10| CHAPTER TEN

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Reverberations rippled beneath our feet

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Reverberations rippled beneath our feet. High pitched screams and bursts of erratic gunfire followed. "Fuck," in sequence my men grab their weapons as I direct the path upstairs. We have a bit of an advantage here, I retrieve a black Desert Eagle and hand it to Aria. She has abandoned the blazer, staying only in a black vest that does marvels for her breast. Not the fucking time.

Glass shards shatter against the walls of the hallways forcing us back into the hallway as we ducked in unison, heads buried in our hands and ear-splitting sounds tormenting our hearing. "Who's in the building?" I yell over the noise, stepping into the open area of the club. Full-throttled screaming and gunshot reiterated from upstairs. All the lights have been knocked out, leaving the club in foreign darkness. "Vincent?"

"Upstairs, we've cleared the building," Vincent shouts aiming fire at the shadows of concealed attackers from the balcony. They aimed with reckless haste. People stampeded past me to the exit to avoid bombardment. I am momentarily struck by approaching footsteps, wasting no time I shoot toward the four attackers as they fall like a domino effect.

Once again, I'm approached by a man wearing all black and a mask, his forearm stretched out ready to shoot. I grab his wrist-twisting his arm as the gun he held drops to the floor. I place my gun underneath his throat and pull the trigger, ignoring the blood splatter across my face and decline his body to the pile of others. "Fucking Russians." I release the empty load out of my gun and store it in my back pocket once again. The path upstairs is long once since I use the secluded stairs to avoid casualties, my suit is already ruined.

The door leads to my office, which, thankfully is vacant of any perpetrators except me that is. I punch in the code to my safe and reload my gun, before grabbing a leather glove on my desk. I've abandoned my suit jacket as I make due of checking the surveillance cameras to see which area is more infiltrated. Not much to see, as most of the men are dead. The fucking amateurs. Silently I step onto the balcony where two men shoot aim downstairs.

The first is approachable since his posture and stride screams profound confidence, which isn't a bad thing, except you have a reason for it that won't end in your demise-unfortunately for him that's exactly what's about to happen when I near him from behind, clenching and clenching my fists as I make work of twisting his chin and then sideways-feeling bone crunch beneath my fingers. He drops alerting his mate I've already placed a cap between his eyes he can register anything that happened.

I'm about to continue scouting the areas once again when I catch a glimpse of Aria. She's backed up against a wall and hoisted up by a man wearing a balaclava, except he has no interest in killing yet at least since the fuckers have his hands exploring his body as she spews colorful curses. I aim my gun at the man's head but can't when Aria breaks from his grip, kicking his groin as he doubles over before sending another kick to his face. He stands upright again, holding his nose and Aria uses the opportunity to atop the bar and onto his shoulders.

Beside me, two men near me, and I hand them each a headshot. Aria is still on the man's shoulders-this time with her gun aimed at the three men as she shoots them down, throws the gun and snaps his neck, jumps off, and spits at the man, "Khorosho, na etot raz eto deystvitel'no byl neschastnyy sluchay." I chuckle. She speaks Russian.

The last man alive is shoved down the stairs by River and no later than a few seconds do I receive a text from him.

River: Big fish + Middle fish = Big fish.

River: In other words. Gtfdh!

River's laziness to type out actual words should annoy me and yet I'm glad for the indifference at the time. For instance, this abbreviation is code for, Get the fuck down here one of the easiest. I put my phone away and stare at the damage my club has endured. Unnecessary costs though it won't a dent in my pocket.

I shove my gun in my back pocket and run into Aria dusting herself off after rolling one of the bodies towards the indecent piles. She spews curses about how this wasn't how she wanted to spend her day, and nightmares-I think? I'm an asshole for not giving a shit because then I wouldn't have known this Aria.

"Fuck!" Aria's attention is almost immediately turned to me. It was a jolt of pain, a small prick in my lower rib from a cut when one of those fuckers tried to take a dug at me. Yet, I exaggerated because I want her attention and to see if she still feels something for me. Am I toying with her feeling? Probably, but right now I don't have much of a fuck to give.

"What happened to you?" I did not however anticipate the ignorant indifference. She raises a brow, inspecting me for injuries when she lands on the blood-stain on my shirt she tilts her head slightly to the left, "You got stabbed, how?" It's as if she doesn't believe me, which she shouldn't because I let him stab me calculatedly, but fuck if it isn't insulting that she can't even believe me.

"I have no fucking idea."

She shrugs, "You're a big boy, you'll be fine." What the fuck happened to my Aria? She begins to walk away from me, not giving a shit whether I bleed to death or not.

"Aria!" I groan. She rolls her eyes, her tongue flicking her bottom lip as she considers it before saying, "Alright fine. But if you get fucking blood on me I will drop you." I grin, mainly because when she assists my arm around her shoulder and secures hers around my waist, her fragrance wraps me whole.

She leads me down the stairs while holding pressure to the exact wound she didn't want a blood stain from. I lean only half of my body weight on her and she groans, knowing relatively well I'm full of shit. She's distracted, albeit in the current situation and I use it to place a feather-light kiss on her temple. She either ignores it or thought I just walked too close to her-both work for me.

We're following a trail of blood leading to one of the chambers when a loud groan emits the hallway walls. "Just another torturing of the day?" Aria questions with a low scoff.

"Business as usual..." Her playful smirk is the only serenity I get before she hands me to Vincent instantly when he clears the entrance. Ignorant of me to think we were getting somewhere.

"Need aid walking over such a small stab wound, boss?" I'm suddenly reminded of the idiot I've been passed to as a rice package.

"Fuck off." I shove him away, watching as Aria approaches River and they share a common nod. I am only able to hear a handful of their conversation.

"Does he always take his bloody time?" She queries, openly grazing River's weapons which River seems to not have a problem with-he hates me touching his weapons.

"You'd be surprised," River laughs. He changes the knife she's holding for a sharper, more agile dagger that fits her personality, "this one, does ample more damage without killing your victim." She tests it in her hand, twisting it around, "You can have it." What the fuck? She smiles an authentic smile.

"You killed more than fifteen men." River augments.

Aria faces him, "Oops." He laughs, gives her a gun, and leads her towards the victim in mind. He points towards the shoulder, lower towards muscle under the rib, knee caps, and throats.

"These are all pressure points, good enough to slow or completely disable your victim but not enough to kill-the last point if all else fails and you have no choice-aim for the throat." Why would she not want to aim to kill? Am I missing something?

"Why would you aim to injure?" I interrogate. They share looks, of some sort of understanding.

"Aria doesn't-" River is interrupted by Aria in a split second. "-its nothing, nothing at all." She smiles, but it's not genuine.

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⏰ Last updated: Nov 21, 2024 ⏰

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