ChapterThree
Four figures moved into the room through the smoke. I didn’t know who they all were, but I knew Jasper like the back of my hand. White half masks identical to the one Nico threw at my feet covered their faces. From their builds and skin tone I was willing to make a guess that Angel, Dom, and Milo had stormed the fortress with my best friend and came to my rescue.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It meant I would owe them something. Jasper having the forethought to not attempt this endeavor on his own made me happy, but I didn’t like the thought of being indebted to the Santiago boys. It was too much like owing the kingpin himself. I’d worked diligently in keeping myself as separate from him as possible.
Milo being thrown in the mix scared the shit out of me. He wasn’t the type of person to run into a room guns ablazing. He was really the sit in the corner giving moral support type of person. All I could think about now was making sure he didn’t get himself hurt like trying to play the hero. I was going to beat the shit out of Jasper for letting him come.
In the blink of an eye everything changed. Nico and his boys were no longer surrounding me but standing between me and the intruders. I wasn’t sure if they were attempting to keep me from being rescued, or if they were trying to protect me from the unknown men. Either way it didn’t matter.
Fists were flying. Grunts of pain echoed through the small room. Bodies were being thrown out of the way so Jasper could open up space for Milo to make his way over to me. I could see the piercing blue of his eyes squint in anger at the small slashes Dante made across my skin. They’d hurt me and he was pissed.
The quick cut of a sharp knife severed the zip ties holding me to the chair. A firm hand pulled me onto my feet. I could see the turmoil in his eyes, and it cracked my heart just a little bit. I knew getting caught would break him. Especially if anything happened to me, but I didn’t think everything through fully. I didn’t really think about what it would mean to him to have me taken away from him. I knew we were friends now, but I didn’t believe it would wreck him so bad.
The warm skin of his palm pressed against the cold flesh of my cheek as he held my gaze.
“They hurt you,” Milo said through clenched teeth.
“I’m fine. Let’s just get out of here.” I didn’t want to spend too much time standing around with a bullet hole in my stomach and my ass hanging out. I wasn’t up to my full potential, and I couldn’t protect him or myself the way I normally would.
“Get your fucking hands off her,” Nico’s voice raged above the sounds in the room. Snatching my gaze away from Milo, I looked at him across the wall of muscles between us. Anger and what I could only assume was fear clouded his green eyes. His gaze bounced between me and the man holding onto me. With the masks in place, he couldn’t tell who he was. That gave me a little bit of peace. They’d already seen Jasper with me before, and that was enough to worry me. I didn’t need them making too many connections between me and Milo. They already knew about Alicen and Milo being friends. It wouldn’t be good for me to have too many people they could hold over me. It would give them too much power.
Power, I didn’t want them having. They had too much sway over me as it was.
I was already fighting myself about what to do with them. All my plans were falling apart because I couldn’t bring myself to hurt the Valentino boys. Not really.
I didn’t even have a chance to respond to Nico’s outburst before Jasper lifted his gun and aimed it at Nico’s head.
“You strapped her to a chair and cut her up. You have no right to tell me what to do.” His body was shaking with his anger. I could see his finger slowly squeezing the trigger of his gun, and my heart was pounding against my ribs. His eyes kept flicking over to where Milo was holding me up on unsteady legs with an arm around my waist. I was trying to stiffen my spine and seem more stable than I actually was, but it wasn’t working.
Jasper and I had done a lot of crazy shit over the years, but not once had he killed someone. I wasn’t about to let Nico be the first.
“Leave him.” I reached a hand out and wrapped it around his extended wrist and moved my body in front of him, blocking his view of the Valentino heir.
I could see Angel and Dom moving closer to us as I focused on Jasper. Milo moved to press against my back, silently giving me support to stand on my own feet. They weren’t going to like passing up the prime opportunity of taking out Gio’s heir or some of his boys, but no one was dying in this room. Not today.
“We need to get out of here. We don’t need to be caught in here. Take me home.” He didn’t respond to me at first. Worry began to swirl in the pit of my stomach. If he wouldn’t let go of that anger and walk out of this room on his own two feet I would have to take him down and have the Santiago boys carry him through the door.
Without a word the gun dropped back to his side and a quick nod of his head was all I got before he slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me towards the door. Angel and Dom kept themselves between us and the Valentino boys. No one was taking the chance they might attempt to keep us in that room with them.
“We’re not done with this conversation, Tora.” The deep growl of Cole’s sent a shiver across my skin. Now that they knew who I was and what I’d been doing, I knew I wouldn’t be escaping them. They knew where I lived, and unless I ran-which I had no intention of doing-they would come after me.
I’d be prepared when the time came. Now that everything was out in the open, I would have to reevaluate all my plans. Nothing happened the way I thought it would. It certainly hadn’t gone as smoothly as I’d planned, but I wasn’t going to give up. Not yet. I could still pull this off, but I would have to rethink how I was going about it.
“I have no doubt this isn’t over. Don’t think this changes anything. Tell your father I’m coming for him. If you get in my way, I won’t hesitate in taking you out.” My voice was even and cold as I spoke to Nico over my shoulder, and I tried to ignore the twist in my gut at the thought of hurting him. I couldn’t wrap my mind around hurting any of them, but I’d been working towards my revenge on Gio for a long time. I wouldn’t be giving it up for a few gorgeous faces and toned muscles.
Nothing else was said as Jasper and the boys moved me out of the room. It didn’t take long to move through the warehouse. Nico and his boys had kept me in a room in the back of the warehouse where they held their underground boxing matches. It made sense since they owned the building and wouldn’t have to worry about being interrupted in what they were doing to me. That also might be good news for me. It meant there was a chance that Gio wasn’t aware of me yet.
I wasn’t holding my breath that Nico wouldn't tell his father as soon as they left the warehouse. He wasn’t the type to keep anything from the family leader. However, Gio being in the dark right now gave me a little time to figure a few things out.
I also needed to speak to my uncle. If what Nico said was true, then I’d been chasing false intel. I’d wasted valuable time, and that pissed me off more than I could express.
Thinking about all the things I’d done over the last few months made my head hurt. My heart too. I didn’t enjoy killing people, but I tried not to let the deaths haunt me. It was just something I had to do so that I could get where I needed to go. If everything I thought I was working towards turns out to be a bunch of bullshit, I’m not sure how I’m going to handle it.