Chapter 47
Vienna
There was no sign of Nico.
The frustration was fuelling my anger more than anything.
We had this city on fucking lockdown. Every inch of our territory was covered in cameras. We even had cameras in neutral territory for fuck’s sake, as well as spies in areas that were not under our control.
The fact that Nico was able to effortlessly slip through our fingers like this was inconceivable.
The first time was annoying. The second time at Greasy was infuriating. The third time made me want to set the world alight. I definitely would have torched the shop had I not been so focused on Gabriella. But this? This was beyond the fucking pale.
Who did that guy have working for him that he could avoid not only us on foot—or on our bikes—but also Hacksaw behind the cameras?
It made no goddamn sense.
No one was able to evade Hacksaw’s cameras because the man was a fucking pro at what he does.
“How the fuck does he keep getting near her?” I practically roared, kicking the wall as I brought my bike to a stop.
“Feel better?” Dante asked.
“No. He left her a fucking note, Dante. He knew she was seeing Ashleigh, and he’s left shit for her.”
“It’s not hard to figure out,” he shrugged.
“Our bikes are outside her office all the time. We’re hardly discreet.
We should have anticipated this and planned ahead.
Hacksaw is already on it—he’s installing new cameras around her office and home, and he’s already hacked her phones and blocked Nico out.
He won’t get access to Gabby through Ashleigh again. ”
“She needs to start coming to the fucking compound for our sessions instead.”
Dante laughed. “And you think that will make the situation better?”
I imagined the chaos of therapy taking place in the clubhouse and realised it would be an utter disaster but still…
“At least then we would have all her records with us, not locked away in her office.”
“That’s sort of the point, brother. We aren’t supposed to have her records. They’re supposed to be locked away.”
“Dante,” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Can you just let me be irrational in my anger and stop trying to combat me with logic?”
Dante held his hands up in surrender, a mocking smile on his face. “Far be it from me to add logic at a time like this.”
“Thank you. Jeez.”
I stayed quiet, my anger simmering beneath my skin. Dante must have sensed that no amount of joking and clowning around was enough to get me to calm.
“We’ll find him, brother. He can’t hide forever,” Dante said, slapping my shoulder as we climbed off our bikes outside the clubhouse.
“I know,” I sighed. “But how much damage is going to be done in the meantime?”
“The compound isn’t exactly a prison. There’s lots of free space for members to roam. No damage has to come to Gabriella if she stays within the walls. The damage elsewhere? That’s not our problem. We can’t save everyone. The minute we forget that, people in this compound start dying instead.”
“I know,” I repeated, still feeling more frustrated than ever. “And staying within the walls isn’t the problem. It’s getting her near the walls in the first place. She won’t leave that fucking room. The one day she leaves, and this fucking happens. It’s going to send her right back.”
Fuck!
I was going to skin that cunt alive. I was going to make him howl in pain and beg the devil himself to come and collect him just so he could get away from me.
He was going to fucking pay for all of it.
“Give her time,” Dante said as we walked into the clubhouse. “The girl has never had the opportunity to process. She’ll come back to you when she needs you.”
“Will she? Because she needed me ten years ago, Dante. She needed me when Nico took over before Axel was born. Did she come to me then?”
“She thought your life was in danger then.”
“That’s what scares me,” I admitted. “Because if she thinks my life is in danger now—which Nico blatantly told her it was—will she stay, or will she run when I’m not looking?”
“I’d like to think the situation is a bit different now. First of all, when she saved you the last time, you were surrounded by her dad’s men without even knowing. Your life was legitimately in danger.”
“You’re adding logic again, Dante,” I growled.
“My bad,” he smirked.
I was quiet for a moment before saying, “I can’t let her leave.”
“You know what I’m going to say to that,” he shrugged.
“For the last time, I’m not installing a tracker on her!”
“Worked for Rachel.”
“Rachel thinks she has a tracker on her phone. Rachel reluctantly accepted the tracker on the phone. Rachel has no idea that when we kidnapped Axel and I stabbed her in the neck with a sedative that we also implanted a tracker in her neck as well. Rachel will kill the fucking lot of us if she finds out.”
“She’s not going to find out, and neither will Gabriella.”
“Yeah, good luck if you ever want to take her abroad. I imagine walking through the metal detector will go swimmingly.”
“How embarrassing for you to assume I’d take her commercial. I’ve got friends in high places, you know. Private jet all the way.”
