Chapter 16 Eli
Chapter sixteen
Eli
“Three… Two… One.” Alex stares down at his phone and then looks up at Vin and me with a grin just as the power shuts off.
We turn on our flashlights and enter the stairwell.
“Fuck, how many floors do we have to climb?” Vin asks, leaning over the railing while pointing his beam of light upward to gauge how many steps we need to ascend.
“Thirty-two,” I answer, taking the lead. “Tony lives on the floor below the penthouse.”
“Maybe we should have shut off the power after we had taken the elevator up,” Vin complains, following closely behind.
“Now, where’s the fun in that?” Alex responds. “Besides, even if I shut the cameras down, we would have had to walk through the lobby, and too many faces would have recognized us.”
“But that’s what you did for Eli when he decided to steal the asshole’s car,” Vin grumbles.
Alex chuckles, grasping my shoulder. “No offense, Eli, but your face isn’t as recognizable as mine or Vin’s. I didn’t see any harm in letting you walk carefree through the lobby.”
“No offense taken.”
Vin grins smugly, rubbing the palm of his hand over his scruff.
“The burden of having such a pretty face.” He looks back over the railing and releases a heavy sigh before taking the first step up.
“Let’s get this fucking over with.” When we reach the door to the thirty-second floor, Vin presses his hand against the wall, his chest heaving. “I’m getting too old for this shit.”
Alex laughs. “You’re not even two years older than me.”
Vin shakes his head, turning to me. “You don’t even look out of breath.”
“That’s cause I’m not.” I grin and tap his chest. “It’s called cardio, buddy. You should try it sometime.”
“I do,” he huffs. “I just prefer the horizontal kind—not the kind that could give me a heart attack.”
“You’re just as likely to have a heart attack while having sex as you are while climbing stairs,” Alex notes, adjusting his glasses.
“Maybe so, but at least I’ll be doing something I love,” Vin replies, clasping Alex’s shoulder before standing up straight. “All right, let’s find out exactly what Tony knows and get out of here before they manage to turn the power back on and Alastor gets home.”
I nod and turn toward the door, wrapping my hand around the knob. Slowly, I open it, using my flashlight to peek down the corridor and ensure no one is nearby.
“Coast is clear.” I step out with Alex and Vin behind me. We head to the end of the hall, my eyes scanning the number above each door until we reach the last one. “Sixteen.” I jerk my head toward the door. “This is the one.”
Alex steps up to the door and presses his phone against the scanner. “The door locks operate on battery power due to situations like this,” he explains quietly.
The tiny red light at the top of the scanner turns green, followed by a click as the door unlocks itself.
Alex hands us our night-vision goggles before we turn off our flashlights, throw on our gloves, and cautiously open the door to enter the entryway.
We’re enveloped in complete darkness as we close the door behind us.
I turn on my goggles, waiting for the lenses to adjust before stepping into the living space.
We freeze as a raised voice echoes to our right. With stealth, we move in that direction, approaching a closed door. I press my ear against the wood.
“I don’t care what the fuck happened, just do your job and fix it!
I don’t pay all this goddamn money to live in darkness!
” Tony screams. I assume he’s on the phone with maintenance, giving them an earful.
“You better hope you have this resolved before Alastor gets home, or it will be your ass on the line!”
After a moment of silence indicating the call has ended, I look to Vin, who nods and mouths, Now.
We grip our guns and aim as I step back and use all my strength to kick the door open. Tony nearly falls out of his seat as he tries to open his top drawer, probably to retrieve his gun, but I beat him to the punch. Literally.
“Who’s there?” he yells right before I whack my gun across the back of his skull, rendering him unconscious.
Vin turns on his flashlight and removes his goggles. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”
I shrug. “Sorry it wasn’t more dramatic for you.”
We get busy tying Tony to his chair and then wait for the motherfucker to wake up.
Alex, feeling impatient, leaves the room and soon returns with a glass of water.
He throws it at Tony’s face, glass and all.
Tony wakes up violently, sputtering and spitting out water as the shards of broken glass fall into his lap.
His eyes blink rapidly as they adjust to the bright light aimed directly at him. There’s fabric wrapped around his mouth so tightly that it’s preventing him from saying one word. He mumbles furiously around it, his face transforming as red as a tomato, with veins bulging in his neck.
He’s pissed.
Can’t say I blame the guy.
“Tony,” I say, taking a seat on the other side of the desk.
