Chapter 3 #2
I took a step closer, then another. It took five steps in total to see around the curtain.
With the beds almost touching, Kim and Beasty lay side by side, IVs and oxygen hooked up to them. My heart clenched. I hoped like fuck that the oxygen was just a precaution. I should have asked, I should have—
"We need to know what happened," Atlas said, his tone devoid of emotion.
I glanced at him, grateful for the chance to turn away from how still Beasty and Kim were.
They looked like they were sleeping so peacefully, not with the brow furrow Beasty normally held even in sleep, or the slight eyebrow raise Kim often had when you could see his face.
Hell, he usually slept face down most of the time.
Seeing them like this, it wasn't natural. I hated it.
"We will." I pulled out my phone to check for an update from Guy. I hadn't wanted to check before. Reckless maybe, but I was unsettled—fucking terrified—and the only thing that would make that better, did make it better, was being able to lay eyes on my family.
As much as it pained me to see them like this, it allowed me to function.
There were a number of updates on our encrypted app. I speed-read through them then clicked on the file Guy sent.
The footage came up barely thirty seconds before we burst into the garage. Kim was down. There were five men total. Storm was already dead by the looks of it.
We ran into the garage like a mob of enraged bulls. Of course we scared the shit out of whoever was there.
Muted chaos played out on the screen as bright flashes of gunfire were exchanged between them and us.
I managed to get my hands on one of Gio’s men.
No wait, I think he was a Pesci. Atlas tackled the guy holding Beasty—I snarled—and when we realized exactly what had happened, that Beasty and Kim were down, those cowards took advantage and fled.
I hit the call button next to Guy's name. He picked up on the first ring.
"Update," was all I had the bandwidth to say.
"The pissant locked up in the Gray Room is still out. But I chained him five different ways from Sunday. He's not going anywhere. I set up a desk outside the door and I won't leave until you're ready to deal with him."
I closed my eyes. Guy was a good man. He'd make sure nothing happened before I got there. Nothing would get past him.
"As for the footage, I'm running it now, but it's shitty as hell. The system was just coming back on and it's fuzzy." He grunted like it personally offended him.
"Can it read the faces?"
"Not as well as I'd like. Whoever was by the driver's side of the car never turned around.
It was like he knew exactly where the cameras were.
Since that's where Storm was trying to take Beasty, I'd bank on that being Gio or Adrian.
He fled when shots were fired before you all ever entered the garage.
"The other two men ran for the tunnel exit as soon as you all converged on Beasty and Kim. So much for loyalty to each other," he grunted.
I wasn't surprised. Assholes like that—the worst of the criminal underworld—were vile with no scruples. We at least had each other. Our code was our loyalty to our family. Everyone else could fuck off.
"Send me the facial recognition report when you have it."
"I wouldn't be too hopeful. The footage is grainy,” he grumbled.
Right. Because nothing was ever easy.
"Keep checking on the dead man. When we're done here, I'll be questioning him personally."
"You know I will." There was a smile in his voice.
We hung up and when I turned around, Atlas and Joaquin were staring. "Well?" Joaquin asked. Dark circles had appeared under his eyes and his hair was mussed ten different ways.
He was taking this hard. Just like I figured he would. Fuck.
I sighed as I rejoined them, allowing my attention to briefly land on Beasty and Kim. Once I assured myself that they were as healthy as we could make them, I continued the conversation.
"It's not great. The footage only kicked on when the backup system came back up. The driver of the car never faced the camera, and if it's who we think it is, it wouldn't matter anyway. Gio or Adrian would have had to wear a mask to get inside the building."
"They could have hired someone to drive Storm in. We know Adrian was a distraction now." Joaquin scowled. "I hate that fucker."
We all did.
"Doesn't matter. We never got a face. He had run by the time we made it there, and everyone except for the man Atlas beat got away." I tossed my phone on the edge of the bed and gripped my hair, pulling it tight to give that brief spark of pain. "I fucking let them go."
It was a confession.
I was their protector. I made sure no one got close to them. It was my vow long ago that they'd never be hurt again. Yet as soon as I saw Beasty, the fucker under my fists ceased to exist. Nothing else mattered as I raced to her.
Luckily, Atlas had kept his head when he reached the man who’d been holding her.
Neither said anything as I wallowed in my own self-hate.
When would it stop? When would we have control over our lives where nothing would touch us?
As the machines beeped steadily beside each bed, I thought it over. I considered each angle, my original plan, all of it.
The only plan that made any sense now was that we had to do something big. Make a statement. Put ourselves on the board in a way that was so ruthless, no one would dare fuck with us or they’d reap the consequences.
Quietly taking our enemies out was no longer an option.
This was now war.
I just hoped Beasty was okay with it.