Protettore.

Chapter 27.

Enzo's POV

"I'm getting my pet out of here." I heard Varlam say in his thick accent.

Like hell you're going anywhere with my girl.

Thunderous footsteps began descending the stairs and soon enough, Kristofer came strolling down the hallway with Raffaelo stomping after him. The juxtaposition of their two demeanors was comical. It must have been easy for the blonde to be laid back because he knew he was on the winning side.

"Why did you have to interrupt our meeting with your idiotic problems?" Raffaelo roared. "You should have taken care of this yourself. You're worthless." Spittle was flying from this mouth as he raged.

"I was reporting to my boss." Kristofer's tone was bored, as if Raffaelo wasn't worth his time. "You don't run jack shit around here. You're the one who's worthless." This enraged Raffaelo even more, the red coloring in his face becoming darker. Luckily for us, his anger blinded him to everything but the focus of his rage, and he didn't see us hiding in the shadows.

Michael peered around the bathroom door he was hiding behind and raised his eyebrows at me, gesturing towards Raffaelo with a jerk of his chin. I nodded discretely, signaled to Gino, and we began moving down the hall towards them.

This rat has been walking free long enough.

The sooner we got him out of this house, the better. It would be one less problem I had to worry about and then I could completely focus on protecting Nora. The carpet effectively silenced our footsteps, and the traitor was still bitching about incompetence and how his plans were ruined. He didn't notice us at all.

"You should really think about your blood pressure." Michael commented sarcastically, causing Raffaelo to spin around panicked.

"You!" he glowered, reaching for his gun.

"I don't think so." Gino easily disarmed him and forced him to the ground. He grunted at the impact of his body hitting the floor, grunted loudly.

"Keep him quiet." I hissed, glancing towards the stairs.

Michael grinned darkly, kneeled down and pulled out washcloth he must have stolen from the bathroom. Raffaelo knew where this was going because for the first time since coming down the stairs, he shut his mouth. Michael just pinched his nostrils shut and as soon as he opened his mouth to take a breath, the cloth was shoved in so deep he couldn't push it back out.

Kristofer and Gino, who had been restraining the rat, pulled him to his feet on my command. I took the few steps necessary to stand toe to toe with him.

"You hurt my family, and you're going to pay for it." I vowed.

"We need to get him out of here. We're being too loud." Kristofer whispered urgently.

"Gino, go with Kristofer and take Raffaelo to the others. They can start the fun, but don't kill him before I get there. That would be too much of a kindness." I ordered, never breaking eye contact with the rat, who had the common sense to look scared. He struggled against their hold on him, and his voice was muffled as he tried to shout and plead.

He wasn't going to go quietly, not that any of us really expected him to. What we didn't account for was the surge of adrenalin he would get at the thought of his imminent slow and torturous death. He shoved himself into Kristofer, who lost his grip on him, and fell into the wall, knocking down a hanging picture frame. The sound of shattering glass filled the hallway, and I was sure they heard it upstairs.

A second passed and we heard shouting upstairs. My girl was up there with a man who had hurt her on more than one occasion and I wasn't about to l let it happen again. My heart started racing, but I didn't have any time to panic.