Maid for the Mafia by Jaylee

Drumming

**ROMANY**

My heart seizes as I rip open the door, afraid of what I will see at the end of the hall. It's as if the entire space has been sucked into a vacuum. There is no sound. No air. No light. Nothing.

As I stumble around the corner, the sigh of blood soaking the carpet is what gets me first. I drop to my knees, my ribs suddenly tight and restricted.

*She shot him. She fucking shot him.*

Now my heart is drumming in my chest like a war cry. Somewhere in my line of sight I see her. I recognize her. *Dana.*

And she is holding a smoking gun.

Her wrist is shaking as she drops the gun. Her body is trembling, but so is mine as I crawl toward the man on the ground. Damien lays there, his eyes wide with shock, a hole in him somewhere that I cannot immediately find. I think I yell, in fact, I'm sure I do, because my throat is suddenly a tunnel of fire. Pain rips across my chest as I pitter patter toward my Dreamboat on hands and knees.

Somewhere above me movement flashes. Tiny goes barreling into the wall, with Dana in his grip. The noise of the gunshot had to have rung out across the stairwell, because I swear I can still hear its echo. Alex comes stumbling into the space, but my attention on him is fleeting as my eyes suddenly snag on the metal revolver lying next to Damien's prone body.

In that split second, I am agonizingly slow, but I reach it, I do. My fingers close over the handle and I prop myself up on my knees, cocking the hammer back as I aim for Dana's head. Tiny has her pinned to the wall by her throat, his elbow cutting off her air and as my first tear falls I go to squeeze the trigger...

in this place... taking aim to take a life... but nonetheless, I want to kill her. I want to end her so badly that I can practically taste the blood

him that stops

"No baby!" He says.

grabs me from behind, pulling me into his chest and keeping me still as I scream. At first, I think it is Alex, but then I see him stalking forth, eyes ablaze with anger and a knife in his hand. The gun goes off as I manage to fire a

when I can

"D-Damien?!" I gasp out.

He's a powerful man. "She got me in the shoulder. It's just my shoulder. I'm alright." Sobs rack my body as I go limp against him. Tears spill from my eyes, but I see

in the face. Dana's eyes go wide with shock as her blood begins to coat Tiny's tightly flexed

Her *damaged* heart.

her. For some reason, I can't. Instead... I smile. I watch her bleed and I smile because I want

that part. *He did this to me. He introduced me to this... this... madness.* There's someone new standing behind him. Someone else. A man I've never seen before today. An older man in

going to kill her for me. Goddamn you. No, no, no. Not you. Never you, baby," Damien mumbles in my ear. "Fuck, sweetheart. Fuck, I'm so sorry."

he stands with me

to croak, my hands closing around

leaning down to kiss me hard on the mouth.

Alex commands. "Get that bitch's blood off

front of my romper and my chest. He walks me directly to the bathroom and sets me on the counter, ripping the clothes from my body as he fills the tub