Page 87 of Vicious Kingdom

A dark figure lunged from behind a concrete pillar twenty feet ahead, face obscured by a black ski mask, arm extended with the unmistakable silhouette of a handgun.

Pure instinct saved me. I dropped to the ground as the first shot exploded through the space where my head had been a split second earlier. The bullet pinged against the metal door behind me.

Another bullet, this one hovering just over the concrete, had me leaping to the side.

Pop. Pop. Pop!

Rolling behind the nearest car, I took aim.

A bullet whistled past my face as I hid behind the sedan. This motherfucker had me cornered.

From somewhere deep in the parking ramp, a woman screamed. “Call the cops, call the cops!”

At the civilian’s shouts, my attacker paused.

I leaned over, meeting his icy brown stare. He wore a hoodie in this sweltering summer heat, and with his face covered, there was nothing else to make him distinct.

Sirens wailed in the distance.

He raised his gun, but the click said the chamber was empty.

The hiss of frustration was muffled by the balaclava as he shoved the weapon in his jeans. Then he took off.

I was up and after him, my dress shoes slapping against the concrete. Adrenaline spiked my veins, giving me the push I needed.

The roar of a bike thundered through the parking garage. I rounded the row just as he sped past. If I was five seconds sooner, I could have tackled him.

Instead, I watched the assassin leave.

Breathing hard, I raked my hands through my hair. White hot blood pumped through my veins. I was…shaking.

Cursing the surge of adrenaline, and refusing to call this reaction anything else, I holstered my own weapon and shot a glance above.

The cameras. Dammit.Dammit!

I pressed a button on my phone, and the call rang in the earpiece a moment later.

“Pronto,” Alessandro clipped into my ear.

“Some scrawny fucker in a balaclava took a shot at me before tearing away on an Indian Scout,” I barked.

“Are you okay?”

The question caught me off guard. As the don, his first question should be details of the situation. We needed to crack down on this. Make sure the assailant didn’t know I was linked to the underworld. And if it was just a hit against Leonard the businessman, then why was someone trying to take me out?

But my brother asked about me.

A funny feeling tickled deep inside.

“I’m fine,” I breathed. “I ducked just in time.”

“Any idea who it was?”

“None, but you need to have your tech guys erase me from the footage. Maybe the cameras picked up his plates,” I added.

Was my voice…shaking? No, that wasn’t right.

Like my brother, I was trained to show no fear. I was bathed in blood as a teen, learning to fight in the underworld. While I wentinto business, I never lost the cruel edge being born into a mob gave me.