open the door, Karma at my side.

Luca, who’s taken great pleasure in holding a gun to JJ’s head during the entire trip, brings up the rear. He pushes JJ through the now open door, then follows him in, along with Seb and Christian.

Massimo stands guard outside the door.

I take in the row of guns on the opposite wall.

Sebastian whistles, "He wasn’t kidding when he called it an armory." He grabs a gun, then the ammunition next to it. He checks the gun, loads it, slides it into his waistband at the small of his back. Christian glares at JJ before arming himself. I reach for a gun, slide it into the empty holster at my ankle, then under my bicep, a third in my waistband at the small of my back.

Karma slips away to stand at the side. She folds her arms about her waist, a haunted look on her features. I glance at her, then snatching up one more gun which I slide into the front of my waistband, I walk toward her and she glances away.

"What’s wrong?" I murmur and she bites down on her lower lip. I glance at the glistening flesh and my cock twitches. Fuck, this is not the time to be turned on…but with Beauty, just being close to her makes me want to throw her down and bury myself inside her again.

"Tell me, Karma," I insist.

She tips up her chin, "It’s nothing."

"It’s something." I bend my knees, peer into her face. "What is it?"

"I was wondering…"

I tilt my head.

"Is that a gun or are you happy to see me, Capo?" She shoves her hand down my pants and pulls out the gun.

"Know how to use that?"

"Aim and shoot?" she ventures.

I smirk, "First thing I am gonna do when we get out of here is teach you how to use a gun."

Her forehead crumples.

"What?" I search her features, "What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Don’t lie," I growl, "tell me what’s bothering you, Beauty. If not—"

"You two love birds ready to leave before whoever is shooting at us starts up again?" Seb’s voice cuts through the space, and she glances past me.

"We have to leave," she murmurs and I know she is hiding something. "This is not over, Beauty," I warn her as I cock the gun and hand it to her. "Take care with that," I murmur.

"Always," She stares into my features, then reaches up and presses a quick kiss to my lips. My heart begins to thud against my ribcage. What is she hiding from me? What is she not telling me? What are you up to, Beauty? I deepen the kiss, thrust my tongue in between her lips, and kiss her with everything I feel for her.

"Michael," Seb’s urgent voice reaches me, "we need to go, fratellone."

I straighten, then step back from her, "Stay close."

I pivot and head for the door, Karma right behind me.

"What about him?" Luca jerks his chin toward JJ, "What do we do with him?"

"Give me a gun and let me fight with you."

I hold his gaze.

"Not the time to think with your heart, Capo." JJ tilts his head, "You need men on your side. You need me on your side to fight your way out of this one."

Fuck this, but he’s right. If I let my ego get in the way and don’t give him a gun, and if whoever is attacking us manages to hurt us… I’ll never be able to forgive myself about it.

I close the distance between us and bury my fist in his face. JJ rears back. Blood streams from his nose and spills onto his shirt.

He shakes his head, then curls his fingers into fists. "The fuck was that for?" He scowls.

"That," I growl, "was for taking my wife to get my attention."

He rolls his shoulders, then uncurls his fists, finger by finger. "Fair enough," he rumbles.

"Don't fucking touch what's mine again, you hear me?"

"And you keep your hands off of what's mine," he growls.

We glare at each other, then I jerk my chin toward the array of weapons, "Now, you may grab a gun."

"No fucking way!" Christian explodes. "You’re going to give him a gun?"

I turn to him, "Not the time to debate this, fratellino."

"You can’t give him a gun, Capo," he insists.

"That’s my final decision," I say in a hard voice. Christian holds my gaze, then turns away. He marches toward the door and I watch him go with mixed feelings. "Fuck," I growl, "fuck, fuck, fuck."

"You’re doing the right thing, if it’s any consolation," JJ pulls out a pristine white handkerchief and dabs at his face. "And to prove it to you, I'm going to take you to a place from which we can return fire in relative safety."

"And you are telling us this now?" I arch an eyebrow.

"Had to make sure that I could trust you, first."

"Don't trust him, Capo," Luca growls. He grabs a few more firearms for Massimo, then turns and marches off after Christian.

JJ grabs the guns and arms himself, then turns to me, "Follow me."

I hold his gaze, trying to read the expression on his face. Next to me, Beauty shifts her feet, while Seb glares at JJ, before turning to me. "You going to trust this motherfucker, boss?"

