21. Finn
Eoghan and Cillian got to the penthouse about thirty minutes ago. One of the perks of living here is the vast armory downstairs. We’ve loaded up everything in bags that we may need. I don’t necessarily expect this to be more than an extraction, considering he’s at his girlfriend’s apartment, but you can never be underprepared.
The Kevlar vest fits snuggly under my black button-down and my holsters are loaded with my trusty 9mm, ready to go.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I watch my wife sleep. It’s not a peaceful slumber. Her brows are tight, and her body twitches every few minutes. I’ve been next to her longer than I should be, but I can’t seem to tear myself away. Looking at my watch, I realize we should have left fifteen minutes ago. It’s now or never. I don’t want to wake her, knowing she’s going to hate the fact I’m leaving to hunt down the man who tormented her, but if I don’t tell her, there will most definitely be hell to pay when I come home.
And I refuse to believe I won’t be walking through those doors again soon.
“Alessia,” I say softly, brushing the back of my hand over her cheek. “Baby, wake up.”
Her eyelids flutter open, and for an all too brief moment, I’m completely hypnotized by her soft green eyes and the sweet smile playing on her lips. When she realizes I’m dressed, worry seeps into her gaze.
“Where are you going?” she asks, her voice thick from sleep and the tears she shed last night.
“We know where Orlando is. I’m going after him.”
No use sugarcoating it.
My wife blows out a deep breath and sits up. “What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing,” I reply, shaking my head. “The guards in the building are heavily armed, and I have men watching the cameras on the surrounding streets. No one will get within four blocks of the building without them knowing about it.”
The idea of leaving her still doesn’t sit right with me, but unless we were followed here, which I made damn sure we weren’t, no one knows she’s here. Hell, no one outside of our organization knows the setup we have here. But there’s always that tiny chance, and when it comes to her safety, I hate not having eyes on her at all times.
“If the power is cut like it was at the house, the doors will automatically lock you inside. You’ll still have power in the penthouse and the elevator to the armory. If anything seems even slightly off, go down there and lock yourself in. It’s the same type of setup as what’s at home. I’ll be notified immediately.”
“Are you worried someone will get in again?”
“No, but I didn’t think anyone would be ballsy enough to try anything at the house, either. This place is set up as a fortress, with several safeguards in place. If I have to leave you alone, this is the one place I feel best about you staying at.”
“Why does this feel different?” Alessia asks.
That’s the question I was asking myself as I sat here watching her sleep. There was only one answer I could come up with.
“Because you finally admitted you love me and can’t live without me.” My mouth tips up in a smirk, and Alessia rolls her eyes.
She shakes her head and lets out a small huff of laughter. “I could certainly live without your cockiness.”
“Nah, it’s one of my many charms.”
She looks me in the eye, all mirth wiped from her face. “Do me a favor and bring all those charms back to me in one piece, yeah?”
Cupping her face in my palm, I bend my forehead down and touch it to hers. “I love you, Alessia. Nothing is going to stop me from coming home to you.” I grab the bullet with the O carved into it that I picked up from the shelf when Eoghan, Cillian, and I were preparing to leave and hold it in front of her. “I’ll be back for you and this bullet in no time, wife. Then you can end that miserable piece of shit’s existence, and I can bring you back here and do all the things to your body that I dreamed about last night.”
“Ever the romantic.” She chuckles and takes the bullet from me, staring at it for a few moments. When she meets my gaze again, her eyes are hard and resolute. “I love you, Finn. I’ll see you when you get home.”
My lips crash to hers, but before the kiss can get carried away, I pull my mouth from hers and stand from the bed.
“See you in a few hours.” I nod and turn to walk down the stairs, meeting Cillian and Eoghan at the front door.
“Let’s go.”
The drive to Springfield takes us a little over an hour. Thankfully, the roads are clear as we pull up in front of the apartment building just as the dawn breaks. The entire block is quiet; everyone surely still sleeping at this early hour.
