Chapter 60
DIANGELO
Present
I’ve called all of their phones—Terina, Shae, Isa, Cosimo, and even Azzurra. I’ve left messages. Renzo has called. We’ve tried over and over without success. I keep thinking that if I try one more time, maybe I’ll get through. Because if they don’t get word…
I can’t even think about what might happen.
Renzo informed us that Cosimo has a safe room. I can only hope that, if Pasha did go after them, they had enough time and warning to reach safety.
Please, God, let them be safe.
Aside from the phone calls, we’re silent on the drive. The concentrated fear filling the car is so dense that the pressure pushes in on me, making it hard to breathe and pounding against my skull.
Renzo breaks at least a dozen traffic laws.
He runs lights. Drives on the sidewalk. He even scrapes the entire side of the new SUV along a light post to squeeze around traffic.
After what feels like an eternity, we pull up at Cosimo’s house, where the guards are now motionless on the ground near the entry.
The car doesn’t come to a complete stop before I eject myself, gun in hand. The others are close behind me. I run across the large yard and confirm two of the men down are dead—one is ours, the other is theirs. The third man is unconscious but alive.
“Let’s stick to the same plan—Tommy and Sante, your team enters from the rear. D and I will take the others through the front.”
Everyone nods to Renzo’s command and falls into step with the appropriate team. We’re stepping through the front entry when a spray of rapid gunfire bursts through the air in the distance.
“The east wing,” I say.
“That’s where the safe room is,” Renzo adds.
We take a few steps in that direction when two shots ring out behind us.
Tommy’s voice comes over the comm. “We got one.”
That’s one less, but it also means the others are probably aware they’re no longer alone. We move down the hallway as one. A head peeks out from a doorway, then disappears. The door slams shut.
Renzo spits out a curse. “It’s time to give up, Pasha,” he bellows. “We have you outnumbered and surrounded.”
“I don’t think so, you fucking cocksuckers. You owe me!” He sounds crazed, which is never a good sign.
I tap Renzo’s shoulder and motion that I’m heading back outside.
He nods, calling out to Pasha again while I hurry back to the front door.
Once I’m outside, I hug the perimeter of the house until I get to the office windows.
Slowly, I take the tiniest peek into the room, then retreat, careful not to disturb the bushes behind me.
“It’s Pasha and two others,” I inform our group via the comm. “Very armed. I can take them, but I need a distraction.” One of the men is watching the window. The second I show myself, his gun is pointed and ready to fire.
Renzo’s voice buzzes in my ear. “Got it. You tell me when.”
“Make sure you stay clear of the door.” I don’t want to accidentally shoot one of my own guys.
I double-check my gun. “Good on your count.”
“Three, two, one…”
Gunfire explodes inside the house.
I step in front of the window, gun raised. As I’d hoped, all three men inside are now facing the door to the office in anticipation of being stormed. I pluck them off through the window like apples on a fence post, putting multiple bullets in each of them.
“All clear!” I shout.
Renzo and the rest of our guys, all seven of them, pour into the room. I bolt for the front door to join them back inside, pushing through the crowd until I’m standing with Renzo as the bookcase door swings open.
The first thing I hear is Bonny growling.
“Settle, Bonny,” I issue evenly.
She immediately starts to whine with eagerness to see me. Everyone in the safe room emerges in perfect health. I’ve never been so damn relieved in my life.
Terina’s eyes are brimming with tears when she flings herself into my arms. I hold her so damn tight I have to remind myself to let her breathe. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Renzo doing the same with Shae while the others quietly talk among themselves.
Eventually, I pull back, needing to see Rina’s face and reassure myself she’s okay.
“You’re not hurt?”
“No, you?” she asks.
“We’re all fine, though the guards here at the house didn’t fare so well.”
Her face melts with sadness. “It was so awful. We could see it on the monitor but had no way to help them.”
I hug her to me again. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I was terrified when we realized Pasha was likely going after Isa. We couldn’t get here fast enough.”
“I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t warned Cosimo.”
“So he did get my message?”
She nods. “He had us so freaked out. I didn’t have a chance to look at my phone until we were in the safe room, and then we didn’t have a signal. It was so scary.”
“You did incredible. All of you.”
Rina’s gaze drops to the floor, where three dead men lie at our feet. I’d been so concentrated on seeing her that I forgot to consider how upsetting it might be to see the bloody remains of three men.
“Is one of them Pasha?” she asks.
I force her gaze to mine. “Yes, he’s gone now. You’re safe.”
Her eyes try to stray back to the dead.
“Rina,” I say in a low murmur with just a touch of warning.
Her gaze snaps back to mine as though I’d given a tug to an invisible string tethering us together.
“Don’t allow him to darken a single ray of your sunshine. Just let him go, okay?”
Her answering smile intoxicates me.
“Okay, D.”
I slant my lips over hers and silently thank God she’s mine.