KEIFER POV
I took three steps into the hallway before her frantic heels caught up to me.
“Keifer, please! Don’t create unnecessary drama right now!” she pleaded, lunging forward and grabbing the fabric of my sleeve with both hands, trying to pull me backward like she could actually hold me in place.
I stopped dead in my tracks.
The cold hallway fell silent.
I slowly turned around, looking down at her wide, panicked eyes, the dark purple bruise on her pale wrist burning into my peripheral vision like hot acid.
“Unnecessary drama?” I repeated, my voice dropping so low it sounded like gravel scraping together.
I stepped into her space, crowding her until her back hit the paneled wall.
“So you think it’s completely fucking fine for some random piece of shit to hurt my wife? Let alone put his filthy hands on your skin?”
“Keifer, enough! Please just listen to me!” she argued back, her voice shaking as she looked frantically toward the ballroom doors.
“This is supposed to be a historic celebration for the Marianos! Dad has been preparing for this night for months, the media is watching every single move, and everyone—”
“I don’t fucking care!”
The roar ripped out of my throat, raw and deafening.
My fists clenched so violently my knuckles popped, the red haze blinding my vision as I leaned down right into her face.
“¡Él te tocó, joder!” I snarled in pure, unrestrained fury.
(HE FUCKING TOUCHED YOU!)
The entire corridor seemed to shake with the sound of my voice.
Jay flinched, shrinking back against the wall, her lips parting in shock as tears brimmed along her lashes.
Seeing her tremble in front of me punched a hole right through my boiling chest.
I hated that she was scared.
I hated that I was the one making her cower.
But the thought of Yuri Hanamichi’s fingers wrapping around her wrist, digging into her flesh, making her wince in pain while I wasn’t there to tear his throat out it was driving me completely, hopelessly insane
Before I could pull her into my arms, a body slammed into my side with the force of a freight train, shoving me hard against the paneled wall.
“PERCY!” Jay screamed, lunging forward.
Percy was breathing heavily, his tuxedo jacket rumpled, his fist pulled back and trembling with pure, unadulterated violence.
“Don’t you dare fucking yell at my sister, Watson!” he snarled right into my face, ready to throw the punch.
I didn’t even flinch.
I was ready to tear his arm off, but before either of us could strike, Jay threw herself between us, both hands planted firmly against my chest, shielding me with her own body.
Footsteps echoed sharply down the corridor, and Aries stepped into the hallway, his face carved from cold stone.
“What happened here?” Aries asked, his low voice carrying an immediate, dangerous weight.
“Ask that fucking Hanamichi!” I spat, blood pounding behind my eyes.
I gently grabbed Jay’s waist to move her behind me, stepping past Percy.
“He hurt Jay. And he’s about to pay for it with his life.”
I made a move to head straight back toward the ballroom to drag Yuri out into the alley, but David rounded the corner, sizing up the scene in half a second and immediately planting himself in my path.
“David, please help me! He is going to kill Yuri!” Jay pleaded frantically
“What happened?” Aries repeated, his tone dropping several octaves.
I could feel his patience snapping in real time.
His eyes darted from Jay’s tear-streaked face to the corner of the wall, and then his gaze locked dead onto me, burning with the suspicion that I had been the one making his sister cry.
The Mariano protective instincts were flaring up in all the wrong directions.
I ignored the brothers’ glares and looked down at the trembling woman standing between us all.
“Come on, amor,” I whispered, low and dark as my eyes softened only for her.
“Tell them what happened. Tell your brothers how that fucking Yuri not only touched you, but bruised you.” AMOR- LOVE
JAY JAY POV
They are going to kill him.
There is zero doubt in my mind right now.
Yuri Hanamichi is a dead man walking.
The second the name slipped out, Percy’s entire face morphed from protective big brother into something chillingly unrecognizable.
The goofy, vain sibling who was cracking jokes about chocolate fountains ten minutes ago completely vanished.
“Yuri laid his filthy hands on you?” Percy asked, his voice dead, flat, and hollow.
He stepped around Keifer and came straight to me, his dark eyes instantly scanning my bare shoulders, my neck, and then zoning in on where I was instinctively trying to tuck my left arm behind my gown.
Before I could hide it, Percy grabbed both of my hands and pulled them up into the light.
His breath hitched.
Right there against my pale skin were the dark purple, finger-shaped bruises, completely exposed without the concealer.
Beside him, I heard Aries jaw click with a sickening snap, and even David let out a low, grim whistle.
“Percy, please!” I pleaded, gripping his fingers tightly.
“He only held onto it for barely four seconds! It was just an argument outside the office, nothing else happened! Please, don’t cause a scene tonight. This is supposed to be a historic celebration for our family, for Dad—”
Percy slowly lifted his head, his eyes pitch-black and burning with cold, psychopathic murder.
A terrifying, humorless smirk spread across his lips.
“Oh, this is going to be a celebration, alright, little sister,” Percy whispered smoothly, patting the top of my head like I was a little kid.
“Tonight, we don’t just celebrate the Mariano hundredth anniversary… we also celebrate the death of Yuri Hanamichi.”
“Jay-jay!” Sara’s voice called out, the sharp click of her heels echoing down the hallway.
Beside her was Ella, looking elegant and poised, finally joining the party.
But the second both of them rounded the corner, their steps faltered.
“What on earth happened here?” Ella asked, her sharp gaze darting between the murderous expressions carved into the faces of my brothers and my soon-to-be husband.
“Yuri laid his hands on Jay, and now he is about to pay for it with his life,” David answered smoothly from the side
“Yuri?” Ella repeated
Nobody answered.
The silence in the corridor was thick enough to choke on, with Percy, Aries, and Keifer radiating enough dark energy to summon a demon.
“Well, if you’re looking for him, I saw Yuri leaving the venue about ten minutes ago,” Sara offered casually, checking her manicure.
My head snapped toward her so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.
“Sara!” I hissed, glaring daggers at my traitorous best friend.
“What do you want, Miss I’m So Generous?” Sara shot back, rolling her eyes without an ounce of remorse.
“The bastard hurt you. I don’t give a damn about mafia politics, and I definitely don’t support abusers. He deserves whatever is coming to him.”
Great.
Remind me to never tell Sara a secret again.
She stepped closer, narrowing her eyes at my left arm.
Being a certified trauma surgeon, her clinical radar went off instantly.
“Let me see the bruise, Jay.”
No, no, no.
Absolutely not.
Having a literal medical doctor inspect the damage in front of three homicidal mafia heirs was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas.
Before I could tuck my hand behind my velvet skirt, Sara swiped it into her grasp, her thumb lightly pressing the mottled skin under the hallway chandelier.
Her jaw dropped, and her eyebrows shot straight into her hairline.
“What the actual fuck, Jay?” Sara blurted out, her doctor voice kicking in.
“This isn’t from some light two-second grab! The deep subcutaneous burst means he squeezed with full force, and by the distribution of the tissue compression, he held you pinned for at least a solid minute!”
The temperature in the corridor dropped below freezing.
Behind me, I heard the distinct, sickening metallic click of a gun being cocked.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Goodbye, Yuri Hanamichi.
You had a good run.
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You guys are fast!!!!!!
i will try to upload another chapter today