18. Alek
ALEK
Ilet them get away. I can’t believe I let those bastards get away with Tommaso. The entire scene is so chaotic around me. Guns going off in every direction. It is hard to tell who is shooting who, and even though I push Cassian out of my way, I don’t make it outside in time.
The car is speeding away before I can even get the door open.
“Motherfucker!” I whirl back around on my heels and stomp inside with all the fury rising up in my chest.
“They got him!” I shout into the small crowd of bleeding and injured.
I pull out my gun and like a heat-seeking missile, I aim for the final guard standing. Although several of us are shooting at him at the same time, I’m positive it’s my bullet that strikes him in the back and exits from the front of his chest, ending his life.
His body falls to the ground, and we’re all left standing here panting for breath, covered in blood and sweat.
“Where’s Tommy?” Carmine asks, rushing over to me.
“Two of Bianchi’s men snuck in during the fight and grabbed him! If I can get to my car now, I might be able to catch up with them,” I insist.
Carmine’s eyes flare with anger. “Fuck! We should have been more careful.”
I growl in irritation. “No, you should have never let the Carvels come in here in the first place. Much less with their guns, for fucks sake. What the hell were you thinking?” I ask him.
The tension in the air is almost as thick as the humidity.
“Nikolas is dead because of you!” Beau yells at him, forcing himself between us and right up in Carmine’s face. “You never should have trusted them!”
Carmine’s jaw tightens. “Everyone, pull yourself together. We need to make a plan, and we need to make one now. We don’t have time to argue.”
“We have to get Tommaso back before they kill him,” Cassian says quickly and shoves his gun into his holster. “Where would they have taken him?”
“I know exactly where they will take him,” I say. “Stephan is overconfident and likely thinks he’s already won now. They will take him back to their estate, I know it.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Carmine disagrees with a shake of his head. “It would be an awfully risky move taking him to their estate, risking all the lives of his family.”
“He is exactly the kind of man to risk it,” I tell him. “Have you never spoken to him in person? He’s so full of himself that he is probably counting the guns the Carvels handed over to him and taking the money he gave them back. Matteo’s gone, Lucas is gone. There’s no one to stop him.”
“What if you’re wrong?” Tiberi asks. “We can’t be at two locations at once.”
Alessio grabs Beau by the arm and pulls him away from Carmine before he speaks. “We need to pick a location and go in guns blazing, just like Tommy would want…and you need to stay here and not get yourself in trouble.”
“No fucking way,” Beau says, his eyes full of tears. “I’m not staying here doing nothing. I’m not helpless. They killed Nikolas. His dead body is feet away from us right now; you can’t expect me not to want to kill those motherfuckers.” His hands curl up into fists.
Carmine nods his head. “We need all hands on deck. Even those that could use some more training. We might lose some people, but we will take out more of the Bianchis.”
“We should have done this a long time ago,” Cassian mumbles. “We should’ve listened to Tommaso.”
“It’s too late now; all we can do is make up for it and rescue him,” Carmine insists.
I step closer to him. “I’m going to kill those fuckers if it’s the last thing I do,” I say through my teeth. “Look, you didn’t trust me when I told you that there was no talking with the Carvels and look how that turned out. I need you to trust me when I say that they’ll be at the Bianchi estate.”
Carmine eyes me from head to toe. “Fine, but we need more men if we’re going to storm the place and end this once and for all.”
I click my tongue and look toward the door. They’re probably miles away by now with Tommy in the backseat, or the trunk. Going after them now by myself won’t be worth it.
“I’ll talk to the guys at the base, get anyone who is willing to fight on your side,” I tell him.
“Our side, Aleksandr,” he reminds me.
I nod and turn toward the hallway to the garage, prepared to get in my car and drive as fast as I can to the underground base.
As I’m driving to the underground base, I get several text alerts. I pull my phone out at a stoplight and curse under my breath.
The Bianchis have cut me off from the webcam feeds.
They must know then. My cover has been blown and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I slam my hands down on the steering wheel and skid my way into a parking lot near the entrance to the base.
