Chapter 28
ENZO
“Absolutely fucking not!” I grit my teeth, trying to calm the pump of rage filling my veins. “You’re not putting yourself in any danger.”
“Can you listen?” Jade counters fiercely, flipping her hands in the air in despair and frustration. She’s yet to convince me while we’re all gathered in a small, empty conference room at the hospital. Elliot’s here with us, along with Dante and Dom.
Jade called for a meeting, informing everyone of that damn note she got from that piece-of-shit Agnelo, and apparently, she started a fire in my house to run after Robby.
I swear that woman—fuck! If she thinks I’m going to let her into the lion’s den by her damn self, she must have me confused for someone who doesn’t give a shit about her.
“I did listen, baby.” I steady my tone, marching a step toward her, holding her face in my palms, staring deep into her eyes. “This isn’t happening. You’re not making yourself bait.”
“Jade, maybe you should listen to him,” Elliot throws in.
Her eyes flip to his, standing behind me as my hands drop.
“I love you, Elliot, I really do, but you don’t understand.
None of you do.” Her attention scatters across the room.
“My friends are still out there. They need my help. What that family has done to us, and the kids, the women…” Her eyes flutter closed for only a moment.
With a long breath, her gaze lands hard on mine. “I’ll be safe. You’ll be right outside with your men and I’d have the gun and wire on me, plus the vest.”
“How do you know he’s even there? It’s been hours since you got that note. He’s probably gone by now, hiding in some rathole once he realized we had Robby.”
“Well, I have to try.” She sighs. “I have to find Elsie and Kayla and all the other people they’re keeping caged up. I know he’ll tell me just to rub it in my face.”
While she waited for Robby to wake up, I told her about all the other people we saved when we found her boy. But she told us those numbers don’t add up, that there are hundreds more.
I slide up a hand, gripping her chin in between two fingers. “Please… I can’t fucking lose you, not when I just got you back.”
She lays her forehead against mine, both of us clinging to one another in a sea of chaos. “I love you so much, Enzo. You’re the heart of my world.”
“Then don’t go. Let me take care of this.”
She pulls away enough to lock her tender gaze to mine. “I have to do this, Enzo. I need him to know I’m not afraid anymore. Don’t take it from me.”
That damn pleading look in her eyes, hell, it sits heavy on my chest, robbing me of my ability to refuse her.
“After everything I went through,” she continues. “I deserve this. Are you going to be the one to take it from me?”
Everyone else remains silent, giving us the opportunity to figure this shit out ourselves. But I know neither of my brothers would willingly put their women in mortal danger. How could I allow her to go? But if I don’t give her this, will she ever forgive me?
“I’m giving you five minutes with him before I go in. Not a second more. If I hear anything I don’t like, we’re going in.”
“Deal.” She grins like we’re going to prom, flinging her arms around my shoulders. I hug her to me, just holding her, my eyes closing. The thought of anything happening to her, it destroys me, but I get the need for revenge. We all do.
“Don’t look all that happy, baby.” I’m staring back in her eyes with a slow wind of my mouth. “If you die, I’m gonna be super damn pissed. And you do not want the rest of the world to see me that pissed. I promise.”
She laughs faintly, her lips hovering over mine. “Then I’ll try not to die.”
My hand grips to the back of her head, pulling her hair roughly so she can get a damn good look at my face. “Trying ain’t good enough, baby.”
Then I kiss her, like it’s the last thing I’ll ever get to do.
JADE
My stomach sinks with every footfall. The hospital hallway is dim, the rooms all shuttered as I continue to my destination, to see Chiara. Enzo informed me she had lost the baby when the bullet struck her.
My heart bleeds for my friend, for that loss. It may have been new, she may have not been that far along, but to a mother who wanted her baby, it doesn’t make a difference. It’s ours. That pain. That emptiness. That what could’ve been. What would’ve been.
I gently knock on the door, knowing Chiara has been awake after her surgery, and Raquel opens it, her eyes glazed, mascara running down the outer edges of her eyes.
“Joelle, I’m so happy to see you’re okay.” She speaks low, and in her eyes, I see the genuineness. She actually cares about me. It’s nice to have that.
She swings her arms around me for a quick hug. “I’m so relieved you have Robby back.” She clasps my hand in hers. “He’ll be okay.”
“Thanks. How is she doing?” My eyes dart to Chiara, lying motionless on the bed, attention fixed to the wall in front of her, but she’s not really looking at it. I’ve been there, in that state of heartache, locked inside my head.
“She’s as good as she can be.” She huffs, shaking her head as her eyes land to the floor.
