Chapter 34
Lucas
One Month Later
Despite Nico’s fears, Carmine and Adrian hadn’t found us yet. We’ve also switched up our tactics. We were no longer going for nothing but hit and runs. Where we could, we tempted men out from under Carmine. Some loyalties still ran deep, and we maintained a delicate balance of power that kept us from being totally overwhelmed. So far, that was enough to keep both sides from launching a true offensive. We were staring across the lines, and occasionally reminding the other side that we were still around.
Tonight was one such night.
I kept my hand on my gun as I watched the men move forward, the rain falling all around us. My entire body was soaked through, and Emil had more than once offered to hold an umbrella over my head. He got the middle finger in return, which only had him chuckling as he walked away.
In truth, I was miserable. All I could think about was the warmth of the little home I made with Leda, how my numb limbs would slowly regain feeling. Well, that and a good strong glass of whiskey.
Maybe the leftover Chinese we had in the fridge, too, if Leda hadn’t eaten it all. She had begged me to go and get some food from the Wongs yesterday, and hell, I couldn’t deny her anything.
Mainly because a pissed-off pregnant woman wasn’t what anyone wanted to see.
“Are you going to stand there all day, or do you want in on this raid?”
Turning to Emil, I shot him a grin. “Just thinking about how fucking miserable this is.”
Of course, there was still the plan that Nico wanted to enact: either he or Leda would be bait in order to draw Carmine out. But I would not allow it. I couldn’t.
He chuckled. “Yeah, but raids don’t pick the weather, you know.”
I rolled my shoulders and checked my weapon once more, feeling the all too familiar rush of excitement trickle through my veins. At first Leda had balked at me coming tonight. In fact, she had put her foot down and threatened me with bodily harm before dissolving into tears. That was how her emotions were these days.
All over the fucking place.
After some reassurance that I was going to be perfectly fine and my promise to come back to her in one piece, she had let me go. Leda wasn’t happy about it, that was for sure, and I would need to spend the rest of the night making it up to her when I got back.
I knew her fear. Any time I wasn’t with her, I worried about her constantly, even knowing that I had left her with more men than usual.
But the longer this war of attrition went on, the louder the grumblings got. The men who defected from Carmine and Adrian told us that within their ranks, people were already wondering if they backed the right horse. But from our side, more and more people were talking about what would happen after the war was over.
If we were victorious, there would have to be a hell of a lot of discussion about how to split the Mafias up again. After all, we were once all enemies. Right now, we had a common goal. But what would happen after that goal was achieved?
I moved forward, but Emil put his hand on my arm. “Second wave, remember? I don’t want your pregnant woman coming after me because I got your dumb ass killed.”
Yet another promise I had made to her. “Fine,” I ground out, clenching my jaw. I couldn’t be part of the first wave, though deep down I wanted to run into the gunfire, to see if maybe tonight I would get lucky and find Adrian inside.
Cosimo was probably rolling over in his grave, knowing that a woman was dictating my moves now.
Gunfire erupted from inside, and I glanced over at Emil. “Now?” I asked, arching a brow.
“Yeah,” he grumbled, pulling the rifle off his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
I grinned and followed behind him, my gun close to me. I was heavily armed, with knives sheathed in the usual hiding places on my clothing and a lightweight Kevlar vest under my suit coat. There was a gun tucked at my back and two more in the shoulder holsters under my arms. I was a walking armory and wanted to use them all. It had been too fucking long since I had fired a weapon or killed a man.
I craved for blood to be spilled, though I wouldn’t tell Leda that. She would never let me out of her sight again.
Fuck, I was such a sheltered man now.
Ducking low, I followed Emil through the broken metal doors that had been blown apart moments before, my boots crunching on the shattered glass that had once been the mirrors lining the hallway. I had been in the club once, years ago, considering it had been mine before this fucking sudden takeover.
The Mirror Club was located in Chelsea. While ordinary clubgoers enjoyed the mirrored dance floor and DJ, the VIP room that operated out of the back was what really pulled the money in. Each room had complete privacy. Behind those closed doors, drugs, money, and girls flowed like water.
When I had heard that Adrian had been in attendance for the last few nights, having taken a shine to one of the girls, I’d convinced Leda that this was the next place to hit.