Indebted to the Mafia King

End of the Line

Dante

I stare down at Eleni, bloody, bruised, and half-covered. Rage lights in my veins, something deeper and truer than I’ve felt before. I knew Frank Lombardi was scum. I’ve touched enough blood that he spilled to never question that. But violating Eleni like this is something new. It’s the end of the goddamn line for him.

She stares back up at me, and the confusion in her wide, blue eyes morphs slowly into fear. “Dante? Wh-why are you here?”

Fuck. I never want to scare her. I kneel and snap out my switchblade. She flinches, but I can’t do anything about that. I slit the zip ties around her ankles, fix her skirt, then hold out my hands for her wrists, struggling to keep my movements slow and calming.

Her lower lip trembles. Her gaze darts across my face like she’s trying to guess what I’m thinking. I hope she doesn’t. Blood-bright pictures spatter the inside of my skull, all featuring Frank Lombardi. I’ll string him up by his guts. I’ll make him eat his own c**k. Anything that’ll show him exactly how badly he’s f****d up.

After a long moment, Eleni puts her wrists in my hand. I cut the zip ties and help her to her feet. I just need to get her out and—

Out. f**k. At the top of the stairs and beyond lays the pile of bodies I left in my wake trying to get to her. She doesn’t need to see that.

“Close your eyes,” I murmur, trying to keep the fury out of my voice. “And be quiet.”

This time, she obeys without hesitation. I thank my lucky stars and take her hand. She’s got delicate fingers, but her palms are callused. Probably from shifts at the family restaurant, carrying burning trays back and forth. I’ve never met a waitress without calluses like this. Somehow, that makes her abruptly more real. She’s not just the beautiful woman in the restaurant or the back of my club. She’s Eleni, a woman who lost her father last night.

Frank Lombardi is dead.

I lead her up the stairs and into the back hallway of the auto shop Lombardi uses as his main headquarters. Tacky, I’ve always said. But his black-and-white checkered color scheme isn’t really benefiting from the blood splattered across it. I try to lead her around the bodies, but her bare feet slide in the puddles of blood, and I have to catch her more than once.

I round a corner, intending to take her out, and come face-to-face with Frank Lombardi, clearly just arriving because one of his men called him before they died.

“What the—” He grabs for his gun.

Eleni tenses. She knows his voice. Liquid rage pours through my veins, but I put a hand up very casually.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you.”

Frank blinks stupidly. Moron.

“I bought this young woman at auction recently,” I say. “And I don’t take kindly to others touching my things.”

Eleni sucks in a breath. I force my thoughts away from her. Frank has his gun out, and I have someone I’m willing to get seriously injured to protect. I need to turn this stack of disadvantages into crushing Frank’s skull underfoot.

“It’s finders-f*****g keepers in this city, you little shit.” Frank leveled his gun at Eleni. “But if I can’t have her….”

A door behind him bangs open, and Tony and his younger brother Sebastian exit, blocking Frank’s escape. I left them behind to clean up the small battalion of capos and soldiers in the auto shop itself. Now, I look like a f*****g genius.

Frank glances behind him, then back at me. “Maybe you are smarter than your old man after all.”

“Keep his name out of your f*****g mouth.” I snarl and knock the gun out of his grasp, then release Eleni’s hand to draw my own.

Frank chuckles, and I see red. But Eleni makes a small, worried noise, like she’s lost without my touch.

“Open your eyes, El,” I say quietly.

She gasps as she does. I can feel Tony and Sebastian wondering who this girl is, why I know her, but I ignore them.

“It’s your call,” I say. “Do you want him dead for what he did to your father, or do you want to end this and spare him?”

She looks at Frank, who grins like he’s already confident she’s going to let him live. Then, she looks at me, and I see something new in those blue eyes of her. A fury as deep as my own.

“Kill him,” she says.

I pull the trigger before Frank can reply. He collapses onto a pile of his men, his forehead spouting blood. Eleni doesn’t even flinch when the gun goes off. But when Frank finally goes still, she takes my hand again.

“I have to get her out,” I say to Tony and Sebastian.

“You sure?” Tony asks. “Seems like she’s got the balls to take a few of Frank’s f***s out herself.”

He meets my gaze, and under his sarcasm, I see real confusion, almost concern. I haven’t done anything he couldn’t predict in a long time.

I shake my head. I’ll explain later. He sighs.

“Loot the place,” I call over my shoulder as I walk toward the double doors. “Burn it, do whatever you think will send the right message to the remains of the syndicate. I want Luca scared.”

Eleni squeezes my hand when I say that, a mute agreement, but she doesn’t look at me. I lead her through the shop itself, littered with more bodies and my men already rifling the place, then out into the Harlem night. She shivers at the drop in temperature, so I bring her quickly to the little black coupe I drove. Once she’s settled in the passenger seat, I circle around, turn on the car, and crank the heat.

“Where are you taking me?” she asks finally. In the glow of the car’s dashboard, a few speckles of blood stand out on her skin.

“Somewhere safe, don’t worry.” I put the car in drive and pull out into the constant traffic of the city that never sleeps. “I just have to make a stop first.”