He’s nearly upon me, his limb a just few inches away, when Kai’s arm shoots over my shoulder. The barrel of his gun presses to the bridge of Lotario’s nose. “Back. Off.” “Nera?” Loratio goes still, his eyes cross, staring at the gun. “What’s go—” Kai pulls the gun away and backhands Lotario so hard, that the man ends up sprawled on the polished tile floor several feet away. “It’s Donna Leone to you,” Kai says, then fires his gun. Shards of slate explode from the spot next to Lotario’s hand. “Come any closer to her than ten feet, and that’s going to be your brain matter.”
