Chapter Eight
Matteo Costello
I had a full team waiting on me before I arrived, all of them armed to the teeth and wearing bulletproof vests. There wasn’t time to spare—not with Anthony inside.
“Ready, boss?”
None of this added up. The attack here tonight. The attack on the warehouse in the projects a few days ago. None of these locations were high profile enough to matter. Vlad could have orchestrated the attack on the projects to get my attention without wrecking many of my holdings. It could have been a warning.
But why here? Why now?
Anthony had been dealing coke, but that was hardly treading on Vlad’s businesses. It hardly made a dent in mine, and he had to know that.
There was an angle—one I wasn’t seeing.
“Kill on sight,” I said to my men, strapping a bulletproof vest onto myself and clenching my jaw. I followed my men toward the door and clutched a pistol in my hand as they slammed open.
Gunfire rang through the warehouse, both from my men and our enemies. I counted a dozen rivals, and the moment we came inside, they all fled toward the back of the building, not bothering to fight.
“Go after them!” I shouted, looking toward the wall where six of my men were on their knees. Two more lay face down beside the group, and I exhaled slowly as I scanned their faces for Anthony.
He stood immediately, rushing toward me.
“It was a setup,” he said.
“It shouldn’t have been. We know the buyer. He’s bought coke from us before.”
Anthony shook his head. “From what I gathered, the Petrovs took him and impersonated his guys so they could take the blow. When they got inside—” he cut himself off and gestured to the carnage.
This wasn’t right. None of it added up.
“Why?”
Anthony licked his lips and shook his head. “I don’t know. They were just… waiting. They demanded that I call you.”
I looked around, taking in my surroundings. “Is it a trap?”
“It has to be, but I don’t understand why. They didn’t want to talk to you. I kept an eye on all the men, and nobody lingered to plant explosives. They didn’t talk about a sniper or killing you. They just wanted you here. ”
When I missed something, people died.
Anthony knew we were missing something, too, and he began scanning the perimeter. I did the same as my men came back inside, reporting that only a fraction of the assailants had been killed.
They’d run. They hadn’t bothered to fight.
What the fuck was I missing? Vlad wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t risk his men for a fool’s mission. He’d been clear that if I didn’t give him Lilianna, he’d come after me next, but this attack didn’t matter.
It meant nothing, and he had to know it.
“How many died?” I asked.
“Just the two,” Anthony said, striding back across the room and gesturing to the two men. “Harlow Scuito and Bill Combs. Both were low-level soldiers. Both newer recruits.”
“Trustworthy?” I asked. “Were they connected to Vlad in any way?”
“No.”
I stared at the men at my feet and exhaled deeply. All he wanted was Lilianna, and I wouldn’t give her up—not as long as I lived. If he was drawing me out to kill me, why hadn’t he done it?
My phone chimed, and I glanced down at a text from Lilianna.
My heart sank as I read the four terse words and finally understood the reason for this attack.
He wasn’t drawing me out to kill me.
He drew me out to kill Lilianna.
I should have seen this coming.
I didn’t bother telling Anthony where I was going as I charged from the room and toward my car. It had barely started before I squealed down the road, imagining the state I might find her in. Lilianna could defend herself to a point. She had a gun, and she had someone to protect. She wouldn’t let them get to Callum, and I knew she’d fight hard to see her son was safe.
Lilianna had to be alive.
I swerved in and out of traffic, not bothering to adhere to a single traffic law along the way.
“Fuck!” I shouted, slamming my fist on my horn as a car didn’t bother getting into the other lane.
They intentionally slowed down.
I slammed into their bumper, and when they skidded to the side, I passed the car and pressed the gas.
He’d planned the attack to take place as far from my house as possible, and he’d done it so I wouldn’t have time to stop them.
He didn’t know me.
It took half the usual time for me to return home, and I stormed to the elevator, loading both firearms and preparing them for use. I tucked one back into my ankle holster and carried the other as the elevator doors swung open and revealed my front door wide open. One guard lay half inside and half outside in a pool of his own blood.
I pulled my gun upright as I found a second guard on the ground in front of the side door.
