“Fuck no,” I hiss. “If it were, I wouldn’t be losing my fucking mind over the fact she’s gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?” he asks, and there’s no anger or malice in his voice. He’s merely curious.
“She was skittish. She didn’t want this. Didn’t want anything to do with me. But fuck, Rome, I tried staying away, but I couldn’t. She’s not like anyone else. I promised her I’d be back, that I’d return to her in a week, and now it’s been almost two months since I was back there. I had Thomas check up on her.” I grit my teeth, my anger at the situation raw and explosive. I should have known she’d run. I should have prepared for that possibility.
“What happened?”
“She left,” I tell him. The anger in my voice is filled with bitterness. “She packed up her shit and left.”
“You have no idea where she is?”
I shake my head. “Right now, my focus is on this family. I’ve let you all down before. I’m not about to do the same again. So when this situation with these fucking Serbs is done, I’m making my way to Denver and finding out what the fuck happened.”
“I’m coming with,” he tells me, and I turn to look at him. “You’re different,” he says. “Since you came back, everyone wasworried because you were more focused, more energized. I get it now. Your woman—that’s why you changed. It happens. You find the one you want, the woman who means the fucking most, and you become more focused, so you can be with her. She saved you, Ales. That means I owe her. So I’m going to help you find her.”
I heave in a deep breath, letting the air fill my lungs. For the first time since I found out Gabriella was gone, I finally feel relief. “I doubt Dante and Makenna will feel the same.”
He shrugs. “They don’t have to know. Not right now.”
I smile. My brother is the fucking shit.
“Once these fuckers are dealt with, me, you, and Holly are taking a trip to Denver.”
I chuckle. He thinks I’m stupid. Him bringing Holly will be his way of trying to get more information from me. Holly is tenacious at the best of times, but once she gets a bee in her bonnet, she won’t stop until she has every scrap of information.
A low whistle goes through the air, the breeze carrying it toward us. I reach for my gun, Romero doing the same. Pyro and Shadow move through the night, into position. I hold my ground, keeping my gaze firmly on the compound exit.
Three.
I straighten my shoulders. We’re almost there.
Two.
Get this done and go find Gabriella.
One.
I raise my gun, my finger hovering over the trigger.
Boom.
The ground beneath my feet shakes with the force of the explosion. The compound explodes, and shards of glass and debris skyrocket through the air as smoke and fire bellow from the building. Screams fill the silence, and I smile. There arepeople alive. Good. They’re about to find out what we’ve got planned for them.
A shadow emerges from the rubble, and I don’t hesitate. My finger squeezes the trigger. My bullet sails through the air and sinks into the fucker’s head. The bastard thought he tasted freedom. Unfortunately for him, it was short-lived.
I hear gun after gun sound as the rest of the family picks off the survivors.
“Ready?” Rome asks with a grin.
I nod and we step out of the shadows and move toward the compound. It’s time to ensure there’s no one else alive. Although, judging by how much this building is burning, I highly doubt anyone is. Pyro did his job—hence his name. The man’s a fucking pyromaniac. He loves playing with fire. If there are any survivors, they’ll be heavily burnt and may not even survive the night.
There’s not an ounce of sorrow for any of those who lost their lives here tonight, just as they didn’t have any for those innocent people they killed in our club. If you’re going to come after us—do that. Don’t direct your anger at innocent bystanders. It’s the coward's way out.
The heat of the inferno is hot against my skin, but I grin and bear it as I move around the fallen compound, my gun trained, ready for me to fire if anyone should happen to be alive.
“I think we’re good,” Dante says as he steps up to Rome and me. “No one is getting out of here alive, and if they are, they won’t be in much shape to fuck with us.”
“Time to go home and party,” Ace shouts. The rest of his brothers hoot and holler. Those guys love any excuse to throw a damn party. “If anyone is alive, there’ll be only a few. They can’t do anything. We’ll take them out before they can even blink.”