Cillian spots Sean, who’s been keeping an eye on the place to make sure Orlando doesn’t sneak away. He nods at Cillian, then at the apartment, indicating he’s still inside. Cillian sends him a quick text telling him to stay put just in case we need someone on the street. Eoghan and Cillian refuse to let me go in there alone without knowing who else could be inside. I personally don’t give a fuck. Anyone who tries to stop me from getting to that asshole is going to be met with a bullet between the eyes, no questions asked.
When Eoghan parks the nondescript sedan on the side of the tree-lined street, we all check our weapons. The three of us are going in armed to the teeth with various pistols and knives strapped to our bodies. There’s even a syringe in my pocket filled with a little night-night concoction so we can get him out of there as quietly as possible. I’m going to do everything in my power to take him alive so I can fulfill my promise to my wife, but if shit goes sideways, I won’t be too broken up about killing the man myself.
There’s no doorman or lobby for the building, and Eoghan makes quick work of the lock so we can enter the building without having to ring an apartment. For some reason, it doesn’t surprise me that Orlando wouldn’t have put the girl up in a nicer place. He’s a cheap son of a bitch with an ego the size of Texas. He probably thinks he’s untouchable in his own territory, and until tonight, that was most likely true. Though, I am surprised he isn’t hiding somewhere with a few more safety protocols in place. From what Alessia has told me about him, he likes to hit the bottle and has a nasty little drug habit to go along with his alcoholism. It’s doubtful he’s in his right mind, especially if he was celebrating getting what he thought was the upper hand by attacking my home.
We silently make our way to the second floor of the building.
Eoghan tries the handle before opening the door, but it’s locked. “Worth a shot.” He whispers. “You’d be surprised how often you can avoid picking a lock because the door’s unlocked.” He leans down and quickly disables it using his considerable skill. As far as I know, he doesn’t go around breaking into people’s houses, so Lord only knows why he decided to learn this. That’s Eoghan, though. He decides to pick up a new skill and has to master it.
When he steps back from the door, we all draw our weapons. Eoghan opens the door and waits a beat before entering.
The apartment is dark. Nothing is in the living room except several empty beer bottles and a tall vodka bottle knocked on its side. And wouldn’t you know, I spy a pill bottle with several crushed tablets on the table. Looks like someone was on a mission to get fucked up last night.
A short hallway leads to two doors. The first is a bathroom, and the second door sits ajar. I peer in and see two figures sleeping soundly on the bed. We enter the room, and neither person stirs. When I get to Orlando’s side of the bed, I raise my gun with the silencer attached to the barrel and point it at his head. Cillian has his gun trained on his girlfriend. Neither of us relishes the idea of hurting a woman, but if she tries to draw on us…I’m just hoping it doesn’t come to that.
I press the muzzle to Orlando’s forehead, and his eyes open with a start. His body jerks, which wakes the sleeping woman next to him. When she opens her mouth to scream, Cillian clamps his palm over it and lays the muzzle of the gun on her temple. “Don’t make me use this.”
Of course, we both know he wouldn’t, but she doesn’t.
“What the fuck?” Orlando hisses. “She has nothing to do with anything. Don’t hurt her.”
Interesting. He’s worried about her safety.
“Get up slowly and keep your hands in the air. We’re walking out quietly. I don’t want to have to carry you.” I inch back but keep my gun trained on Orlando’s head. He stands to his full height in nothing but a pair of boxers.
“Can I get my pants?” he asks, pointing to the denim that’s strewn over a chair in the corner.
I grab them and check the pockets for weapons before tossing them in his direction. “Get dressed.”
He slides the pants on and just as he finishes buttoning them, he darts for the bedroom door. Eoghan steps in his path before he can cross the threshold and smashes his gun over Orlando’s skull, knocking him out cold.
“Goddammit, now we have to carry him,” I mumble, taking the syringe from my pocket and jabbing it in his neck.
Eoghan shoots me a questioning look.
