Marked by Crime Rivalry Book2 [✓]

P74

ADRIANO slammed his door shut as he faced his men. "Secure the perimeter and stand a post. You four with me" He pointed and began stalking into the store.

He didn't know where they would be, but he knew they would be there and they didn't carry pistols, not when they knew something was going to rain down on them soon.

Bullets would.

As his men all stopped in different corners, he continued his way to the back, snatching the curtains open to the dressing room she was hiding in. Except not really, she was worried but annoyed all the same. Just like Teresa. "This is outrageous. Now I am a target, son?" She snapped at him which was understandable but he hadn't had time to argue.

"Take me home. I cannot stand in this room any longer" She huffed, throwing her hair back with sas. He chuckled.

His hand rose to his ear as they waited for a signal to declare it clear to exit.

They deemed it was.

"Alright. Stay close to me" She nodded and as they walked out, his eyes instantly scanned the crowded store and his men flanked her all around, not him as he led them.

Nora herself even took glances around as she began to slip her small pink gun into her hands, out of her purse. When Adriano saw it, she shrugged. "A gift from your father" She smiled.

That was until their eyes went wide when the guard behind her dropped his gun and his body dropped to the ground, a bullet through his head.

Adriano tugged her down and another guard, even an innocent person dropped and rang out faster causing attention and people began to scream once seeing the dead bodies. They began to flee to the door all at once, it was madness. "Fucking snipers" He snarled and looked towards one of his men.

"The car. Get it now. Mama, you stay with me"

Once the store became chaos, his man ran off to the ground with his body low and his gun high. Adriano was the one to crouch behind a wall to glance at the top of the roof across the building. That was the only range and place they could sight them.

"Aim at the roof" He demanded and as they did, he did so to let off one shot, two and they began to move back but he made contact once and the man fell, slamming onto the concrete which made the people panic even more. They ran the opposite way making it even more difficult. Others were smart, dropped to the ground, and out of sight.

His men began to burst inside the store and he noticed why. They were making their way in. Damn distraction.

This hadn't been new. Grasping the grip of the gun like it was his last breath wasn't known. Nor was peeking out to pull the trigger with pressure for a bullet to ring out and knock into an organ.

This was life. This was normal but still, his chest pounded and tightened all around at the dangerous atmosphere engulfing him.

Bullets rang out all around him. Fast bullets. His men barred heavy artillery for this very moment. Glass shredded out and around, crashing and smashing onto the innocents as well as himself and as his mother as they crouched down with his hands over her head.

"Stay down" He whispered.

* * * 

As Teresa wiped the sweat off her face, she heard a man inside speaking fast and in a hurry and it wasn't Adriano. As she walked out, she saw her driver on the phone. He was yelling at her guards to go and her heart spiked.
"What's happened? Where's Adriano" Was the first thing out her mouth, on her mind.

Her driver seemed apprehensive and it began to transpire in her body as well. He hadn't held back where Adriano went and why but as she saw his forehead beading in sweat, something was wrong.