Shit. I rooted my feet to the floor and stared the dickhead in front of me down. Sonofabitch was hurting her right in front of me, playing his mind games, and I couldn't do a damned thing. It was all up to her own heart and brain now.
She needed to make the choice. Hers. Not his greedy old ass playing her like a fiddle. And if it wasn't me she was gonna pick, then I wanted to be six foot under, free from living without her sweet curves against me.
“Go on, Annaliza. You've made your choice. You know the truth. Shoot him!” Old man Rossini barked. He pointed at me. “The man who killed your mama and almost made me kill you is standing right there! Put him down like the feral mutt all Strelkov men are cursed to be!”
Anna pointed the gun away from both of us. She was practically climbing the wall next to the fireplace with her back up against it, aiming at an empty space, adrift between two worlds. At last, she turned to me, without moving the gun.
“He didn't do it, Dad. I can't hold him responsible for something another man did just because they were related. I can blame him for his lies, his half-truths, his mistakes...but only his. Not his family's.” She turned to her father, letting the gun's aim fall to the floor. “I can't kill the man I love more than any other.”
If my heart wasn't filling up with pride and relief, I would've laughed at her old man's expression. The fuck's jaw nearly hit the floor and shattered to smithereens, leaving nothing but his devil black eyes staring at the dark seas through the window above us, engulfing his fucked up expectations.#p#分页标题#e#
Expectations? Hell no.
His whole fucking world was gone, and he still hadn't said a word when she walked over to me, stepping deep into my embrace. I almost squeezed the fucking life outta her. Had to keep one eye on the fuck to make sure he wasn't moving.
“I...I can't do it,” she whispered in my ear, pressing the nine millimeter into my fist. “Do it for me, David. I see what he is now. Just don't make me look.”
“You'll regret this for the rest of your life, ungrateful little bitch!” Her old man snarled, taking a step forward, emboldened with rage. “You had one chance to end this miserable affair and do me proud, and you just tossed it to the winds! Looks like it's all up to me after all...I'll gut you both.”
I shouldn't have let the asshole say another word. He moved way fucking faster than anything I gave him credit for. In one wink, he plucked a switchblade from his pocket and lunged, aiming straight for Anna.
I threw her to the floor, gripped the gun, and fired.
Perfect fucking shot.
The fire in his demon eyes went out as the bullet pierced his skull. He stopped in mid-step, dropped the knife, and fell backward, flat on his dead ass.
Anna screamed a second later, and then screamed again when she realized what had happened. I dropped the gun and hit the floor, taking one more satisfied look at the motherfucker I'd killed.
“It's okay, baby girl. You chose right.” I pulled her close, forcibly tipping her head away from the dead man, pushing it into my chest.
Her eyes were huge. Scared. Before she could make another sound, I smashed my lips to hers, burying all her senses and mine in a world consuming kiss.
It's all over. Everything except you and I. All you gotta worry about for the rest of your sweet life is handling these lips and settling into these guns when I wrap 'em around you.
My thoughts were going nuts as I squeezed her tight. I kissed her, not letting up, cradling her in my arms. I kissed her and wouldn't let go 'til she started to soften, and I still poured on the heat, wiping away the death and violence with pure passion, all I had to give her.
We were fused together, tangled up on the floor in the same damned kiss when my boys broke through the door a minute later. Nikolai took one look at the dead asshole a few feet away, then at the two of us, and nodded.
“Bozhe Moi. Fucking finally. It's done.”
Fuck it, I lied. Sure, I was done spilling blood with old man Rossini and his crew sunk beneath the waves. But the emotional scars that SOB left on my wife wouldn't be wiped clean so easy.
It wasn't really over. Not by fucking half.
After I got her on my boat and had the boys rig up Rossini's yacht with explosives, sending his ass to the grave of fire and ice he deserved, all my attention was on her.
We were back in the casino suite by morning. Anna hadn't moved a muscle since she collapsed in my arms, flopping down into a deep long sleep the second an aide took her to the room. I washed away the blood and sweat of battle in a long hot shower, then joined her, pulling her close.
My arms stayed around her all damned night.
Nobody was gonna hurt her or fuck with her head again. I'd nearly lost her to that savage and my own lying ass on the yacht, and that shit was never gonna happen again.