I stormed inside without hesitation.
The sound of a struggle caught my attention first, and I quickened my steps. Immediately inside the door stood a short man who shifted impatiently from foot to foot. He stared at the scene unfolding before him.
A rage unlike any I’d ever experienced filled me, and I didn’t hesitate before lifting the gun and firing. He glanced up just in time to meet my eyes before the bullet ripped through his chest. Fear flashed there before I lifted the gun, fired through his skull, and tucked it away in my holster.
I launched my body at the man who had Lilianna in a headlock, and he hardly had time to release her before I took him to the ground. His head slammed into the hardwood, and I found my way atop him, balling my fists and using my entire body to put force behind each punch.
The first one made contact, and he groaned.
I heard only my racing heart thumping in my ears as I threw punch after punch at the man. The image of Lilianna’s kicking feet gave me the strength to continue. There was barely a pause between my punches. I felt his hand rise to my face, but I kept swinging. Kept making contact with his bleeding face.
Nobody would touch her.
Nobody would fucking hurt her.
I couldn’t even feel my knuckles make contact as they went numb, but I kept going. Even after his hand dropped to the floor, I didn’t stop.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and it broke my focus enough for me to spin around and grab the person’s wrist. I thrust their body backward into the wall beside the door.
I realized in a split second that I was fighting off Lilianna.
Her cheek had reddened, and her mouth parted in a gasp.
The blood stopped rushing through my ears as I looked down at her, breathing as if I’d just run a marathon.
“He’s dead,” she whispered, one of her hands rising to lie on my chest. “I’m okay.”
I stared deeply into her eyes, and she held my gaze, not backing down.
“Matteo, it’s over,” she said. I wondered what she saw as she stared at me. She moved her hand from my chest and grabbed the fist that I had pressed into the wall beside her head. Then, she grabbed the hand behind her head and brought them both to her lips, kissing each knuckle. The stinging pain in them finally registered, and I glanced down at them.
Blood covered my hands, both mine and the blood of the man I’d just beaten to death.
I looked over my shoulder and took in both men on the ground—one cleanly killed and the other…
I’d beaten him far past death. His face was unrecognizable in the misshappen lump of gore.
“Matteo, look at me,” Lilianna said.
Her voice brought me back to the moment, grounding me.
“We’re safe.”
But she wasn’t.
Tonight had been a declaration of war from Vlad. He’d sent men to infiltrate my home and take Lilianna. She was mine.
He knew it, yet he still orchestrated this attack.
I lifted a hand and brushed it against her cheekbone lightly. Lilianna winced beneath the touch. “They hurt you,” I said. “Where else?”
She shook her head. “A few bruises, but I’m fine.”
“Where else?” I demanded.
She exhaled deeply and lifted her arms between us. “Just a few bruises on my forearms. Maybe my neck. They didn’t have a chance to do much.”
“And Callum?” I asked.
“He’s still asleep. They didn’t even know he was here.”
I took a moment to take a deep breath and exhale through my nose. With each moment, I found more of my composure.
“Where is your gun?”
“I couldn’t get to it in time, and I couldn’t stay in the room and risk waking him. If they would have found him…”
I understood and nodded.
“I’m going to go and put him back in bed. I’ll be out to help with all of this in a few minutes, okay?” she said.
She looked at me as if I was about to break. She didn’t move from her spot between me and the wall, as if waiting for me to let her move. I didn’t want to. I needed her close. I needed to see that she was okay and still here.
But I had to let her go to her son.
“I’ll see you in a few minutes,” I told her, taking a small step away.
She slid away and moved toward her room, but she paused for just a moment and turned back toward me.
“I’m coming right back,” she assured me.
She had no idea how much I needed to hear those words as she disappeared into her room.
I glanced back to the man I’d beaten to death. I’d never lost my temper like that before. I’d walked through this life unfazed for years, never letting anyone get the better of me. For years I’d never let my temper take control of my actions, but that was what had happened tonight.
I kept my control on a tight leash, and that leash had unraveled tonight.
I’d make sure nothing like this ever happened to her again.