“How long are we going to wait?”
I mutter the words to Emil as we sit in the car, staring toward the townhouse where Katie is being kept—and feeling utterly useless as I wait to make a move.
Emil and I had been taking shifts watching over the place where she was being held, the compound in the woods. A few men had come and gone over the last day or so, but we hadn’t laid eyes on Katie, or any women, actually. I knew they were being kept inside, away from the prying eyes of the rest of the world, but holding the line and making sure I didn’t get too close was next to impossible when I knew Katie is in there, stuck, probably worried nobody was going to come for her.
As if I would ever let that happen. In between the hours I’ve spent looking after Polly, that’s all I’ve been able to think about, getting her back, finding some way to draw her from the grasp of those Maglione assholes. My mind has been reeling with the thought of everything she might be going through, trying to make sense of how I’m going to get her out—but when we saw movement at the compound this morning, everything fell into place.
I had been half-asleep in the front of the car when I heard the doors open—we had microphones set up around the place, so we could keep our distance but potentially catch any conversation that was going on between the guards when they were out on their smoke breaks, but I woke to the clang of the doors and then the sound of an engine.
I called Emil at once, pulling him out of his slumber and dragging him across to join me, just as a white van pulled out of the compound and hit the road. We gave it a few minutes, then took off in hot pursuit, not wanting to let them get too far ahead of us.
“Where do you think they’re going?” Emil asked me, as we kept our gazes fixed on the van a few vehicles ahead of us.
I shook my head. “No idea,” I replied grimly. “But I get the feeling Katie is in there…”
And soon enough, I was proved right, as we pulled up down the street from the van and watched from afar as she was bundled out of the back. Seeing her like that was almost too much for me—it felt impossible to keep my distance for a moment longer, knowing what she was going through, knowing what she was contending with.
She doesn’t deserve to be part of this mess, and yet, as she stumbled out of the car, all I wanted in the world was to pull her into my arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay…
“Hold it together,” Emil muttered to me, and I gritted my teeth and did as I was told. He was right, of course—I need to hold my shit in line if we’re going to make this happen. I gripped the steering wheel tighter, not moving my eyes from her, silently hoping she could sense that I was close, and that I’m going to get her out.
She was led inside the house, and Emil and I have been watching in tense silence for a little while now.
“Who do you think is in there?” I mutter to him, and Emil shakes his head.
“I don’t know,” he confesses. “It could be…”
“It could be him,” I finish. Because I know he understands exactly who I’m talking about—we both do. The one person we want to wipe off the face of the earth.
The one person I don’t want her anywhere near.
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Emil agrees grimly. “Doesn’t make sense for it to be anyone else. He knows she’ll have some kind of information—something on you he can use…”
He pauses for a moment, shooting a look over at me. “You think she’ll talk?”
I tense my jaw. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. She’s smarter than that…”
“It’s not about being smart, not in a situation like this,” he replies. “The fear gets to you, fast. There’s no way to tell she won’t fall for it and give him everything he wants…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I grunt back at him. And still, despite everything he’s saying to me—I don’t want to believe it. I don’t believe she would be foolish enough to tell them anything. She must know it’s the only thing keeping her alive, at least, as long as it takes for us to get her out of there. If she speaks the truth, she risks losing the one bit of leverage she has over him, and I just have to pray to fucking God she can see that…
“I’m going to drive around the block,” Emil replies, changing the subject slightly. “See how many guards are on at this place, how much we have to deal with…”
I nod, my mind still stuck on her and everything she must be going through right now, as Emil pulls away from the curb and starts to circle the block.
There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of men outside the house itself—in an area like this, I guess it would make things a little too obvious if they were staking out what looks to the naked eye like any normal townhouse. I suppose they have most of their men sequestered away at their compounds, to protect the women they see as their product—they probably think nobody would be stupid enough to make a move against the damn boss like this.
“The back entrance,” Emil mutters, narrowing his eyes toward the back of the house. “Looks like there’s nobody on it…”
“No, look, there’s one guy,” I reply, nodding toward the movement that has suddenly occurred behind the glass.
“One guy,” Emil repeats, as though he’s testing the way it feels on his tongue. “I think we can take one guy….”
“Pull over,” I tell him, reaching into the glove box to grab my gun. “We need to make a move. Now.”
