Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ANDER
I woke to the sound of Reid’s car starting, and I rolled over to glance at my phone, seeing that it was almost eight thirty in the morning. I’d slept for a little over twelve hours.
My body ached, reminding me that I’d been overdoing it, but the damage from Skeeter didn’t help with the sex marathons we’d been having. I was healing, but I wasn’t back to normal yet either.
Both Reid and Logan would’ve been on the way to work, but when I looked back in the bed, Raven and Zavier were still curled up with me.
Putting my phone down, I rolled back over and snuggled into Raven’s back, my lips finding the curve in her neck.
“I can’t go for a round this morning, Lavaro. I need some recovery time,” Raven mumbled sleepily without moving.
“Not trying to fuck you, Bluebird.”
“That’s a first. Are you sick?”
“Go back to sleep,” I chuckled, lightly nipping her shoulder. She turned and draped a leg over my waist, peering up at me.
“Did you sleep?”
“Yeah, don’t think I woke up once.” Her hand lifted to my face, and I caught her wrist when I saw the ink on her inner forearm. “Raven Pierce, did you get a tattoo?”
“Lexi Hendricks is opening a studio on the edge of Ashburn and Blackwater. I visited her with Rory yesterday, and she offered to give me one so I could be her first client,” she replied softly, her eyes on the tattoo.
I hadn’t even noticed it last night, but I’d been so damn tired that I was surprised I even got my dick up, let alone kept my damn eyes open. I didn’t even remember finishing and going to sleep.
“It looks good,” I smiled, running my thumb along the skin just below it. “Make sure you look after it properly.”
“I will. You really like it?”
“It’s the only other guy’s name you could ever put on your body that I wouldn’t turn murderous over,” I grinned, leaning down to kiss her. “Do me a favor? Stay here and snuggle Zav while I shower.”
That made her frown, her eyes flicking over her shoulder to glance at him. “Is he okay? I know he was trying to lose himself in me last night.”
“Just the past haunting him. I think we all know what that’s like,” I answered, giving her another kiss before pulling away. “Stay with him for me?”
She nodded, turning over to curl into Zavier so I could slip out to shower without worrying about him.
They were awake by the time I was ready for the day, both of them sitting at the kitchen counter with coffee in hand. Zavier slid a coffee my way, and I sat on the bar stool beside him and patted his shoulder.
“Thanks. You good today?”
He grimaced but nodded, nursing his cup in both hands. “Restless sleep but I feel better. Sorry, I was supposed to be helping you with your shit.”
Raven’s head swiveled to look at me with a frown. “What shit?”
I downed a mouthful of the hot coffee, placing it back on the counter before replying.
“I don’t remember a lot, I think exhaustion got to me.”
“You were practically hallucinating and delirious,” Zavier deadpanned, worry crossing Raven’s face.
“It wasn’t that bad,” I argued, and he snorted his disagreement.
“You didn’t eat all day, wouldn’t take your eyes off the screens, and you almost punched Stone when he told you to go home. You were only functioning out of muscle memory while practically asleep on your feet.”
“We’ll find them, Ander,” Raven said firmly, reaching out to take my hand and giving it a squeeze.
The lump in my throat was hard to swallow around, but I managed and gave her a small smile. “We will.”
I was losing my fucking mind at this point, just like Stefano had hoped for.
I finished my coffee and was just pulling my phone out to text Cruz for updates when it buzzed with a message, my heart beat picking up the pace instantly when I saw it was an unknown number.
A bad feeling started in my gut, and I clicked on the message to open it, almost knocking my stool over as I stood up abruptly the second the video started playing.
“Ander?” Raven asked slowly, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.
Dante was tied to a chair, his head hanging low as blood soaked his shirt. He would've looked dead if it wasn’t for his shoulders rising a fraction with each breath.
My teeth ground together as one of Stefano’s men approached and punched him in the side of the face, my brother barely reacting.
How long had this been happening for? Was it just now to get my attention? Or had he been beaten from the day he left Wet Dreams?
My eyes closed when the sound of female screams burst from my phone, and my stomach twisted painfully at knowing it was Blake. I couldn’t see her, but I knew it wasn't screams of fear, it was pain.