“And they say drugs don’t pay,” I muttered.
Dante laughed, slapping me on the back again, and I split off from him, heading up the stairs to Gabriella’s room.
I knocked on the door, not expecting an answer but knocking anyway. “Gabby?” I called.
Silence.
The same thing that had greeted me for the past few days.
I’d heard her laughing with her other visitors, but I got the silent treatment.
That was beginning to creep under my skin and piss me off more than I was willing to admit.
“Gabby, I’m going to come in.”
I pushed open the door and nothing—nothing—could have prepared me for what was on the other side.
My knees almost gave out immediately.
Her bed was a mess, the covers rumpled and unmade. The drawers were all open and clothes had been flung everywhere. I raced over, trying to see what was missing, mentally categorising everything that was missing against everything I had memorised as being there.
Her shoes were gone. Her phone was gone.
She’d left.
And she’d done so in a fucking hurry.
I stormed back out of the room, racing over to the stairs and flinging myself over the bannister at the top rather than climbing down them.
I hit the bottom floor with a thud and was on my feet in a second, racing through the bar.
“Dante!” I yelled. “Dante! Get Hacksaw. I need to know where her phone last pinged. Get everyone ready to ride.”
“What’s happened?” he asked, not moving an inch.
“I said, get ready to ride!” I snapped. “Oh, and get that fucking tracking device. I’m not joking,” I seethed, throwing open the door to the bar.
And then I heard Rachel laugh.
I turned around slowly, feeling almost feral.
“Is something fucking funny?”
“Not particularly,” she smirked. “It is highly amusing to watch you panicking, though.”
“Dante,” I warned.
Dante nudged her with his elbow and jutted his chin at me. Rachel sighed dramatically.
“Do you really have that little faith in me, hair buddy? Do you really think I’d let you down again?”
I winced at her words.
She had never let me down. None of this was her fault.
I felt my shoulders deflate as some of my anger left me.
“She’s in the garage, you dramatic bastard,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes at me. “She’s Tools’ new apprentice. She—”
I was out of the door and racing on foot to the garage before she’d finished her sentence. Though I did hear her mocking laughter behind me, followed by Dante telling her off.
I pushed open the garage doors, almost knocking down a startled Gemma, and then my knees almost gave way for a completely different reason.
Because there she was.
My girl.
And she was…
Hang on, she was fucking shouting.
“For the last time, Tools. No. No is a complete fucking sentence.”
“It’s your fucking job, woman!”
“Oh, don’t you ‘woman’ me, you sexist pig!” she yelled back, brandishing a wrench in his face. “My job is to be your apprentice. To work on the motors. And I will do so happily. What I won’t do is bring you a brew—”
“And a Kit-Kat. I asked for a Kit-Kat.
“You can shove your Kit-Kat up your fucking ass, mister!”
“So… should I make the brews then?” Tools asked, looking utterly forlorn.
“That would be nice,” Gabriella replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “And don’t forget the goddamn Kit-Kats.”
Tools slumped off, his shoulders hunched, muttering under his breath.
I watched with fascination as Gabriella tipped her head back and laughed.
Really laughed.
A laugh that started at her toes and flew out of her mouth with abandon. She laughed until her greasy arms wrapped around her stomach. Until her oil-coated fingers curled into a fist, swiping at her eyes with the back of her hands.
She laughed until she hunched over, her hands on her knees, cackling like I had never heard before.
And then, when she was done, she straightened up and took a deep breath, shaking her head at her hysterical laughing breakdown.
And then she saw me and startled.
“Get out,” I said to no one and everyone.
I didn’t look at anyone else. My eyes were on her.
Always on her.
“Out!” I barked.
I heard the scattering behind me as everyone rushed to obey my command.
And all the while Gabriella stared at me as intently as I was staring at her.
“Here’s your cup of tea, your highness… oh fucking hell, you’re going to spunk all over my garage, aren’t you?”
Tools slammed the cups down on the workbench and stormed past me, shoulder-barging me as he did so.
I didn’t move an inch.
Not until I heard the door slam behind me.
And then I was marching forward as fast as Gabriella was running towards me.
We crashed together, our mouths instantly finding each other.
Within seconds I had her in my arms, her legs wrapped around my waist.
“I thought you’d left,” I whispered against her lips, shuddering at the emotion flooding through me.
“There’s nowhere I’d go without you,” she murmured back.
And then I was lost.