“Coming through on our end of the deal,” Roman says from up ahead. “Now hurry up, we don’t have time to fuck around.”
My brows furrow and the boys pick up their pace. I try to keep up with them and Marcus scoops me up so I don’t get left behind. Then all too soon, they come to a stop outside an old door. Roman glances back at his brothers. “We get the drop on him. Make it fast.”
They nod and I swallow hard. “And me?” I breathe.
“Stay the fuck out of the way.”
That I can do. In fact, that I am very good at.
The door is opened just a sliver and the boys slip out the small opening as I follow behind them. We come out at the side of the property into the dark night, and I hear the hushed conversations of the boys’ family making their hasty escapes.
“There,” Levi says, nodding up ahead.
I follow his gaze to where Louis scurries away from the mansion, practically bolting to his car in order to get out of here with his life. Beyond him are Victor’s four remaining sons, waiting in anticipation. What better opportunity to take him out than now?
Roman grins and pulls his gun before twisting the silencer onto the top, not wanting to alert the other scattering family members. He holds up the gun, and without skipping a beat, takes a clear shot straight through the back of Louis’ hand as he reaches for his car door.
He cries out, roaring in pain as his head whips around, searching for the threat. His eyes are wide and fearful but there’s a dark edge hidden beneath the surface, reminding me of what the boys said months ago—Louis DeAngelis is just like them. He’s a fighter, he’s wild and unpredictable. Lethal. He needs to be pushed to the breaking point, and when he is, he turns as easily as if someone had flipped a switch.
If anyone hears his cry, they don’t look this way, trusting their basic instincts to keep moving.
The boys spring into action racing in after him as he’s blinded by the pain. They’re on him in seconds, and even with his hand out of action, he’s still able to fight back. He’s weak, and as he gets in a few punches, I realize the boys are only playing with him. I’ve seen them fight more than I care to admit, and this here is about proving a point.
Levi cuts in front of his brothers, grabbing Louis by his bad hand and twisting it behind his back. He screams out as his nephew plasters himself to his back, leaving his body exposed to Roman and Marcus. “You won’t get away with this,” Louis spits, seeing they’re clearly done playing with him.
Nobody moves, but Louis screams out again, and I can only assume that Levi tightened his grip on his hand. “We already are, Uncle,” Marcus purrs. “Look around. No one is coming for you. They all want you dead just as much as we do. Where’s your precious leader now?”
Louis smirks, a secret playing in his eyes. “Yours is going to be the shortest reign ever lived,” he taunts them, groaning as Levi tears his arm further behind his back. “Turn around, assholes.”
My head whips around just as the brothers do, and I suck in a terrified gasp, seeing Giovanni standing at the top of the property, his eyes cast down on us with a fucking wall of soldiers at his back.
Terror flies through me as the boys stiffen, furious anger streaming through our veins. Roman roars, his hand flinching at his side before lashing out like lightning, a blade slicing straight through Louis’ throat.
Time slows as Levi releases his uncle, letting his body fall heavily to the ground. Someone races toward me as shouts are heard across the property, and I’m distantly aware of them coming from Victor’s sons. Something curls around my wrist and I’m tugged back inside the secret door before feet pound against the hard ground.
My pulse thunders heavily in my ears and as I try to keep up with the boys, I realize that tonight is the night I’ve feared for so long.
Tonight is war.
34
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” I chant, racing after the boys in a complete daze, my head whirling with the unknown while fear pulses heavily through my veins. We run back in through the dining room and past the foyer where Marcus pauses for a brief second, peering out through the window to check just how long we have.
“Two minutes tops,” he curses, pushing off the wall to propel himself back to his brother. “It’s gonna be fucking close.”
“Did anyone see my baby?” Roman throws over his shoulder as Levi barges past him to tear open the internal garage door.
Levi shakes his head as I try to think back to the image of his father standing over the hill. “I … I don’t know,” I rush out, storming into the garage behind the boys, unsure where to go or how I’m supposed to be helping them. “I only looked for a second. I … I don’t—”
“DID ANYBODY SEE MY FUCKING BABY?” Roman roars, cutting me off in his desperation.
“Didn’t see him, bro,” Marcus says, reaching a big metal door in the back of the garage as Levi slams his hand against a scanner. “But that doesn’t mean he’s not here.”
A green laser scans Levi’s fingerprints before I hear the heavy bolts clanking open and allowing them access. Roman reaches past Levi and grips the metal door before pulling it back to display rows upon rows of weapons. The boys don’t waste a second, barging into the armory and loading up with everything they can get their hands on. Automatic weapons hang over their shoulders as they shove handguns in the back of their pants. With pockets full of loaded magazines and long daggers protruding from their combat belts, they seem ready for anything.
I gape at the sight, disgustingly out of my league, but what choice do I have? It’s either fight or die running. There is no hiding out or cowering in a corner. It’s time to put everything the boys have taught me into practice and hope that the assholes Giovanni hired to fight his war are as stupid as they look, because the element of surprise is the only thing I’ve got going for me, and that surprise is going to expire quickly.
Having wasted too many precious seconds gaping at the armory, I race in after the boys and grab a belt, hastily fastening it around my hips. I grab guns and shove them deep into my belt before taking every knife I can find. I strap them to my thighs and even shove a few down the inside of my boots.