“What did the doctors say?”
She glances up. “That she was lucky. Nothing major was punctured. The only bright side is that she can have more kids. I’m so grateful for that.” She bites the corner of her bottom lip. “If she couldn’t…”
I place a hand on her shoulder. “She’s going to come out of this. They both will.”
“I hope so,” she whispers, peering behind her for a second. “I hate seeing her this way.” Her eyes grow sad, and my heart, it grows sad with her.
“Is she up for visitors?”
“She’ll want to see you.” Her lips tighten with a smile, moving out of the doorway to give me space to walk inside. “I’ll be with Dante. Just get me when you’re done. I don’t want her to be alone while Dom is with the guys.”
“Okay.”
She starts toward the elevators while I tiptoe inside, shutting the door behind me, every step more wary than the last.
“Hey, Chiara. I hope it’s okay that I’m here.” I’m almost to the foot of the bed. She doesn’t look at me, her gaze still glued to the wall, her skin ashen, eyes so cold, I almost shiver. “I’m here for you. Mother to mother. You can talk to me if and when you’re ready.”
She snickers now, slowly turning to me. “I’m not a mother.” Her tone, it’s dead. “I was barely pregnant.”
She doesn’t mean it. I can practically feel the pain she’s hiding, like it’s there in the room with us.
I take a seat beside her. “There are no rules for this, Chiara. It’s okay to feel what you’re feeling.
It’s okay to cry, to fall apart, to hate them.
Just don’t bottle it up.” Gently, I set a palm across her arm.
“If you do, it’s going to eat away at you until there’s nothing inside. Don’t give them that.”
She rips her eyes away from me, turning to the wall once more, her bottom lip jittering just slightly.
“I love you, Chiara. You’re like family to me. I hate that you’re hurting.”
Those large brown eyes disappear behind her eyelids as they drift shut.
I give her a little squeeze. “I’m going to be leaving in a little bit to confront Agnelo, but I wanted to see you before I did.”
That gets the fire going in her gaze, her elbows hitting the bed, helping to prop her up as she winces in pain.
“I wish I were there too, with Dom and you and everyone,” she tells me. “I’d fucking butcher him alive.”
“I believe you.” I grin widely.
A hint of a smile sets over her lips. “Be careful.”
“I’ll try.”
“And thank you for what you said. It meant a lot even though I didn’t show it. I’m kind of a bitch right now.”
“Well, bitch away. I’ve always enjoyed your bitchiness.”
“Oh, gee, thanks. I wasn’t that bad.”
“Sure you weren’t.” I roll my eyes playfully, getting to my feet, knowing Enzo and the rest of the team are waiting for me to go after the last Bianchi bastard still standing. I still have to see Robby one last time in case… My heartbeat thunders in my chest at the thought.
“Look who’s being a bitch now.” She pops a single brow, and I love to see that spunk back on her face.
“I learned from the best.”
“Well, then hurry back so I can teach you some more shit. If you die, I’m gonna be pissed.”
“That’s what Enzo said.” I break out in a hearty laugh.
“I knew he and I would eventually find something in common.”
With every turn the SUV makes, my skin crawls, the nerves finally welcoming me into the dark. The sky has long abandoned the blazing blue, now woven with ash dipped in black ink, and serenaded by the stars in the softest of melodies.
Enzo is seated beside me, his fingers linked through mine, his other hand on his weapon, clutching it so tight, his knuckles must’ve turned white beneath his gloves.
“One minute to showtime,” the driver announces.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Enzo quietly implores. Elliot and Dante are in the row behind us, while Dom is in the passenger side.
“I am. Whether he realizes I’m not coming alone or not, I need to look him in the eyes. I need him to see me. Really see me. The way he never did before.”
He clenches his jaw. I have every intention of surviving this, but if I don’t, if my death can save my friends and others, then it’s worth the sacrifice.
And leaving Robby forever, God it would be the worst kind of pain, but maybe when he’s older, he’d understand why I did it.
That sometimes helping others in spite of your own safety is worth it in the end.
“I’ll be close,” Enzo assures me with a look that says he wishes he could take my place. “If you say the code word, I’ll storm right in. Got it?” He wraps the span of his palm around the slope of my neck, his gaze sinking into mine.
“Yeah.” I nod against his strong hold, his masculine touch tethering to me possessively.
“Tell me what it is again.”
“Spider.” I snicker. “Original. Did you think of it?”
“I did.” His mouth twists in amusement, tapping his temple with his index finger as his hand falls from me. “This brain wasn’t made in a day.”