The gunshot cracked through the pouring rain like thunder.
Pain exploded in my chest as the bullet slammed into me. I stumbled backward, my boots slipping on the slick wooden dock. The world spun as I crashed hard onto the planks, rain hammering down on my face like icy needles.
Blood poured hot and thick between my fingers, where I pressed them desperately against the wound. Every breath felt like fire tearing through my lungs.
Isabella stood over me, her expensive coat flapping wildly in the wind, the gun still smoking in her delicate hand. Rain plastered her dark hair to her pale skin, but those beautiful eyes I used to lose myself in every night were now colder than the storm around us.
“You… fucking bitch,” I gasped, blood bubbling up into my throat, choking me.
She crouched down gracefully, pressing the hot barrel of the pistol right against my forehead. Her lips curved into that sweet, familiar smile I had once killed men for.
“You were never good enough for this family, Damien,” she whispered softly, her voice almost tender, like we were still tangled up in silk sheets together. “Daddy always said you’d get too ambitious one day. Tonight just proved him right.”
I tried to reach for her wrist, but my arm barely twitched. Weakness was spreading fast through my body. “I loved you, Isabella. I would’ve burned down the entire fucking world for you—”
“That’s exactly why you had to go.” She leaned in closer, her warm breath brushing against my ear through the cold rain. “Enzo knows how to stay in his place. You never learned that lesson.”
More footsteps approached from behind her. Heavy boots thudding against the dock. Multiple men.
Don Rossi’s deep, commanding voice sliced through the storm. “Finish it properly, Isabella. No loose ends tonight.”
She rose slowly, aiming the gun at my chest again. For the briefest moment, something almost like regret flashed across her face. Then it vanished, replaced by that cold, calculated mask I’d seen her wear in boardrooms and bedrooms alike.
“Goodbye, baby.”
The second shot hit me lower in the gut. White-hot agony ripped through my body. I choked on a mouthful of blood as the world tilted violently sideways. The taste of iron filled my mouth.
Isabella turned on her heels and walked away without another glance, her heels clicking confidently against the wet wood. Don Rossi’s men chuckled darkly behind her. One of them stepped forward and kicked me hard in the ribs, sending fresh waves of pain exploding through me.
“Should we dump him in the river, boss?” one asked casually.
“Leave him,” Don Rossi replied. “Let the rats and the river finish the job. By morning, he’ll just be another piece of fish food.”
Their laughter faded as they walked away, voices swallowed by the storm. The rain continued pouring down mercilessly, mixing with my blood and washing it across the dock into the dark, churning water below.
I lay there, staring up at the pitch-black sky, chest rising and falling in shallow, painful gasps. Every inhale felt like knives twisting deeper into my flesh.
This is how it ends? After everything I sacrificed for them. All the bodies I’d dropped without question. All the nights I spent buried deep inside her, believing she was truly mine. Believing I was building something real with the Rossi family.
The rage that burned in my chest was hotter than the bullets tearing me apart. Hotter than the betrayal slicing through my heart.
I tried to move, to crawl, to do anything, but my body barely responded. Darkness started creeping in at the edges of my vision, pulling me down into nothing.
But then… I heard it again.
Footsteps. Slower this time. Careful. Hesitant.
Someone was coming back.
A woman’s voice cut through the rain, low and urgent. “Damien? You still alive, you stubborn bastard?”
I couldn’t turn my head. Couldn’t speak. But that voice… it was familiar. Someone I knew.
The footsteps stopped right beside me. A gloved hand pressed firmly against the side of my neck, checking for a pulse.
“Fuck… you’re still breathing.” She sounded almost impressed. “This is going to hurt like hell, but you’re not dying tonight. Not on my watch.”
I felt rough hands grabbing me under the arms. She started dragging my dead weight across the dock. Pain exploded through every nerve in my body. I tried to say something ... anything ... but only a wet, gurgling sound came out.
“Save your strength,” the woman muttered, breathing hard from the effort. “You’re going to owe me a massive fucking favor for this mess. Now shut up and stay alive.”
The world spun and faded to black as she pulled me deeper into the shadows between the warehouses.