“But we haven’t got any idea what could be going on in there—”
“You said it yourself—we can take one guy,” I remind him, throwing open the door before the car has fully come to a halt. “Once we’re in there, we can take it as it comes. They won’t have time to prepare or send backup. And besides, the longer Katie’s in there…” I trail off. I can hardly bring myself to finish that sentence as it is, but I’m even less willing to stand aside and let her face off against whatever’s waiting for us in there alone.
Emil climbs out of the car, his gun in his hand, lowered to his waist so it doesn’t draw too much attention. I know it’s not exactly possible for us to slip entirely under the radar, doing something like this, but the less warning they have, the better. I don’t want the neighbors to alert the cops—I don’t know whose pocket they’re in when it comes to this city, and I’m not risking finding out it’s the Magliones.
We make our way toward the house, keeping low, darting from building to building for cover. The sunlight blares down from overhead, offering little in the way of shadows to hide in. I keep my eyes pinned to the house, taking in any movement I can see, peering through the windows for some sight of Katie. I don’t know what the chances are that we’re going to get her out of here—but I’m willing to put my life on the line to try.
Finally, we reach the back gate of the house. It’s locked, but Emil gives me a boost to climb over it, and I reach back to pull him up. We land in a cluster of thorny bushes, and I extricate myself quickly, pressing my lips together to hold in the groans of pain that threaten to escape.
“Jesus,” Emil mutters as he brushes himself off. And then he turns his attention toward the house—his mouth is set in a hard line, his shoulders tense, and I can tell that he’s searching for any way out of this.
“Ready?” I ask him.
He nods. “What’s the plan?”
“We go in through the back entrance. Take out the guard on the door, then we’ll spread out. You upstairs, me downstairs—if the ground floor is too big, I’ll go left, you go right. Search through the house until you find Katie.”
“Or until one of us gets killed.”
His words are grim, but not entirely unwarranted.
“We can’t think like that,” I counter. “Just keep pushing. We’ve dealt with worse before.”
I’m not sure I’m telling the truth, but I don’t have time to get hung up on that right now. I check that my gun is loaded to the brim, and without another word, I cut across the open expanse of the lawn and to the back door.
I watch the windows to see if there’s anyone up there, watching us—maybe even a camera blinking in the light to announce its presence. But there’s nothing, nothing that I can see, and I wave to call Emil along behind me. He catches up at once, and the two of us pause outside the back door. We lock eyes, and he nods—and I lift my foot and slam it into the paneled wood, sending a shuddering crack through the whole wall.
“Someone will have heard that,” Emil mutters, as I pull my foot back and land another blow against the door. It buckles again, a loud splintering sound emerging from the straining wood, and I try one more kick—and it flies open.
But as soon as it’s off its hinges, we’re faced with another problem. Three guards—the one who was on the door, and two others who must have heard us making our entrance. I lift my gun and fire a shot at the one closest to us, hitting him point-blank in the chest and sending him smashing into the opposite wall. Emil moves to my side, leveling his weapon and firing two shots, one after the other.
The first hits one of the advancing guards in the shoulder, and he grunts, his arm twisting back painfully—but the other flies over his head, leaving us with another guard to deal with.
This one lunges toward Emil, trying to knock the gun out of his hand, but Emil sidesteps and sends him sprawling over the threshold of the door we just took off its hinges. I turn to fire off a shot and get him in the leg, drawing a howl of pain from between his lips.
Turning to Emil, I grit my teeth. “Split up. Upstairs, I’ll take down. Go. Now!”
He doesn’t wait for another command—he takes off toward the stairs that are visible through the open door of the kitchen. A couple of men have already found their way there to block him, and one brandishes a knife as Emil rushes him.
“Over here!” Emil yells, drawing the man’s attention—and he looks over, giving me just enough time to shoot him before Emil reaches him. He knocks the man behind him onto the stairs, and Emil pounces on the knife, snatching it up and driving it roughly into his chest before he takes off up the stairs.
All I can hear is the blood pumping in my veins, the adrenaline coursing through my system—but I know I need to act fast. Now that things have kicked off, it will only be a matter of time before all of Maglione’s men descend on this place, and I want to be as far away from here as I can be by the time that happens.
Preferably with Katie at my side.
I search the living room and kitchen, calling out her name—no point playing it stealthy now. Five guards down, but how many more might there be? That could be it…or, there could be someone else, someone who’s taking their time and stalking us until they can pick us off, one by one.