My phone was pulled from my hand and I snarled, my eyes meeting Zavier’s a second before he glanced down at it to see what I was watching.
“Is that Blake?” Raven asked so quietly I barely heard her.
“And Dante,” I answered, already pulling my keys out of my pocket. “I have to?—”
“I know, go.” Raven stood and kissed me quickly, some of the chaos in my brain fading as she grabbed my chin firmly to make me look at her. “Bring them home. Get backup.”
“You’re not going to fight me on coming?” I asked, and I would’ve been amused if there wasn’t a war going on inside my head. I’d been prepared to lock her in the house and run, but it seemed I didn’t have to.
“I’ll stay with Zav as long as you go to the Thieves.”
Zavier handed my phone back, the video closed. “Go. We’ll call Rory and head to her house to update her.”
I clapped him on the shoulder in thanks and gave Raven one more kiss before practically running out to my car. I pulled up the video once more, my eyes catching on a broken panel on the wall in the background.
It was hard to see much else, but hope filled me as realization set in.
They were being held in the fucking slaughterhouse. My fucking slaughterhouse.
I started the engine and called Cruz on the handsfree, gunning it out of the driveway and towards Rawson Grove.
“Lavaro—” I didn’t let him finish.
“I’ve found them,” I said in a hurry, smashing through the gears and definitely breaking all the speed limits. “I was sent a video just now, I’m on the way to you.”
“You got a video?”
“Dante’s beat to shit, and I couldn’t see Blake but I could hear her screaming. He’s holding them in my fucking slaughterhouse!” I snapped, the engine roaring as I put my foot down harder.
“I’ve got the video,” he confirmed, and I didn’t ask how. That fucker could hack into anything. “I’ll get Knox to put a team together right now and brief them before you get here.”
“Better be quick, I’ll be there in a minute,” I answered before hanging up, fury mixing with fear at knowing we could be walking in on anything.
Would they beat Dante to death before we got there?
Was Blake naked and bleeding out on the floor?
I never should’ve thought I could live a normal life without risking other people. Getting close to everyone had done nothing but get the people I cared about hurt.
Guilt slammed into me at being thankful it wasn’t Raven, and I pushed my car harder as I flew into Rawson Grove.
This was all my fault.
My tires skidded into the driveway at the compound, cars and chaos everywhere. Knox was barking orders as people piled into a couple of vans, guns and weapons being loaded alongside them.
Stone strolled towards me, a tablet in hand as he started pulling up footage the second I climbed out.
“We’ve got footage of the surrounding areas, but you know there’s not a lot in Riverside where the slaughterhouse is.”
I knew that, it was why I chose to buy it in the first fucking place.
“I’m sensing a but,” I growled, wanting him to hurry up and get on with it so we could go, but not wanting to piss him off so that he called the whole thing off.
“Cruz knows the footage has been tampered with, so we don’t know exactly what we’re in for. It shows them driving into Riverside, but it’s glitchy in some parts that shows bits have been cut out. We’re going to assume it only shows a handful of them, but the tampered parts are likely to have more backup behind them that we can’t see. They’re probably hoping we underestimate them and get overpowered.”
He turned the tablet to show me the footage, frustration filling me at not being able to see Dante or Blake through the tinted windows of the cars.
“There’s other cameras closer than that,” I bit out with annoyance, but he shook his head.
“There might be, but it’s obvious they’re only letting us see what they want us to. Most other angles are scrambled or completely down. Drake found one, but it’s stuck on a loop and isn’t live footage.”
“We have to get them out of there.”
“We will. Here,” he grunted, holding out a little earpiece. “Put this in, we all need to be able to communicate.”
I pushed it into my ear, hearing Cruz firing off information to Knox about the layout.
“How do you assholes have the layout?” I asked, and Cruz snickered, reminding me that he could hear me.
“Blueprints, Lavaro. Did you think your little slaughterhouse was a secret or something?”
“We’re going to talk about this later,” I huffed, grabbing my car door. “I’ll take the Supra.”
“No,” Stone ordered, pointing to the van. “You get geared up, then you get your ass into the van like everyone else. No one’s zooming ahead like a hero.”
My knuckles cracked as I clenched my fists, and Knox walked over holding a Kevlar vest. “You’re not invincible, mafia prince. Put this on and don’t argue. This is one hundred percent a trap to lure you out, so suit up, use your fucking brain, and get in the van. The only way this works is if you don’t die.”
I scowled as he held a helmet out next. “Is that necessary?”
“You tell me? Is Daddy likely to lure you out then take you out with a headshot?”
“He’s probably got snipers,” I said tensely, and he stared at me blankly until I gave in and shoved the stupid helmet on, then he motioned to the van. “You’re in van one with me and my team. You can sit up front, but I’m driving. Stone has van two with his team, and Will and his team will take up van three.”
I locked my car, knowing I could’ve gotten there a lot faster in it, but also knowing if I sped ahead, I could blow our cover. Stefano was most likely banking on me kicking the door in with Zavier or something on our own, so this was a smart play, despite me wanting to punch Knox and Stone for being demanding assholes.
I wasn’t a good team player, but I’d shut my mouth if it meant getting Dante and Blake out of there.
Knox offered me a machine gun once in the van, which would do a lot more damage than any of my smaller handguns, so I took it and stayed quiet while Cruz directed everyone once we were on the road.
The vans were way too damn slow, and it felt like it took forever to get out of Rawson Grove and through Pine Valley, the roads thankfully quiet most of the way through Mount Mercer and Newhaven.
I was gripping the seat hard in my hand the closer we got to Riverside, and Knox had barely stopped the van before I threw the door open and jumped out.
“Wait for orders, Lavaro,” he said sharply, everyone else climbing out to get ready.
There were three other cars here, but that didn’t mean there weren’t way more people inside to ambush us.
I noticed how Knox took charge and Stone just stood back and let him, confusing me slightly. I knew Knox was mostly in charge of the tactical teams, but Stone was the boss of all of them.
“We go in the front and walk straight through,” Knox said firmly, pointing to Stone. “You take your guys left and secure the perimeter, while Will’s team heads inside with us but goes to the right. We’ll cover the whole space, and be prepared to use stealth. No open fire unless you’ve cleared the room, there’s hostages.”
Everyone nodded and split up, all of them moving as a whole in their groups.
Knox motioned for me to stay close to him, and I fell into line, my gun ready as we entered through the main door that wasn’t even locked.
We went ahead while Will took his team through a door to the right as instructed, their feet barely making a sound as we all crept through the massive building.
A scream had me moving faster, and Knox’s arm shot out to keep me back, his voice quiet.
“Stay in formation, or you can get out. This might be your building, and it might be your brother and friend in here, but right now, you’re in my domain. Stay. Back.”
The screaming continued, and I managed to stay back most of the way until we approached the backroom where the sound was coming from.
Knox cursed as I barreled ahead, my gun raised as I did a quick scan of the room, confusion hitting me to find it empty.
Knox’s team fanned out behind me as they entered, and I lowered my gun as I approached a chair in the middle of the room, the same one Dante had tied Raven to not that long ago.
There was blood on the floor, but it was dry, a small note sitting on the chair waiting for me beside a recording device that the screaming was coming from.
Too late. Better luck next time.
- Stefano
“They’re gone,” I bit out, and Knox snatched the note from my hand to inspect it.
“What game is he playing?” he muttered, more to himself than me before grabbing the recorder to silence it.
I glanced around for more clues, my eyes continuing to return to the dried blood on the floor. It looked to be a day or two old, and it definitely wasn’t from this morning.
“The video was made just to fuck with you. They didn’t intend on being here to ambush you,” Knox stated, walking over to a spot further over and causing my stomach to roll when he motioned to a small patch of blood next to what appeared to be Blake’s shirt and jeans. “She was wearing these when they took her.”
If Stefano had stripped her of her clothes, had he started touching her? He was more about the mind games, so it could have just been a way to make her feel vulnerable, but I’d also known him to be a bigger monster than that if he was really mad.
Right now, he wanted to hurt me, which meant hurting people I cared about.
I’d known him to hold a woman hostage for over a year once, brutally raping her daily before finally releasing her to her husband, knowing the guy wouldn’t want her back as damaged goods.
Some days he’d done it, other days, he’d had his men do it.
I’d tracked her down last year when I’d discovered her husband had sold her, managing to buy her with counterfeit cash. Then I’d found her sister so she could return to safety.
She’d been the first of many I’d started helping, and I swore my soul got a little lighter with each person I saved.
I couldn’t help those women from when I was younger, but I could try to help those I saw now.
“If they’re not here to ambush us, what was the point?” Will asked as he walked over, eyeing me.
“I don’t—” Panic filled me as I scrambled to pull my phone from my pocket, realization setting in. “Because this wasn’t a trap, it was a fucking distraction.”
I almost dropped my damn phone hitting the call button to Raven, cursing when it went to voicemail. I tried Zavier too, but he didn’t answer either.
“Lavaro,” Cruz barked in my ear as I tried Raven again, snapping me back out of it. “You guys need to get to Ashburn.”
Dread pooled in my gut, and I was already running from the room, the others following.
“What’s happening?” I demanded, hearing his fingers flying over the keyboard at his desk.
“Cameras are down, but the gas station just called in a shooting to the cops. It might be a coincidence, but?—”
There was no such thing as coincidences, if you asked me.
Raven
“You’re okay with him taking off, right?” Zavier asked as we left the house to head to Rory’s, and I reached over to pat his thigh.
“Yeah. In another life, me and Blake could’ve been friends, you know? She keeps the guys on their toes,” I chuckled. “Hell, maybe one day we still could be.”
“You’d be okay with that?”
“I don’t hate Blake, I just get insecure around her because I know how important she was to Ander,” I sighed, feeling stupid. “And she’s pretty.”
“Not as pretty as you.”
“So you admit you think she’s pretty?” I teased, and he gave me an amused glance.
“I’m not falling into this trap. There’s no one in this world prettier than you, end of story.” He looked down at the dash and huffed. “We need to stop for gas. Logan definitely left this on empty so he got out of filling it.”
“We need our own cars so this wouldn’t happen,” I joked, knowing it definitely cost way more to all have our own cars.
“I think it’s time we let our sugar daddy buy us one. We’re all working now, and we can’t rely on sharing Reid and Logan’s cars anymore,” he said, reaching over to give my hand a gentle squeeze. “He’d really like to do it for you too. I know you like earning things yourself, but he’d love it if he could spoil you a little.”
“I don’t want a flashy car, Zav.”
“Then don’t ask for one. Buy a bucket of shit and let him help you fix it up a little. You could work on it together,” he offered, the idea not sounding bad.
“He’d be happy to buy a shitty car?”
“His Supra was a piece of shit when he bought it, I’ve seen photos. He takes a lot of pride in it, and he’d have no problem doing the same with a car for you. Talk to him, okay?”
“Fine, but if he goes overboard, I’m not driving it,” I grumbled, tightening my hold on his hand a little. “Do you think Stefano is trying to trap him today?”
“Probably, but the Thieves are highly trained, baby. They won’t let him get hurt,” he promised, releasing my hand to downshift as we got closer to the gas station.
It was pretty quiet when we pulled in, and Zavier climbed out and headed towards the building, leaving me in the car.
I kept my eyes on my surroundings, not wanting anyone to sneak up on me, and I relaxed again when Zavier returned and handed me a Red Bull through the window.
I kept a look out while he pumped gas, and he was just about to climb in the car when tires squealed and two cars sped into the gas station, slamming to a stop right by us.
Men piled out of both cars, and I scrambled to open the glovebox to grab a gun, my heart sinking when I realized there wasn’t one in there. I’d forgotten to check when we’d left.
Gunshots rang out, and terror gripped me as I climbed across the seat, desperately trying to get to Zavier, who was using the car as a shield while shooting at them.
My door opened and someone grabbed my ankle, a scream leaving me as I started kicking to dislodge their grip.
They released me with a shout as Zavier fired another shot, and I scrambled upright and grabbed my knife from my bra, just in case. It was better than nothing.
One of the windows shattered, making me flinch as some of my past tried to bite me in the ass, but I shook off the memories of Josh and tried to focus. Zavier needed me to have his back just as much as he had mine.
I turned to check on him, not seeing him there, and I flailed as someone grabbed me from the other side of the car again and yanked me out. I held on to the seat, not wanting them to take me anywhere to possibly never be seen again.
My teeth clacked together as I was slammed into the door frame, my ears ringing as they kept yanking on me until my fingers slipped and I was pulled from the car, panic surging through me as I was easily restrained and dragged towards one of their cars.
“Let me fucking go!” I shouted, trying to at least draw attention to the fact I was being taken against my will, frantically trying to get eyes on Zavier.
When I was shoved through the open car door, I grabbed hold of the outer frame to stop myself from being shut inside, kicking at my captor while screaming.
Why hadn’t the cops appeared yet? They were fast here, and surely Cruz would’ve seen this going down on his fancy computers.
Even if he was focused on helping Ander right now, someone would always be watching the rest of the world on other screens.
“Get the fuck in there!” the guy bellowed, and when he grabbed my throat and started squeezing, I knew I had seconds to save myself or I’d be locked inside this car completely vulnerable and unconscious.
I let out something similar to a battle cry before slashing my knife in their direction, trying to do it how Beckett had shown me, but I was just slashing in a panic mostly.
Blood was dripping down my hands and arms, but I couldn’t hear or see anything other than my tears, the crimson blood, and my heart beat thumping rapidly in my ears.
I stumbled from the car as the man went down, my chest heaving as I tripped and landed on my ass, relief filling me when the cars took off.
I was shaking, my eyes focusing on the guy a few meters from me. The one that definitely wasn’t moving that I’d just hacked to pieces.
My phone was ringing, but I barely noticed as I shuffled back until my head smacked against Logan’s car, wiping my tears with my arm and probably getting more blood all over me.
“Zav? You okay?” I called out, my voice breaking. I cleared my throat, saying it louder this time. “Zav?”
There was no reply, and I was beyond caring about getting blood on things as I grabbed the car to pull myself to my feet, starting to worry that Zavier had been shot and had been lying on the ground on the other side of the car this whole time.
“Zavier?” I asked weakly, my legs like jelly as I made my way to the back of the car, finding no one there.
Nausea swam through me as I looked around at the carnage, seeing a few other bodies, but none were Zavier.
He was gone.
A sob tore out of me as I dropped to the ground, my hands shaking so much I almost cut myself with the damn knife. I didn’t dare let it go, what if they came back?
I must have zoned out because the next thing I knew, tires spun as a bunch of vans pulled in, my fear spiking for all of two seconds before Ander bailed out of one and ran towards me, not caring about the mess as he dropped to his knees and hauled me against his chest.
“Are you hurt?” he demanded, leaning back to take my face in his hands when I just kept shaking. “Bluebird, talk to me. You’re okay, you’re safe. Were you shot?”
I shook my head, but his hands dropped to run over my body anyway.
“They took him,” I croaked out, not wanting them to waste time on me when Zavier was the one in trouble.
His hands paused their exploration, his eyes shifting to mine again. “They took him?”
“Zavier. He’s gone. They must have taken him,” I forced out, hearing sirens wailing close by. “I’m going to prison. I killed?—”
“Stop talking,” he ordered, grabbing my chin firmly when I went to repeat myself. “Raven, don’t say a word. Do you understand?”
“They’ll find out. I’m covered in blood.”
He glanced down, seeing the knife. “Put the knife on the ground and kick it away. You need a lawyer to prove it was self-defense, and anything you say right now could be turned against you. Show you’re not armed, and I’ll demand you get medical assistance and that it was an attempted kidnapping, okay? Trust me to talk for you. You’re in shock, and if you just start babbling about killing a guy, yes, you’re going to get your ass thrown in a cell. I need you to be a good girl for me and shut the fuck up.”
I nodded, relief filling his eyes as I tossed the knife aside, and I jerked back when something dropped into my lap. It was a blanket, and my eyes lifted to find Will looking down at me.
“Stay warm. Stone called Rory, she’s on the way.”
“Why did he call her?” I asked, a little dazed by the whole situation.
Zavier was missing, they’d taken him.
Were they going to kill him? Torture him?
“She’s got the most expensive lawyer,” he said with a straight face before walking off, and Ander quickly wrapped me in the blanket and sat beside me, hauling me onto his lap to wait for the cops to arrive.