Chapter Five

RED

I fly down the stairs, my gun already in my hand. As I burst through the door, my thoughts are on Evie. She didn’t believe a goddamn word I said, and I adore her for it. I expected to take my time with her, to introduce her to this fucked up world gently and over time. I never wanted her to get this close to the violence and danger. I just wanted her to know that it was out there and real, but I’d protect her from it, always.

She’s in it now, though. Really in it. When all of this is over, I’m going to have to take her out of her normal world. I’ll hide her away, shield her from the kind of people who are making their way through our front right now.

Firing my gun feels like instinct. The bullet slams into the intruder’s knee, sending him crashing down. The shots that follow echo in the chaos, but I’m calm. I duck behind a table, waiting for the heat of the moment to die down. These guys? They’re amateurs—out of their depth, with no clue whose turf they just walked into. I won’t take any unnecessary risks with them, especially now that I’ve found something, someone, worth protecting.

“Red!” Jace calls through the gunfire.

My younger brother slides into cover beside me. His jaw is tight, his brow furrowed. For once, I’m grateful he insisted on coming along. I’d been annoyed when I saw his car tailing mine, but Jace has always had an uncanny sense for danger. He’s a damn good second in command. If anything happens to me, I know he’ll take care of things.

“What’s going on?” I ask, peeking up, smirking when I see the intruders trying to reload in the open, making themselves easy targets. “Who the hell are these idiots?”

“Not sure yet,” Jace admits, picking off another one of the goons. “But I have a feeling they’re from the North side. They’re sloppy.”

I scoff, watching the idiots stumble through the chaos. They're always trying to push into other groups' territories, never knowing their place. I don’t get along with any of our rivals, but we all share one thing in common: a mutual disdain for these clowns. They haven’t earned a damn thing—they’ve just taken what others have built and worked for.

“Brandy?” I ask, taking down the third and final guy with a perfectly aimed shot.

“We got her,” Jace replies, his voice steady as the two of us rise, moving as one. “Mike came in before I could even say anything. They're both in the office.”

“Good,” I mutter, running a hand through my hair. I feel a twinge of guilt that Brandy wasn’t my first thought. But I know I can’t be blamed for it. If our old president had been around, he would’ve put Brandy over Evie without hesitation. I like to think he’d understand where I’m coming from.

“We have to do something with these guys,” Jace says, walking over to one and nudging him over with the toe of his leather boot. “Should we get rid of them?”

“Nah. No point in unnecessary killing,” I say, surprising even myself. Has Evie already started to change me? If this had happened just an hour ago, I would’ve had my guys pick one to keep alive for questioning and dispose of the rest without a second thought.

“You’re letting them go?” Jace says, his voice incredulous. “You feeling okay, bro?”

“Of course I’m not letting them go,” I scoff, holstering my weapon with a sense of finality. “They have valuable information. We keep them alive, compare their stories, make sure they’re not lying.”

“Huh,” Jace mutters, kicking one of the men over. He slams a knee into his back and starts securing his hands with zip ties. “You got a point.”

“Don’t act surprised,” I say, moving to handle the next guy, not giving him a chance to regroup. “I know what I’m doing here, Jace.”

“I’m not surprised,” he says, and I don’t need to look at him to know he’s rolling his eyes. We might be dangerous mobsters, but Jace is still my little brother. He gets on my nerves in the way that only a sibling can. “Just seems like you’re going a little soft.”

“Accuse me of being soft again, and I’ll make you regret being born,” I growl, taking my frustration out on the guy beneath me. He groans, and I slam his face hard into the floor. “I’m trying to be more diplomatic in my leadership.”

“Uh huh,” Jace says, moving on to the next guy. “So, what were you doing up there? Didn’t think we had anything on the schedule until next week.”

“Is that really important?” I snap, not wanting to let him know about Evie. I can’t keep her a secret forever, but I want her to be mine, just for a little while longer—at least until we wrap up with these assholes.

Evie is my forever. She’ll meet everyone, and when that happens, they’ll treat her like royalty. It should be a celebration, not an introduction following a damn fight.

“Geez, don’t get so defensive,” Jace says, landing a brutal kick to the guy's jaw. “It’s just weird that you were up there and not with Brandy. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you had a woman up there.”

“So, what if I did,” I say, straightening out and frowning at the restrained men. “I’m getting Mike. Take care of these guys.”

Jace, thankfully, doesn’t press the issue. He has a look on his face, a look of determination that I know is going to cause a fight later. He knows a job like this takes precedence over family matters.

As Jace starts taking care of one of the guys, I make my way toward the office. I knock in a pattern Mike will recognize—quick, rhythmic, unmistakably mine. After a few seconds, I hear the locks disengage, and then the door swings open with Mike’s gun pointed straight at my face. It drops the instant he realizes it’s me.

“Boss,” Mike says, giving me a brief nod as he switches the safety on. “Everything good out there?”

“It is,” I confirm, glancing past him to check on Brandy.

She’s still at the desk, counting money, unfazed by the chaos that just unfolded. This woman has seen it all, and I’m still in awe of how she keeps her composure in the middle of it. Our old president took good care of her, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been in shootouts. Brandy’s a badass, and she deserves a life of peace.

“Don’t worry about me, Red,” she says, not even looking up but sensing my gaze, probably from the way I linger. “Is Evie okay?”

“She’s safe,” I reply gruffly. “Mike, help Jace take care of these guys. We’re taking them back to base and questioning them one by one.”

“Whatever you say, boss,” Mike replies, stepping aside to get to work.

Now, all I have to do is make sure Brandy has everything she needs, then I can get back upstairs to Evie. I need to make sure she’s okay, explain what just went down. I’ll comfort her and swear to her that I’ll never let her get caught in the crossfire again.

“Can I–” I start, but Brandy cuts me off.

“Red, if you don’t stop fretting over me, I’ll shoot you myself,” she says with an unimpressed look. “I know you want to go check on Evie. And she definitely needs it more than I do. Get out of here. And close the door.”

“Lock it behind me,” I instruct, pulling the door closed with force and waiting for the click of the locks before heading back upstairs.

Once I’m out of view of my guys, I break into a run, taking the stairs two at a time. I reach the office where I hid Evie and, with steady hands, unlock the door and throw it open. A wave of relief hits me when I see her still sitting there. I know she couldn’t go anywhere but seeing her with my own eyes soothes the anxiety I didn’t even know I was carrying.

“Red?” she asks, her voice small and terrified.

I feel terrible and guilty that this happened on my watch, while she was just upstairs. I left her scared, confused, and alone, but I didn’t have time to explain. I just needed to make sure she was safe.

“Hey, Evie,” I say, crouching down in front of her and offering her my hand. She takes it, holding onto me with all of her strength. “Sorry about that.”

“Are you okay?” she asks, and I can’t stop myself from chuckling.

“You’re really asking about me?” I say as I pull her to her feet. “Sweetheart, I’m fine. I’m more worried about you.”

She flushes deep red, murmuring, “You’re worried about me?”

“I am,” I tell her, rubbing my thumbs over the back of her hand. “In fact, I want to get you out of here. I’m going to take you somewhere safe, okay?”

“Okay,” she says, agreeing easily. I’m glad for it, because I was going to take her with me regardless of if she said yes or not. This makes everything so much easier.

“Alright,” I say, leading her out of the apartment. “I’ll have one of the guys get your stuff. We’ll take my car. It’s parked right out front.”

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