“I don’t need the fucker waking up halfway to the car and screaming his head off,” I say, plunging the contents into his bloodstream. “This should keep him quiet for the ride.”
I look over to the woman shaking on the bed and notice the bruising around her neck and wrists as she clings to the sheet, tears streaming down her face.
“He do that to you?” I ask, pointing at the discoloration.
She nods. “I hope you kill him,” she chokes out, staring at the unconscious man on the floor.
My gaze travels to Cillian, then Eoghan, both of them looking a little uncomfortable while Cillian still holds the gun to the woman’s head.
I look back at the woman. “I have a proposition for you.”
We make it back to my building after lugging the big Italian down a flight of stairs, followed closely by Cillian and Sandra, Orlando’s girlfriend. Or would she be considered his ex-girlfriend? I feel like her telling us that she hopes we kill the man sharing her bed is a surefire sign the relationship is over.
Cillian pulls the car into the underground parking garage of my building. Eoghan helps Sandra from the car, and she stands back while I open the trunk. Orlando is alive but still unconscious in the trunk. Two of my guards help lift him out and carry him to the elevator to take him to a room on the same level as the armory. There’s a small room I had built specifically for instances when we need to get information out of someone and to make cleanup from our “questioning” easier.
“I’m going upstairs for a minute,” I tell the group. “I’ll meet you down there.”
I take the elevator to my penthouse and open the door. Alessia is sitting on the couch waiting for me, the 44 Magnum sitting next to her. I know there’s one bullet in that gun, and I know exactly who it’s going to be used to kill.
She jumps from the couch and rushes me, throwing her arms around my neck.
“Thank fuck,” she breathes, and I lift her from the floor, slanting my mouth over hers.
When I set her on her feet, she smacks me in the arm.
“What the hell was that for?” I ask, rubbing the stinging spot.
“You need to work on your communication skills, Finn. I’ve been worried sick over here, not knowing if everything went okay or if you were on your way back. You should have called.”
“I’m sorry, wife. Next time, I’ll call you when I’m on my way home from a B and E with a side of kidnapping.” My mouth kicks up in a small grin while Alessia continues to scowl in my direction.
“Thank you.” She looks around me but doesn’t see anyone else.
“Where is he?”
“I have him in the basement.”
“And the girl he was with?” Alessia knew I was headed to her place to track Orlando down.
“Seems he doesn’t treat his present girlfriends better than his past ones. I made a deal with her to help her get out of Springfield and set her up somewhere far away if she helps us.”
“Let’s go, then.” Alessia makes a move to the other elevator that goes straight to the basement, but I stop her with a gentle tug at her arm.
“I’m not sure I want you down there yet. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get the information I need.”
Alessia shoots me a questioning look, like she doesn’t understand why that should stop her.
I pull her into my arms and kiss the crown of her head. “The entire ride here, it was all I could do not to pull over and end his sorry existence. You’ve never seen the man I am when someone hurts you.”
The other two times when I had to educate the stupid fucks who thought they could touch her, I was unhinged but in control. This man not only beat her several times over but caused her to lose a pregnancy. He killed her brother, nearly killed her friend, and tried to take her from me. I don’t think there’s going to be much control maintained once I get in the room with him.
Alessia runs her hands up my chest, over my neck and cups my cheeks in both of her small palms. “If you’re afraid I’m going to see the man you’ll become down there, get that thought out of your head this instant. I love you, Finn. It doesn’t matter if you’re an unhinged psychopath or the loving husband who dotes on me. You belong to me, and I belong to you. Nothing changes that. You may not like who you have to be when you walk into that room, but you’re still going to be mine when you walk out.”
I blow out a breath, my arms still wrapped around her body. “That’s the problem. I’m going to enjoy every second of pain I inflict on him. I’m fucking happy he’s not going to live to see another day.”
“So am I.” She places a small kiss on the corner of my mouth. “And that’s what makes us perfect for each other.”