Every Mafia's Favorite Girl novel Chapter 26

Chapter 26: "I Can Carry You"

A sharp crack split through the kitchen.

Aren jerked backward.

Caio’s heart stopped.

For one horrifying second, all he could see was crimson fabric and blood.

Rage detonated inside him instantly. The man with the kitchen knife died first.

BANG.

The bullet punched clean through his throat before he could even react.

The second attacker barely managed to turn his head before Caio’s gun snapped toward him.

BANG.

The shot tore through his skull, sending the man collapsed backward onto the kitchen tiles.

Caio kept firing anyway.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

Even after the body hit the floor.

Even after blood sprayed across the stainless-steel counters.

Even after the gun clicked empty.

The kitchen had barely fallen silent when Caio grabbed Aren by the shoulders, hard enough to force her back a step.

"Where?"

Aren blinked at him, startled.

"...What?"

"Where are you hit?"

Only then did she glance down at her arm.

The bullet had grazed the outside of her upper arm, shredding fabric and skin without penetrating deeply. Blood spread steadily through the sleeve of the crimson dress.

Aren studied it for a moment.

"...Oh," she said lightly. "It’s minor."

Caio looked ready to murder someone else anyway.

His jaw locked hard enough to ache.

"You’re injured."

"I’m functional."

"That’s not the point."

Aren stared at him, mildly confused by his sharp tone. Before she could answer, footsteps thundered outside the loading entrance.

Multiple people.

Moving fast toward their position.

Caio reacted instantly. He shoved Aren behind him, reloaded, then raised his gun toward the door.

Aren tilted her head, listening.

"...Wait, Don Caio," she murmured. "I think that’s—"

Before she could finish, Caio kicked the loading door open.

Bang!

For one tense second, weapons snapped upward on both sides. Every face in the loading corridor stretched taut with murder, ready to pull the trigger.

Then, just as quickly...

Everyone froze.

"Boss?"

Recognition flashed instantly across Leo’s face.

He stood outside with half the Sartori security team behind him. Several men were bloodied. One limped heavily. Another clutched a gunshot wound wrapped hastily in cloth already soaked dark red.

Caio lowered his weapon with visible irritation.

"What took you so long?"

Leo exhaled heavily.

"Sorry, Boss. They engaged us outside first like they already knew our positions."

Caio’s expression darkened further.

’So there really was an information leak.’

He shoved the thought aside immediately.

"Go inside," he ordered curtly. "Clean up the mess."

Leo straightened at once.

"Understood."

"Pietro Lamon is unconscious in the VIP room," Caio added quickly. "Three more are tied up in a storage room down the east corridor. I want all of them alive and brought back for interrogation."

"And the rest?" Leo asked carefully.

A dangerous smile curved across Caio’s mouth.

"You really need to ask?"

Leo’s face went cold instantly.

"No, Boss."

"Kill every last one of them," Caio said calmly. "Nobody except us leaves here knowing what happened tonight."

The men behind Leo moved instantly.

Weapons checked.

Safety switches clicked off.

The loading corridor filled with murderous intent as some of the men advanced into the restaurant.

Leo’s gaze shifted toward Aren.

"And you, Boss? Lady Ariana?"

Caio glanced back at Aren.

The blood soaking through her sleeve had spread farther now. Without hesitation, he slid an arm around her waist and pulled her firmly against his side.

"I’m taking her out of here myself."

Aren barely had time to react before Caio was steering her rapidly toward the emergency stairwell. Immediately afterward, Leo and the rest of the men stormed through the kitchen and deeper into the restaurant.

Gunfire erupted again moments later.

The stairwell door slammed shut behind them, muffling most of the violence.

For the first time all night, silence settled around Caio and Aren.

Caio stopped abruptly between flights of stairs. Before Aren could ask why, he pulled a knife from his pocket and grabbed the hem of her sleeve.

Aren instantly startled.

"Don Caio," she protested, alarmed, "the dress is very expensive and you like it—"

"I’m getting you ten more," he cut in flatly.

His focus remained entirely on the fabric as he sliced through it in one clean motion. When he finished, a long strip of crimson cloth hung from his hand.

"Your arm," he said shortly. "We’re taking the stairs. Elevators are too risky. There could be ambushes."

His eyes flicked toward the blood staining her sleeve.

"If we’re climbing twenty floors, I’m not leaving it like that."

Aren lifted her injured arm without protest. Caio wrapped the fabric tightly around the wound, firm enough to slow the bleeding, then shrugged out of his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

"Put this on," he ordered firmly. "No one should see blood on you."

’What the hell is wrong with me?’

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify