Dom, the captain of the guards, on the other hand, would be a huge issue. He terrified me. An ex-boxer, the man was mammoth with muscle stacked on muscle. His intimidating persona was complete with cauliflower ears impossible not to fixate on, just like a bad car crash. I hoped that he wouldn’t be there. It was likely that he was at least somewhere inside the club.
We had SUVs that contained our small army parked everywhere, complete with soldiers and enough room to transport whoever was inside. My stomach rolled at the thought of going back into the basement, especially the room where both my mom and I had been placed.
I wanted revenge.
Nico and I shared a look. He gave me a small nod. It seemed like a lifetime ago when I’d told him that I saw the real him, who he really was. And with that one intense acknowledgment, I knew he was conveying the same thing. My nerves dissipated—his conviction and unconditional support soothed me.
I let go of my concerns and took in the space around us. New York truly was the city that never slept. There were people everywhere–—thankfully not in the dimly lit back alley. Still, they helped to camouflage us as we waited for the signal from Tony that he’d neutralized the guards. And while Adriano had wanted to shoot them from a nearby building, the Chicago guys had vetoed it, preferring to go in quietly.
Puffs of fog formed in front of us as our breath mixed with the cold air. The chill settled into my bones, and I shifted from foot to foot before Nico pulled me into his arms, my back to his chest, to share his heat. We’d worn insulated coats that were thin and flexible enough not to deter our movements. We’d strapped guns beneath the jackets in shoulder holsters and waistbands, shoving extra magazines into every available pocket. Emiliana had gifted me a cool spring-loaded arm sheath that would release the knife it held with a flick of my wrist. And I wanted to use it. Badly. She’d shown me her badass sleek, old-world Karambit knives that would carve some serious damage from our enemies.
Ricco and Joey were my targets. I wasn’t picky. Either one would do.
I felt Nico stiffen, and my focus flew to the back door where Tony was headed, and a small group of men had just been admitted. When he reached the lone guard, he flicked his lit cigarette to the ground. A flash of silver glinted as he arced his hand back, connecting with the soldier’s throat as Adriano shot out the camera. Tony caught the man before he fell. It was almost too easy, and I could tell by the way Nico waited another half a second that he’d thought the same thing.
Tony slung his arm around the man to support his weight while he bled out then half dragged him to a nearby dumpster. A group of our soldiers strolled by and covered Tony’s actions as he shoved the almost-dead man behind it.
We were cleared to move. Nico and I were first. Everyone else would trickle in, going in different directions and taking multiple exit paths from the club with the victims, which we hoped would lessen the chances of an ambush of guards. They, too, would be forced to split up and weave through the crowds inside. A majority of our guards would remain outside, keeping the perimeter secure so that no one entered through the back or the side doors, which were too visible for our primary entry point.
Nico and I walked along the alleyway to the door. An overhead light shone in a semicircle around it, and we stopped under the dim glow. I punched the code into the panel on the left of the door to unlock it, praying they hadn’t changed it from the last time I’d spied on the soldiers coming and going.
When the lock slid free, I breathed a sigh of relief then drew my gun, letting it lead the way beside Nico’s. A slight scuff sounded behind me, but I didn’t turn. It was the others. I led Nico down the same stairwell I’d raced through when I’d fled the building. Nico and Sofia would be taking the elevator and another hallway, as would the rest of the Chicago Mafia, Dante, and Cal. Adriano was stationed outside with his sniper rifle.
Our descent was silent, the sounds from the club muted as we hurried to the lower level. Nico took point at our entry, his hand easing the steel door open. Low murmurs of men filtered through, and I blocked out what I knew was happening.
I waited in the stairwell as the door clicked shut behind him. Even with the scuffle muffled, my heart rate increased. We’d known someone would be on guard there, and Nico had insisted on neutralizing them before I came through.
I leaned back on the railing and looked up, making sure no one else was coming. When the door opened and I saw it was Nico, I lowered my gun. After I eased through the entrance, he stuffed the body off to the side in the stairwell while I kept watch.
Then we were both in the hallway. There were cameras in the corners. Nico shot them as we went forward, blowing our cover—but it was necessary. I led the way to the wing we were in charge of liberating. We’d used Dante’s blueprints to assign who would be where. Voices filtered down the hall, and Nico and I raced to intercept as two men rounded the corner.
One was short and burly, odd-looking next to his lean counterpart. Shock registered on their faces as they reached for their guns. My finger squeezed the trigger once for the heart then higher. A small hole formed in the center of the shorter man’s forehead before he crumpled to the ground. Nico had disposed of the taller one.
We raced forward, only stopping to swipe keys from one of the guards. We could open the doors more quickly that way. We stepped over the corpses then rounded the corner to the wing where I’d been held. A few men were leaving rooms, and we quickly disposed of them. There were no windows on the steel doors. I took the right, struggling to find the correct keys to turn the locks, and he got to work on the left side.
The next fifteen minutes were straight out of a horror show as we found the women locked away in various states of abuse. Few had clothes. Most were bruised and bloody. Ten of the rooms were occupied, two of them with men inside too. The men’s deaths were too quick for my liking, but we needed to get the women to safety.
Tears pricked my eyes as I slid my arm around a young woman who was barely conscious. The ones who were strong enough helped the others. Somehow, we made it back to the stairwell with our precious cargo in tow.
As we waited while Nico made a call, I glanced down another hallway to see Emiliana wielding curved and bloody blades, slicing her way through more of the depraved men and soldiers who were down her and Stefano’s wing to clear.
“We need a pickup. Rear door.” Nico’s voice snapped me back to the present, and I slammed a wall on my emotions.
In the few minutes we had been inside, the alarm had been raised, and soldiers poured into the bowels of the club. But we were ready. Gunshots rang out, and my pulse kicked up a notch with the urgency to liberate everyone who needed our help.
With great effort, I strained my muscles to work harder and faster to get the women to safety. It took five times as long to climb the stairs in their weakened state, but we made it. Tony was waiting in the alley, and the back doors of an SUV opened. It was freezing, and most of the women didn’t have clothes, but there was a stack of blankets waiting for them on one of the seats.
Nico and I helped them climb in while Tony stood guard. A shout rang out. I worked faster, practically shoving the woman I was helping to catch the brunette Nico had let go of as shots were fired. Three women were stuck in the building and paused at the opened door. Eyes wide, they looked to me as if begging me to tell them what to do. Nico had moved forward to engage.
I motioned for them to stay where they were then peeked through the car window as five guards, including Dom, barreled down on us. Adriano picked off one after another, but he wasn’t in a position to cover the entire alleyway. A small section that would be blind, which he’d warned us about when we’d gone over the blueprints. Dom dashed forward.
More shouts drew my focus to the building. Three men burst from the stairwell, guns aimed at the women hovering by the door. One rushed forward. Bullets peppered the ground. She stumbled as the other two ducked then collapsed inches from me. In rapid succession, I squeezed the trigger, hitting two men, but one advanced.
Glass shattered. I had to bend down, using the steel door as cover. Fractured shards rained on my head. Our guards swarmed seconds after the first shot was fired, but the damage had been done. The girl who had dashed forward was lying dead at my feet. The other two were coated in splatters of blood that I hoped wasn’t theirs. Someone put down the last guard before he could do any more damage. All three lay in heaps inside. I stepped forward, free from the door to block for the girls. “Run!”
They hesitated, and Dom advanced, dropping one of the men he’d used as a human shield to fire repeatedly at Nico and Tony.
“No!” I couldn’t help the scream that tore through my throat as one of Dom’s bullets found its intended target. My mind played tricks on me, and I couldn’t tell which one of our guys had fallen.