Becoming Mrs DeLuca novel Chapter 108

**Through Shadows We Painted Our Forever by Erynn Vel Coren**

**Chapter 108**

“Rico, lower the gun,” I commanded, my voice steady as I aimed my own weapon directly at his chest.

Despite the calmness in my tone, my heart raced like a trapped beast, desperate to escape. “You really don’t want to go down this path.”

“Oh, believe me, I do,” Rico replied, his grin stretching wider, revealing a disturbing satisfaction. “Just look at the boy. Those eyes, that nose… he’s mine, Adrian. Anyone with half a brain can see it. You’ve merely played the role of a babysitter for all these years.” He tilted his head, and the arrogance that draped over him morphed his expression into something grotesque. “Perhaps I should thank you for raising my heir. But this charade ends now.”

“Have you even paused to consider the implications of your actions?” I shot back, my mind racing. “You take him away, and then what? The entire brotherhood is aware that he’s my son. Are you really going to confess to your betrayal? To the fact that you slept with my ex-wife? I’m curious to see how that will play out.”

For a fleeting moment, Rico’s confidence wavered, but that infuriating grin returned almost instantly. “Oh, that… is not a concern you should have, my dear friend.”

Beside me, Marco shifted, his muscles tense, gun poised and ready. “You’re out of your mind.”

Rico’s gaze flicked toward Marco, his gun twitching in response. “And you’re finished, you pathetic worm. I always knew it was just a matter of time before you’d betray me. I thought I’d let it unfold… to see how long you could keep up the act before effectively choosing your own demise.”

He stepped closer, his men flanking him like a pack of wolves. “Just hand over my son, and we can all walk away from this without a scratch.”

I scoffed, not just at his audacity but at the blatant falsehoods spilling from his lips.

“You think blood makes you a father? You don’t have a clue what it truly means to be a dad. You weren’t there when he had colic, screaming for hours on end. You didn’t teach him to ride a bike or hold him when he fell from that tree and broke his arm. You weren’t there through sleepless nights when he burned with fever, and Valentina cried, convinced he was slipping away. I was there. Every single moment. He calls me Daddy because I earned that title. You? You’re just a mistake my ex-wife made. That doesn’t give you the right to claim my family!”

Rico’s expression darkened, the smile evaporating from his face.

“Careful,” he warned, his voice low and menacing. “Or I will put a bullet in his head, and I won’t stop until you’re all bleeding out on the floor.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I retorted, clinging to the fragile hope that his desperate need for a son might outweigh his pride and arrogance.

“Is that a challenge, DeLuca?” He raised his pistol, aiming it directly at Stefan’s temple.

My heart plummeted.

“Step away from the boy,” Rico commanded, his tone cold and unyielding. “Walk away. Or I will kill him right now, and we’ll see how many more children Valentina can bear before I decide to stop.”

Disgust twisted my face. I couldn’t believe this was happening. He was threatening me while discussing my children as if they were mere objects.

The room fell into a suffocating silence, broken only by Stefan’s small, drugged breaths. I prayed that whatever sedatives they had given him were safe. Time was slipping away, and I needed to get my son to the hospital before it was too late.

I locked eyes with Rico, determination hardening my resolve.

“You’re not leaving here with him,” I asserted. “And you’re certainly not walking out of here alive.”

The corner of Rico’s mouth twisted into a mocking smile. “You’re outnumbered, outgunned, and holding dead weight. You can’t win this. Now, step away from the boy!”

“Rico…”

“Step away from the boy!”

“I’m not letting you take him!”

Rico’s eyes blazed with fury, and I could feel the tension crackling in the air. I knew him well enough to realize that this confrontation would not end well. One of us was destined to die today.

“Step away, Adrian, or I swear to God, I will blow his brains out!”

“You won’t hurt him!”

“Step away!!” Rico screamed again, his voice a raw eruption of rage.

Before I could process the moment, the gunshot rang out, piercing the silence. Everything slowed to a crawl. I saw the bullet as it hurtled toward its target… toward Stefan. A scream tore from my throat as I lunged forward, but I was too slow.

In an act of sheer bravery, Marco dove sideways, positioning himself in the line of fire, arms outstretched. The bullet struck him, a sickening sound echoing as it penetrated his stomach, and he collapsed to the ground.

The following moments blurred into chaos. I pressed my finger against the trigger of my gun, firing shots into the fray as Rico and his men retaliated. I ducked instinctively, praying that none of the bullets found their mark. By some miracle, they didn’t.

When I finally opened my eyes, Rico and his men lay sprawled on the floor, lifeless. Blood painted the walls and splattered across my body. Rico’s form lay motionless, riddled with a multitude of bullet wounds.

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