I scowl at JJ, then nod, "Lead the way."

Five minutes later, we are in the room next to the library, and surprise—we used a hidden door from the armory that had a staircase that led directly up to this room.

"The walls are made of reinforced cement, and the windows," he jerks his chin toward the panes "are made of reinforced glass."

"You have a regular Fort Knox here," I say mildly.

"Never can be too prepared in our line of business." He shoves his gun in the opening between the panes.

Seb follows suit, and so do I.

Karma hunkers down behind me, that same distant look on her face. The one that makes my gut churn every time I glance at her. I want to talk to her, to reassure her that everything will be okay. That I will not let anything happen to her. I reach for her, and that’s when the first shots ring out.

Seb returns fire, as does JJ.

The shots die away. In the silence that follows, my phone buzzes. I put it on speaker, “Massimo?"

"There’s an entire group of them." He speaks rapidly from his perch up on the top floor of the house. Along with Christian and Antonio, he’d headed there to take stock of how many people we’re up against. Additionally, they were going to try to take down as many as they could from their vantage point. "I count at least fifteen men surrounding the house and closing in on the grounds," he adds.

"Fuck," Luca swears from the other side of Karma. I had asked her to stay in the corridor, out of the line of fire, but is the woman having any of that? Of course, not. In this, she was as adamant as ever. She’d insisted that she’d be here with me. When I had protested, she’d said that she felt safer with me. And how could I argue with her after that?

JJ stiffens on the other side of me. "This would be a good time to have more of my men," he mutters.

I growl.

He raises a shoulder, "Not putting the blame on you for offing them. It’s merely a fact that we need more men on our side."

In their zeal to get through to us, Seb had gunned down JJ’s men. The only people who remain are the household staff, and JJ had instructed them to stay in the kitchen and not come out. They had been more than happy to oblige us. Not that I blame them. It’s going to get a lot uglier here before it gets better.

"You sure you don’t want to join the rest of the household staff?" I ask Karma.

She shoots me a scathing glance, "And leave you here on your own?"

"I am quite good at surviving tricky situations."

"This time, I am going to be with you every step of the way."

I glance into her green eyes that are dilated…with fear? With the adrenaline of the fight. Her lips part and my cock thickens.

"I don’t want to sully your hands with blood," I murmur. "You don’t have to do this, Beauty."

"But I do." She stares back, "I want to see what it is about fighting with a gun that gives you such a hard-on, Capo."

"Nothing and no one gives me a hard-on as much as you, Beauty."

Seb groans next to me, "Can you guys keep it down? Some of us here are trying to focus on not getting killed."

Karma flushes, then rises to her feet to peek through the windows.

A shot rings out again and Seb instantly returns fire as well.

I pull her down. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" I hiss.

"N…nothing," she blinks rapidly, "uh, just wanted to see what was happening out there."

"What’s happening is that, unless we do something fast, they are going to start shooting and there are more of them."

"We have more ammunition," Seb reminds us.

"Five of us—" JJ begins and Karma interrupts him.

"Six of us."

He inclines his head, "Six of us, and fifteen of them."

"The odds are not good," Seb blows out a breath.

"But not impossible, either." I am not going to let whoever they are get the better of us. I am going to bring them down and find out who’s at the bottom of this attack…and likely, the attack on Karma’s car, as well.

"It’s time we go on the offensive," I crack my neck.

Seb scowls, "That would not be advisable—"

"I agree with the Capo," JJ interrupts him. "Let’s take this situation by the horns and surprise them."

I exchange glances with JJ, who jerks his chin. Apparently, the two of us think more alike than I’d have expected. And somehow, I am not sure if that’s a good thing. It means he’s more astute than I’d given him credit for. It also means that I have underestimated him all this time.

Holding the gun with one hand, JJ slides the other inside his pocket.

Seb swoops down to grab his arm. "What do you think you are doing?" he growls.

"Relax," JJ drawls, "I'm only going to call for additional men."

Seb glances at me. I nod; he releases JJ's arm.

JJ pulls out his phone, his fingers fly over the keys as he shoots off a message. Then he pockets his phone again, "They should be here in the next half an hour. Think we can hold them off until then?"

Seb scowls, seems about to say something, then thinks the better of it. "What do you think, Capo?"

"I think," I bare my teeth, "that we don't have a choice."