I notice a door next to the kitchen—a lock hangs open on it, and I push it open. But before I can so much as get a look at what’s happening down there, a man barrels out of the darkness toward me.
He knocks me off my feet, sending me crashing to the ground with a grunt. I wriggle out from underneath him before he can get a grip on me, scrabbling back and pulling myself to my feet. Before he can stand up to face me, I slam a kick into his face, and he flies sideways.
A pool of blood smears on the ground as his nose begins to bleed profusely. I’m breathing hard, my gun knocked out of my pants, with nothing more than my fists to rely on. But I am handy in a fight, and I’ll be damned if I let this fucker stop me getting what I—
“Help! Help!”
As soon as I hear the voice, I freeze. It’s her—it’s Katie, I’m sure of it. I look past the man, who is dragging himself upright once more, and realize that the door leads down some stairs and to a basement. They must be keeping her in there. For what? My mind flares with rage, and I throw myself at the man before he can pull himself together again.
I knock him into the stairs, and he slides down onto the floor. I kneel on top of him and begin landing blows on his face, sending blood spraying this way and that. I don’t know how long I’m working on him, but it doesn’t matter. All I can think about is making him pay for whatever he’s done to Katie, and making it so he can’t get in the way of the rescue I’m about to make.
Finally, I draw back, my chest heaving, my knuckles bloody and aching, and rise to my feet.
“Katie!” I yell. “Where are you…?”
And then I see her—she’s crawling up the staircase and toward the open door, her eyes wide and ringed with dark circles, her hair a mess, her skin smeared with dirt and other marks. Some of them look like bruises.
I drop to my knees and pull her into my arms, and she grabs hold of me like she never wants to let me go, burying her head into my shoulder. Her body is wracked with sobs, her entire system giving in as she realizes she’s safe. I hold her there, squeezing her against me, letting her cling to me as though it’s the only thing left in the world that matters.
“Hey, hey, you’re okay,” I promise her, planting a kiss against her head. “It’s over now. You have nothing else to be scared of…”
“Polly,” she gasps, as she lifts her head to look at me. “Is Polly okay?”
“Polly’s okay,” I promise her, and she breaks down into a fresh wave of tears. I rub her back and turn to look toward the stairs, wondering how much longer Emil is going to be—wondering how long I should leave it before I go up there to help him. My brother is a capable fighter in his own right, but that doesn’t mean I want to leave him to the mercy of these people for too long.
And then I hear a voice from the top of the stairs.
“Look who I found, Luca.”
I glance up, and there’s my brother—but he’s not alone. No, he has been joined by the leader of the Maglione family, Paulo, and it’s clear Emil has no intention of letting him call the shots. He has his gun pressed into Paulo’s side, the muzzle of it digging into his ribs, as Emil marches him down the stairs and toward me.
Katie looks up, and when she sees them approaching us, she draws into me fearfully—I keep my arms wrapped around her tight, whispering quiet reassurances as he draws closer.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Maglione spits as he reaches me.
I rise to my feet, taking the gun from Emil. Seeing Katie like this, seeing her so hurt and scared after the nightmare he put her through, has left me with no more patience for this man. I am going to make him pay for what he’s done. Not just to her, but to everyone—to my family, to the women he’s hurt, to the communities he has ripped apart with his selfish lust for money and power. I am going to bring this to an end, here and now, and I am going to look him in the eye when I do it.
“You took the mother of my child,” I tell him simply as I press my finger down on the trigger. “You really thought I’d let that happen?”
And as he looks back at me, for a moment, I can see the regret in his eyes. He didn’t think it would come to this. He thought he would be able to get away with pulling something this foul, this twisted—he thought I would just let him take her from me, because I’ve never cared enough about a woman to stick around for so much as a second date.
But this is Katie. This is different. And this is the price he has to pay for it.
I pull the trigger—the sound of the shot rings in my ears as he drops to the ground, and behind me, I can hear Katie breathing hard. Emil takes the gun from me, and I drop down to my knees once more, wrapping her up tight in my arms.
“It’s okay,” I repeat to her as I rock her back and forth in my grip. It’s over now. All of it. The threat against my family, everything—everything that has been keeping me here.
But right now, all I care about is getting Katie back to our daughter. And showing her that I’m serious when I say I will do whatever it takes to keep them safe.
