XLV
Andros Valetti
“ Fuck me. No dick is good enough for me to relocate. Twice,” Hazel mutters under her breath but we all hear it. She’s standing at the front door, her packed bags at her side as Sean waits by the car for her.
The four of us stand in a line in front of her, a mixture of shut-off emotions and hurt faces.
“Spitfire, it’s not forever,” Dawson tries to plead with her but she refuses to meet his eyes. Her body language is all wrong, defensive and closed off as she folds her arms over her chest.
“Cool,” she responds, her tone cold.
“Well, I’ll see you all at some point then. Stay alive, I guess,” she shrugs and grabs her bags, storming out the front door before any of us can reply. It slams with a deafening abruptness.
“Tell me where she’s staying,” Dawson demands, turning to Atlas with fury in his eyes. I’ve only seen Dawson lose control a few times, but those memories suggest he is about to lose it again.
“It’s for her own safety if no one knows,” Atlas sighs dejectedly. His hands being clenched and his jaw tight are the only indications of his fury, his cooled face giving no expression.
Dawson almost roars as he lunges for Atlas, punching him square in the jaw and making the boss stagger backwards from the impact. I sit down, unable to intervene in their fight due to my annoyingly, still broken leg. Theo doesn’t make a move to stop them either, choosing to let them brawl it out.
They both need this.
I watch as Atlas swings for him, landing a gut punch. Dawson immediately retaliates and the two dismantle the room as they lunge for each other. They smash into walls as expensive decorations fall around them.
“You didn’t need to send her off like that,” Dawson shouts as he punches Atlas’ face. I wince at the sound of his fist connecting with Atlas’ nose.
“It keeps her safe,” Atlas growls back, quickly landing the same punch on Dawson’s face. They both have blood pouring from their noses at this point, and I look to Theo to intervene.
Between the two of us, we have them restrained, with me taking Atlas as the easier option. He calms almost immediately, going back into Don mode. On the other hand, Dawson strains against Theo’s hold, trying to get more punches in on Atlas.
“Fighting isn’t going to help,” I drawl as I push Atlas by his chest to sit down on the sofa. He glares up at me but says nothing.
“You two didn’t say anything, either,” Dawson points his finger accusingly between Theo and I. Guilt swarms me, knowing I did stand there and do nothing when she was clearly hurting.
“What were we supposed to say?” Theo asks, his voice containing a heavy bite as he tries to contain his emotions whilst holding back Dawson.
“Anything to fucking reassure her!”
“It wouldn’t have helped,” I answer in a quiet voice. Dawson looks at me with burning fury in his eyes, but I watch as the fight slowly seeps out of him until he slumps down in the armchair opposite the sofa.
The room is silent, apart from Dawson’s heavy breathing and Theo’s regular, impatient pacing.
“Theo, organise a team to be at every airport in the country for the next day,” Atlas instructs after a few minutes. Theo nods and stands up, cracking his neck on each side before walking out of the room.
“Andros, can you track all the planes in the Russian Mafia? I want to make sure they aren’t going somewhere else,” Atlas asks me.
“Sure,” I shrug and stand up, heading up to my room. Once the door is shut behind me, I allow myself to feel the emotions I’ve kept locked away since Hazel walked out.
We all separate for a few days. It’s like a ghost town without Hazel. She’s the magnet that keeps us all together, and without her, we are just passing ships in the night. We don’t speak, muttering only a few words to each other if we pass by.
Dawson and Theo have been at the warehouse, interrogating anyone and everyone they can get their hands on that have something to do with this. Atlas and I have taken a different approach, him locking himself in his office whilst I try to stalk Alexei and Dmitri on my computer.
I’ve barely showered, barely left my computer and barely eaten as I work on their locations. It’s taken longer than I thought, thanks to the reinforcements of the Russian security systems being upgraded, but I’ve finally done it.
Loading up the live location of Alexei on my tablet, I get up and walk downstairs to show Atlas. His voice filters through the house as soon as I reach the bottom step of the staircase, his anger clear in his tone.
“Well make her fucking eat,” he shouts to the person on the phone as I let myself into his office. I take a seat opposite his desk and watch his tense body language.
“She won’t. She says her cramps hurt too much and she’s not hungry,” Sean sighs.
“Is having Sabrina there not helping?” Atlas asks, rubbing his forehead as he rests his elbow on his desk.
“She’s only just arrived. I think she’s making her take a shower because I don’t hear any crying.”
“Hazel’s crying?” I perk up in my seat, hating that she’s upset.
“She feels betrayed,” Sean responds, his words harsher than I expected.
“Keep an eye on her and get Sabrina to force her to eat if you have to,” Atlas instructs and ends the call.
“I’ve found him,” I announce. He looks up to me with hope and determination swirling in his eyes. I show him my tablet, which has Alexei’s location outlined in a small circle on a map of Italy. It’s only a few hours away from us and is moving slowly closer.
“I’ll send a team in,” he grabs his phone and begins dialling Theo’s number. My phone buzzes in my pocket as Atlas rattles off orders to Theo in Italian. I pull it out and frown when I see Sean’s name.
My curiosity piqued, I answer the call and immediately regret it.
“Ahh, thank fuck one of you picked up,” Sabrina says through the phone. I check the caller ID again before bringing the phone to my ear.
“Why are you calling me on Sean’s phone?” I ask her with a frown.
“He wouldn’t give me your numbers so I stole his phone from him when he wasn’t looking.” I can hear Sean’s disgruntled voice in the background as she speaks, making me smirk.
“What can I do for you, Sabrina?” I put my most-charming voice on, trying to avoid the verbal berating I know I have heading my way.
“It’s not what you can do for me. Well actually, it is. You could stop treating my girl like shit. All of you men, I swear to God. It’s like you were raised without any contact with women at all. I mean, seriously, we are human beings as well. You can’t just reel her in and then force her away when things in your life get difficult,” she lectures, her exasperation growing with each word.
I bite my tongue, realising she doesn’t know the real reason Hazel was sent away. Although it was pretty easy for Atlas to persuade her to join Hazel in New York, we couldn’t divulge that Hazel is there for protection against her own father.
“I have to go, Sabrina,” I sigh, rolling my eyes when she starts to argue.
“I’m not done yelling at you, yet.”
“Send it in a text,” I reply and end the call abruptly. When I look at Atlas, he is staring at me with raised eyebrows.
“She’s not happy with how we’re treating Hazel,” I tell him.
“Me neither,” he shrugs in response.