My legs spread out wide as I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees, my eyes directly on the bloody wanker.
He looks around the room, his eyes squinting and then suddenly widening when recognition crosses his features. “You don’t look so happy to see us.”
Alex unties the fabric around Tony’s mouth, and the second it falls, well…
“You fucking motherfuckers! I’m going to kill you all! Just wait until Alastor finds out about this. He’s going to destroy you! You cock-sucking—”
The barrel of a gun presses into the side of Tony’s head, quickly shutting him up as he peers up at Vin. “Now, now, Tony. I might have to wash your mouth out if you keep speaking to us like that, but I should warn you.” He bends down to his eye level. “It won’t be with soap.”
Tony swallows, looking around at all of us. “What the fuck do you want?”
“Simple. We want to know why Madeleine and Alastor are getting married,” I reply.
He scoffs. “Because they’re in love—”
A shot pierces the floor beside Tony, causing him to scream like a little girl.
All eyes land on Alex as he places his gun on his lap. “We want the truth. Don’t waste our time with bullshit.”
Tony shakes his head. “It is the truth.” A bead of sweat rolls down the side of his head, and I’m not the only one who notices.
“Let me explain something to you, and I’ll do it slowly so it gets through your thick skull,” Vin states.
“Madeleine is an Alarie. She is one of us, which means every man in this room is prepared to rip out each organ in your body, one by one, until he feels satisfied with your death. So unless you start speaking, Eli here will go first.”
I stand and reach for the switchblade in my back pocket, grinning as I pop it open and hold it before Tony. He squirms in his seat, looking frantically between us for someone to save him.
But no one will.
I press the tip of the blade into the bottom of his throat, and he screams out in agony as I slice across his collarbone.
After maybe only ten seconds, Tony throws in the towel.
“Okay. Okay! I’ll talk,” he rushes out.
I remove the blade from his skin, wipe it off on his shirt, and then close it up before tucking it back into my pocket.
“Talk,” Vin orders as he slides a chair over and makes himself comfortable. He looks at his watch. “The quicker you tell us what you know, the quicker we’ll leave.”
Tony clears his throat and looks at the floor. “All I know is that she needed Alastor’s help.”
Alex scoffs. “Alastor’s help? What the fuck could he do for her that her own brothers couldn’t?”
Tony shakes his head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t allowed in the room when they met. She called to arrange a meeting with him, saying it was urgent. She arrived within a few hours and was in his office for only a short time before she left.”
We all exchange confused glances. “When was this?” I question.
“About a year ago.”
“Be more specific,” Alex insists. “We need a date to work with.”
“I don’t know. There was snow on the ground and…” He furrows his brows, deep in thought. “Wait. It was New Year’s Day. Yeah, I know it was because Alastor was in the city for a meeting with…”
“A meeting with who?” Alex prompts.
He swallows nervously. “Mikhail and Kazimir Vasiliev.”
“Fuck.” Vin runs his fingers through his hair and stands, pacing. “What was the meeting for?”
“I don’t know. He made me wait outside.”
“You expect me to believe that, as Alastor’s right-hand man, you don’t know what the meeting entailed?” Vin asks, frustration lacing his voice.
“Listen, I might be his right-hand man, but there are certain things Alastor has always kept to himself. Something Adolfo taught him to do. The Manacorda and Vasiliev families always work together in secrecy. No one is ever privy to their plans.”
“And when did this meeting take place exactly?” Alex asks.
“In the morning,” he answers. “A few hours later, Madeleine arrived.”
“That can’t be a coincidence,” I note, looking directly at Vin.
“No, I’m afraid not.” Vin crosses his arms over his chest. “Anything else you’re forgetting to mention?”
“No. That’s everything. Well, actually…”
“What?” Alex abruptly stands, glaring at Tony. “What the fuck else happened?”
“Well, umm…” Tony stutters, glancing nervously between us. “The next day, Alastor’s father held an impromptu board meeting where he announced a change in his empire. Told everyone that Alastor would be taking over for him after his retirement instead of his older brother, Enzio. And…”
“And?” I grit my teeth.
He swallows nervously. “And that Alastor was engaged to Madeleine Alarie.”
I drag a hand through my hair, trying to piece everything together. “And that’s everything? You’re sure?”
“Positive. I’ve told you everything I know.” He looks at Vin, an unpleasant smirk forming on his face. “Now, will you make good on your word and leave? If Alastor catches you here, we’re all dead.”