OWN HER: A Dark Mafia Romance(180)

“Yeah, he didn’t tell you? Gage was the guy who got him in,” Dante said. “That was one of the reasons he kept the old man around. Nobody liked his ass, but Cole stayed pretty loyal to him, all the way to the end.”



“To the end? What the hell did I miss, Dante?” I asked.



“Well, while you were trying to patch things up with your old man there, we were ambushed at the little hideout our sources sent us to.”



“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Don’t tell me.”



“No, you need to hear it. It needs to be real, Sasha. You need to know what kind of trouble you’ve caused for us. We rode out there maybe twenty deep. We came back with four of us,” he told me. “Sixteen members gone, and you won’t hear about it on the news. The police never even came around to ask questions. They just cleaned it up and moved on. I’m willing to bet someone’s got them on the payroll.”



“And Gage?”



“He didn’t make it. In fact, Cole and I were standing right in front of him when it happened,” Dante told me.



I looked back at the two men struggling with each other on the ground. Again, part of me wondered if walking away from both of them was better than trying to hang around whoever came out on top. I had brought too much down on both of them lately, and I felt like I just needed to leave.



“Well, make sure the SUV is ready to go,” I told him.



“What are you about to do, Sasha?” Dante asked me.



“I’m about to speed this process up,” I told him. “This shit has gone on long enough, and regardless of what you think, I’ve caused a lot of it, so I’m going to fix it. We need to be gone before your cleaner gets here, right?”



“Oh hell yeah,” he said. “We don’t need to be around when he gets here. Anyone hanging around then, even cops, won’t be making it home.”



“So it’s settled,” I told him, nodding to finalize everything and let him know I wasn’t in the mood for arguing anymore. I never needed a cleaner for my messes. I always handled them myself, and I was about to do the same now.



Dante lingered a moment longer, giving me a knowing stare, but I could see he also realized there was no talking me down from it now. I was determined to handle this my way. I turned away from him and started walking towards where Fang had Cole on the ground. I wasn’t being careful anymore. I had my gun ready. If Fang noticed me and tried anything, I’d simply shoot him.



I didn’t want to take the moment away from Cole, but I felt I had earned it just as much as he had. Fang had threatened my life the whole way up here. He’d told me all about how this was the end of the line for me. The irony of being the one to pull the trigger on him instead would have been just too damn delicious.



As I walked up beside them, I saw that at some point Fang had pulled out a gun. He was still holding Cole’s rifle down against his throat, but he was also holding a 9mm handgun right in Cole’s face. Cole didn’t look like he was going to be doing anything about it any time soon. Why hadn’t Fang already pulled the trigger, though? I couldn’t complain that he hadn’t. It was nice to still have Cole with us, but I was still shocked. There was no telling just how long they’d been sitting that way.



I raised my rifle up and aimed. First, I aimed at his head. It would have taken one simple shot to put him down, but I didn’t want to take the moment away from Cole. Instead, I moved back around behind him and pointed the gun down at his leg. That would have given Cole the opportunity to get back on top of things and end this standoff. This shit was getting old.



I even considered taking the butt of my gun across the back of Fang’s head and just knocking him out so that Cole could get away from him and handle it that way, but I felt that shooting him in the leg would be more satisfying.



My eyes met Cole’s, and part of me melted inside. I could have saved the day right then and there, but I was going to leave it for him to finish.



Fang was talking shit over him, but I wasn’t listening. I waited for my cue from Cole. I held the gun up, aimed it at Fang’s leg, and watched Cole’s eyes. I knew he would tell me when the time was right to shoot. I knew he would have something up his sleeve at that point to help himself get the upper hand with Fang again.



Fang was completely oblivious to my presence. He was so focused on Cole that he didn’t realize I was standing right on top of him. His training was coming in handy yet again. I had learned a lot from him over the last few years, but it was time to let him go. It was time to leave him for someone with a little more dignity and integrity in his work.