𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 - 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐘𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄 - 𝟏𝟖+

CHAPTER TWELVE

L O R E N Z O

I'd vigilantly kept checking on all of my men as I continued to dance in the center with Andrea. So far there hadn't been anything out of the ordinary, however, I didn't trust Agosto one bit, he was a snake, and given half the chance he'd kill us all with his venom. I'd already motioned for my father and both of my uncles to subtly start moving towards the back of the room with the women. Even Luca had decided to heed my warning and followed them with Eva in his arms, Alexandra, however, had refused to listen to me per the norm, and stayed rooted to her place, shaking her head. It wasn't hard to miss the thrill to kill in her obsidian gaze, and for what it was worth I understood her desire to spill the blood of those who thought they could bury us like the other nameless Camorra clans. I'd still tried to warn her, but she chose to conveniently ignore my injunction, and I couldn't focus too much on her as Andrea was starting to take notice of my calculated movements.

From my inference, Andrea wouldn't try to do anything to help her father, however, I was painfully aware that if she knew who would be the one dying tonight there'd be protests from her. From the conversations I'd heard, I reckoned that despite her apparent vexation with her father, she wouldn't want to see him dead, and I'd need to get her to conform to my rules sooner rather than later. I'd also have to deal with her cautiously as she could be a great asset for me, especially with all the spotlight the bloodshed in this wedding would get. Paparazzi were vultures, and seemingly their favorite topic to report feuds between the clans. I could hold off some of the news considering I owned Stelle, however, I'd still need something—rather someone, my wife—to blindside Ricci.

I'd been ignoring the way she perfectly fit in arms as she'd always belonged there because I had to remember that any chip in my armor meant the fall of the empire I'd been striving to keep.

Alessandro pointed at something behind my back, and I stiffened, knowing that Agosto was ready to play. It didn't take long after that for a gunshot to echo in the room, but I'd already moved away and dropped to the ground with Andrea beneath me. I'd used my hand to break her fall, having no idea why I didn't want to hurt her when all I needed was to just keep her alive. The need to protect her had dawned on me overwhelmingly, disrupting all my well-thought-out plans, however, I didn't focus on figuring out the reasons behind my impulsive actions as I had bigger fish to fry. Agosto Romano for one.

Piercing pain in my arm nearly paralyzed all my movements as Alessio reached where we were lying on the ground, and covered us by lifting a table up. I pushed up on my good arm and rested my back against the wooden table as red seeped through my jacket. Fucking hell that was my favorite Valentino suit. I was focusing on controlling my labored breathing as more guns were fired around the large hall.

"You were shot," Alessio grabbed my bicep disbelievingly as he examined the wound. He wasn't even close to being a doctor, but he was taught enough to tell what a wound needed.

"No shit," I groaned as he pressed on the bleeding injury I hadn't anticipated because I'd never planned on my response being slow as I was trying to protect, mia moglie.

"Thank fuck, it's just a graze," He pulled out a black handkerchief from his pocket, and wrapped it around my bicep, "You should be good for a few hours with this, get Milan to look at it later,"

Nodding, I removed my gun from its holster and glanced around for Andrea, who was sitting still, covering her ears and her eyes were snapped shut. Fuck me, I did not need this. Now I'd have to get her out of here as she couldn't very well do that on her own. Meeting Milan's eye across the room, I motioned for him to get here, and he crawled to my hiding place.

"Sedate her, and take her to my hotel room. Guard the room, I'll deal with her later." I didn't wait to watch him carry her out of there safely, and rolled out from behind the table, taking cover behind another one as I looked around the room for others of Romano's men. My men had already taken quite a few of those motherfuckers down, and I couldn't wait to be done with all of them. I removed the safety of my Glock and aimed at one hiding behind another table at my right. The reverberance of the shot got lost in multiple others in the room, but the splatter of blood from the motherfucker's head on the table cloth was enough assurance that he was indeed dead.