“Toby.” Mum’s soft voice filters through my ears, and it makes me relax even before she rests her hand on my shoulder.
She and Galen were up here in my flat waiting when we came to a dead end with the two cunts down there.
We left them for the night groaning in pain and coating the floor in their blood, letting them believe that their families would have a less-than-pleasant wake-up call in the morning if they didn’t come up with something we could use.
“We’ll find her.”
I release Theo with a shove, he falls back to the sofa as I wheel around on Mum.
“How?” I bark. “How the fuck are we going to find her? He could have taken her anywhere.”
My voice is loud and deadly, but she doesn’t so much as flinch.
“He’s not going to leave quietly,” she tells me, her voice even and steady as if she knows this for a fact. Which of course, she doesn’t. But she’s put up with enough of his bullshit over the years to know how he works. Hell, I should know this too, but the only thing I’m capable of right now is fear. Bone-chilling fucking fear that he’s going to hurt my girl.
I used her against him. And now he’s going to repay the favour.
“He was always about the glory, the gloating. He won’t leave until he’s twisted that blade he pushed through our hearts all those years ago.”
I fight to drag in the air I need as the meaning behind her words hits me square in the chest.
“If he hurts her—”
“We will find him, Toby. And we will kill him before he gets the chance.”
“What if we don’t?” I ask, my voice weak and terrified.
“We will,” Stella says, stepping up beside me and wrapping her arm around my waist as Galen comes to stand beside Mum.
“We’re all behind you, Son,” he says, not helping the unrelenting ache in my chest. “He will not beat us now,” he promises me.
My fists curl at my sides. Barely restrained anger surges through me, locking my muscles up tight as movement behind Mum’s shoulder catches my eye.
“This is cute and all, but Toby needs to come with me,” Nico states, able to see what the others fail to.
“Where are you going?” Stella asks, totally affronted.
“Don’t worry your tits over it, Princess. I’ll keep him safe. Call us if anything happens and we’ll be straight back up,” he says with a smile. “Go get changed,” he tells me before pulling his phone from his pocket.
Silence falls around the room, and it’s everything I need to know that I can’t stay in here with this oppressive tension weighing down on me.
Stepping forward, I wrap my arms around Mum, breathing in her scent and praying that the words she just said to me are true and we’ll figure out his next move before it’s too late.
In only minutes, I have a pair of sweats on and a tank, and I’m jogging down the stairs to our basement gym right behind Nico while the others continue trying to figure shit out in my flat.
Damien and Charon have gone to meet Evan and Stefanos to fill them in on what’s happening. Stefanos has been heading up the intel with the Italians since they tried encroaching on our territory on their side of the city before Christmas. So if they’ve left any loose thread with this, then he should be able to pull it and watch it unravel.
It’s not a real surprise that they’re in bed with Jonas. They were the ones who started the fire that fight night, claiming that it was a direct order from us. Or whatever bullshit they tried to spew. They tried to warn us that night that we had a snake in our Family—little did we know just how fucking slippery he would turn out to be.
The second we push through the doors to the gym, Nico selects a playlist on his phone and jumps into the ring, holding his arms out at his sides.
“Bring it on, baby,” he taunts, making me see red with just those four words.
With a loud roar that I’m sure any wild animal would be proud of, I fly at him, pummelling my fists into any bit of his body he leaves unprotected. His returning blows are just as brutal, but I use the pain he leaves me in to fuel my movements. Acting on instinct, using the skills I was taught from such a young age that they’re now almost as natural as breathing, allows me to empty my mind, to push the worst of the anger and desperation out for just a short while.
I have no idea how long we fight for, but when Nico’s ringtone fills the space around us, I’ve got sweat pouring from my body and blood dripping from my fists, I’m sure covering almost every inch of my body.
“Break,” Nico barks, wiping his brow with his arms and ducking under the ropes to answer his phone.