I’d made my way down to the lower level as soon as the fight started, checked on the bookies, and went over the bets.
The house was set to make good fucking change tonight.
I made my way over to the cage just as D'yavol climbed down. He didn’t give two shits about the corpse he’d just delivered to the spectators. The guy was a fucking brutal beast.
He was certainly living up to his name, that was for fucking sure.
I looked over to where all the bookies were huddled. I was about to turn back around to D'yavol when I caught shifty fucking eyes from two of my men. They were off to the side, heads bent low as they spoke, their mouths moving quickly, their eyes staring toward the main entrance of the underground.
Instantly my hackles rose, and instinct told me shit wasn’t right.
I was about to take a step toward them and see what the hell was going on when suddenly they hauled ass in the other direction, toward one of the back entrances.
That was when all hell broke loose.
I looked at the main entrance just as the metal door flung open, SWAT member after SWAT member filing in. Their guns were raised as they swept the room and shouted orders. The crowd went fucking crazy, running in all different directions, pushing and shoving to flee.
I looked over at D'yavol, who stood staring at the police filing in. Although I couldn’t see the lower part of his face because of the mask, his brows were low, and pure, unadulterated hatred spewed from him.
He lifted both of his arms, his knuckles bloody and torn open from beating the shit out of the other man, his chest covered in splatters of blood and mixing with his tattoos. He gave the cops both middle fingers.
He looked at me, his eyes creasing at the corners as he clearly grinned, and then he turned and left. He shoved people out of the way so violently they were tossed to the ground, trampled on by the chaos.
It was a straight-up clusterfuck, and being in the center of the room meant I was locked deep in a sea of bodies, all trying to do the same thing.
Save their own fucking necks.
I looked down, saw pinpoint red lights centered on my chest, and sighed, lifting my hands.
“Fuck.”
“Hands in the air, asshole.”
Well, shit.
Chapter 12
Claudia
“Fuck.”
I bolted up in bed, that lone curse word having been shouted so loudly it jolted me from a restless sleep.
I could hear deep voices through the walls but couldn’t make out what was said. A second later there was a hard pounding on my door. I pulled the blanket up to my chin just as it was pushed open and Amadeo strode in.
“What’s going on?”
He had his hand at his side, and I knew he was seconds away from pulling his gun out.
“Amadeo,” I snapped in a panicked voice, and he stopped to look at me. “What is going on?”
More voices were growing louder, and I pushed the blankets off and threw on the same oversize sweater and sweats that I’d worn the previous morning at breakfast.
“Things went down with the Bratva. There was a raid on one of their businesses.” Amadeo ran his hand over his hair, looking stressed. He pulled his cell phone out and started punching a number.
I knew he was calling Gio. I also knew there was more than he was telling me. I’d been around the mafia my entire life, and a simple raid wasn’t going to cause this much chaos.
I wrapped my arms around myself, wanting to go check on Amara, but Amadeo was blocking the door.
When he clearly couldn’t get ahold of Gio, he growled low and punched in another number. After a second he started speaking rapid Italian while pacing the length of the room.
It was when he was several feet from the door that I started forward and opened it, tearing off toward where the voices were coming from and hearing Amadeo shout my name in frustration.
I came to a sudden stop when I got to the living room. It was filled with dangerous-looking men covered in tattoos and dressed in black clothing.
I searched for Amara, spotting her standing beside Nikolai in the kitchen.
He kept his body in front of hers as he spoke on the phone, his words low but his expression fierce. When Amara saw me, she covered her mouth with a hand and held her other hand out to me.
She was going to come to me when Nikolai threw an arm out, barring her and then looking over at her and shaking his head. Apparently even with a roomful of his men, he was still an overbearing, protective ass.
But I was already moving forward and pushing Nikolai’s arm out of the way with a force that surprised even myself. I threw my arms around Amara and hugged her tightly.