Chapter Eighteen

One of Dominico’s men attempts to move forward, but Jay shakes his head, malice residing in his gaze that’s only seen in psychopaths. The kind that shows with just a gleam in their eye that they enjoy inflicting pain.

Jay the sadist. He doesn’t own that name without being fucked up in the head. A direct result of Dominico’s abuse of power.

Jay pulls out a gun and a shot is fired instantly, before the sound of the body dropping against the wood echoes in the room. I gasp as I watch the lifeless man’s body ooze blood – a messy warning to the others who will try to disobey Jay.

“If anyone else would like to do that, I have a fucking bullet for you too,” Jay snarls.

“You think you’re worthy of running this empire?” Dominico spits. “You do not have what it takes to sacrifice for this family.”

Jay laughs. “I’ve let you manipulate me for long enough. I’ve let you carve and torture me until I didn’t feel anything anymore. Until you said I was controlled enough to be your fucking instrument. I’m done. I won’t let anything happen to Akira. And until you’re off the fucking throne I can’t guarantee her safety!”

“You would kill your own blood over that bitch?” Dominico growls, pure disgust in his tone of voice.

“Yes, I fucking would,” Jay admits, and my heart does this weird thing in my chest where it aches. It aches for Jay as if he is the reason for life. My reason for being, for living. For holding on and fighting against all the abusive assholes in my life.

Dominico’s husky chuckle erupts in the room and I’m not even prepared for the bullet that is fired at me. I know it makes contact when burning spreads from my right shoulder across my chest and down my arm. Jay lurches for me as I hit the ground.

No! They’ll shoot him too!

“Don’t come near me! Watch out!” I scream, before crying out in pain and moving to clutch my wound after I’ve fallen onto the floor.

Am I going to die?

Is my existence going to end with me bleeding out on the floor? Reduced to nothing but a casualty in a mafia war? My father would laugh, unsurprised.

Jay curses but I can’t focus on that anymore. The entire room lights up with gunfire. There are screams and I’m sure I’m hallucinating when I see other men pouring into the room and I hear Jay call out to someone with familiarity and gratefulness.

“Nicolo!”

Who’s that?

I catch a glimpse of the man and realize he looks like Dominico and that’s when I realize the other men pouring into the room are Nicolo’s men. Fear fills me again as I writhe in pain but once I realize those men have drawn their guns and they’re all standing by a bloody Jay, my heart soars with hope.

“Go to her, Jay. Dominico that’s enough!” Nicolo directs Jay then booms at Dominico.

I’m stunned when a woman appears beside me before Jay does. She’s beautiful with dark skin and dark curly locks. She kneels beside me.

“A-am I dead?” I say as things start to fade. “Are you an angel?”

I blink through the blurred vision and the woman laughs.

“I’m not an angel. I’m Selena.”

I sniffle. I can feel the puddle of blood pooling beneath my arm.

“Please make sure Jay is okay,” I beg her.

“It’s you I’m worried about,” She replies concerned.

“Save him. Not me. Please, just save him.”

“Don’t talk like that. You’re going to be fine,” She chastises. She begins to assess my wounds and that’s when I hear my knight in shining armor.

“Don’t you dare try and have them fucking save me. You’re my priority,” Jay says sharply with attitude. I see him even as the black spots begin to overwhelm my vision.

“Y-you’re bleeding.”

“I don’t care.”

I shake my head. “Why did you do this? I wanted to keep you safe…” I trail.

“It’s you who I need to keep safe. Not the other way around. Stay with me, Akira.” I begin to let the darkness consume me and before I do, I hear a snippet of a conversation that gives me hope.

“His reign is over, Jay. It’s all yours now.” Nicolo says.

“Are you sure you don’t want it?”

Nicolo chuckles. “No. It poisons men…”

“Only the weak ones,” Jay concludes.

“Yes. You’re right. And you are not a weak man. I’m sure you’ll lead them well.”

***

I awaken to something warm. Not something. Someone.

Who the hell is it?

My eyes feel too heavy for comfort and yet I force them open only to catch a glimpse of dirty blonde hair.

Jay.

He’s asleep. Even when unconscious he looks strained. As if he’s prepared for an attack. I hate that he has to be on edge all the time. I lift my arm and wince from the pain in my shoulder.

Oh god. I was shot.

As if the memory has been lurking around to strike me, I’m rendered breathless when I recall the pain of the bullet hitting me.

I thought I was going to die.

I was sure of it.

I shiver as I’m flooded with dread, but I can’t wrap my arms around myself from the pain still in my arm. I hiss anxiously and that’s when Jay begins to stir beside me. I didn’t want to wake him, but after a moment of shifting, his eyes fly open and he angles himself away from me.

“Akira? Fuck, did I hurt you?” He pulls away enough to where I don’t really feel his heat anymore.

“N-no,” I say and reach for him with my good arm. I ball his shirt up in my fist before I tug him toward me gently. “Please come back. Don’t pull away from me. I want you…” I admit and his face softens before he nods.

“Okay,” He replies and rests beside me gently and I sigh with content.

“I was just watching you sleep.” His brows raise and a grin plays on the corners of his lips but he doesn’t fully reveal it.

“Did you enjoy the show?” He teases.

“Yes. Although you looked stressed… I didn’t like that.”

He sighs and shrugs. “It’s who I am. Sleep has never been a place of peace for me. I’ve been woken up with knives in my sides, being tasered, anything you can think of.”

“By Dominico?”

Jay nods and runs a thumb over my pouting bottom lip before he shakes his head.

“Don’t get upset.”

“I can’t help it,” I admit. I’ve always felt strongly about those I…

Those I love.

I clench my jaw and lick my lips.

“What happened? How long have I been out?”

“You were shot,” His tone is clipped but his words still crack as he recalls the accident.

“I uh, I thought I would lose you; you were bleeding so much.”

Sorrow fills his tone and I press my head against his chest.

“Dominico wanted me to suffer and fuck, before I stopped him he made sure to hit me where it’d hurt. You.”

Jay runs a hand over his face. “I don’t ever want to fucking go through that again with you.”

I nod, regardless of my ability to actually control any of it because right now in the room enveloped by his warmth, I want to offer comfort.

“Well, you won’t have to.”

But honestly, I would take a million bullets if it meant he’d be okay.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” I reassure him.

“I do,” He concludes. I frown. There’s something in his voice that alarms me.

“Why do you say that?”

His jaw clenches.

“Your husband wants you back. Just as you said he would.”