There’s no point in pretending like I’m not a part of them now.
I ignore the questions thrown at me from the two standing guard outside the entrance and rush inside. “I need everyone gathered right now,” I say as I storm down the first corridor. “Everyone who can hear me! Meet me in the left wing now!”
I find Jake walking down another corridor with a confused and irritated look on his face. “What’s going on, Aleksandr?” he asks me.
“My cover was blown, just so you know,” I tell him quickly. “The Carvels shot up the Dresvannis, and the Bianchis kidnapped Tommaso in the middle of it.”
“They took Tommaso Dresvanni?” Jake asks me, like he didn’t just hear what I said.
“Yes, what are you stupid?” I growl at him, stepping closer until our faces are almost touching. “I need everyone, and I mean everyone who is here right now gathered in the left wing immediately.”
“What are you planning?” he asks. “Not everyone is going to be willing to risk their lives for the Dresvanni family.”
“I don’t care if three people are all I can get, I need to talk to everyone right the fuck now. Get Travi, Trish, Rocko, Klutz, I don’t care just get them.” I push past Jake and head for the left wing immediately.
By the time they get there, there’s about ten people gathered. They’re all leaning against the walls or standing with their arms folded in anticipation and annoyance. A few more who were walking behind me head in front of me and glance at me with confusion.
“Jake is the only one who can call a meeting like this, you now,” Trish tells me with narrowed eyes.
“And Jake is in on this,” I insist.
Rocko lights up a cigarette as a few more people come walking in, some of them walking quicker than the others. I note who seems the most concerned out of all of them. They’re more likely to join the effort.
“Tommaso Dresvanni was kidnapped by the Bianchi family,” I explain. “The Carvels shot up the estate and the Bianchis got a hold of him in the middle of the gun fight.”
“What does that have to do with us?” Travi asks.
I glare at him. “We’re trying to take the Bianchis down, are we not?
” I ask them, looking around at everyone.
“The Dresvanni family plan on ending things tonight. This isn’t some petty little fight.
The Bianchis are going to suffer. They’re going to feel the wrath of the consequences for all the things they’ve done. ”
“What exactly have they done to you? You’ve barely shared a single thing about yourself since you’ve been here,” a voice rings out from the back.
I nod my head. “I know. I know I haven’t told you why I want to take the Bianchis out, but that changes now,” I explain.
“Stephan Bianchi is the reason my wife is dead. He decided to take out a building filled with families, because there was one man inside he wanted to kill. Mothers, fathers, children, grandparents. My wife. They all died in a horrific fire because he had to get back at one man.”
The room grows quiet, and all their eyes are on me.
“I know I’m not the only one he’s done this to.
I know there’s more of you who have lost someone because of him,” I say slowly.
“Just in the last couple months that I have been here we’ve lost three of our men to the Bianchi assholes.
I can’t lose Tommy too. I…I love him. I cannot lose him like I did her. ”
“I lost my girlfriend,” Trish mumbles. “Eight months ago, she was sent on a solo mission to collect intel and never came back. We still don’t know where she is, where her body is.”
I swallow through the tightness in my throat.
“That is exactly why I need your help. I need your help to end the Bianchi family and rescue Tommaso Dresvanni. I’m almost positive that they have taken him to their estate.
Stephan Bianchi is a confident and cruel man.
He thinks he’s won by kidnapping a single brother of the Dresvanni family, but what he doesn’t know is he has actually dug his own grave, because I’m not going in there tonight just to get Tommy back and leave them shaken up.
I am going to kill every single last one of them.
Are you going to help me?” I watch as the crowd before me looks at each other, uncertain, but then their shoulders straighten.
One by one, a total of six people raise their hands. It’s not as many as I wish it was, but it’s more than I expected in the first place.
Two more people raise their hands at the last second, and I smile softly.
“Good. We are going to need all the manpower we can get.”
Jake steps up from behind me and claps me on the shoulder.
“I’m in. Anything to take those sons of bitches out.”