Chapter 33 #2
“There are eight women here. Kidnapped. Gagged and tied. On the top floor at the back. One of you will have to get them out.”
“Fuck. Got it.”
I put a finger over my mouth, asking them to remain silent. They all stared at me as I stepped closer and sat on my knees. “My friends will release you soon. Just stay put. I’m going to take care of these men.”
One of them shook her head and tried to say something through the gag. I quickly shushed her. “If I release the gag, do you promise not to scream and tell me whatever it is silently?”
She quickly nodded, and I pulled down her gag. With a deep gulp of air, she whispered, “There are too many. And they’re dangerous.”
I gave her a smile. “Not as dangerous as me. Do any of you know the name of the boss here?”
All of them shook their heads. The girl whose gag I’d removed said, “Everybody calls him boss.”
I gave her a nod and, before she could protest, put the gag back on her face. “Sorry, honey. I can’t risk any screaming. One of my friends will be here soon to release you all.”
With that, I got up and slowly opened the door.
It opened into a long hallway with doors on both sides.
Seeing nobody at the end of the hallway, I stepped out of the room.
The moment I reached the end of the hallway, two men with big guns strapped around them stood at the stairs leading to the floor below.
Before any of them could raise an alarm, I jumped on them, snapping the neck of one while wrapping my legs around the other’s neck, choking him until he passed out.
I reached the second floor below to a lot more activity.
I hid in the stairwell, taking note of the large boxes and columns that would help me conceal myself.
Finally, I put on my brass knuckles. Things were about to get a lot bloodier. The warehouse was much bigger inside than it looked from the outside. I started to make my way down the hallway, trying to find out if they’d kept Dominic in any rooms behind the closed doors.
I met the first guy the moment I rounded the corner.
With three slams of my brass knuckles right on his mouth, I had him incapacitated.
Blood coated my fingers, but I didn’t give a fuck.
I found an empty room and threw his body there.
I kept moving forward and eliminated six men, throwing them all in the same empty room I’d put their friend in.
My hands were coated in blood, and my muscles burned after carrying all of them one after the other, all the while sneaking away from the men patrolling.
Time was running out, and I knew the Wildcats would be here soon. Not finding Dominic anywhere on this floor, I ran to the staircase leading to the ground floor. I was pretty sure I'd find him there. Or in the basement.
I was hidden at the base of the staircase when I saw a line of men standing in a circle. And I knew I’d found Dominic. I couldn’t see anything with all the men blocking my view. But I knew he was there.
I took a few steps out and hid behind a large brown container. I bent around it slightly, and finally, from between two men, I found him.
Dominic.
My rage exploded in my chest as I found a pool of blood around him on the floor, his head bent lower, his hair hanging around his face. I moved my gaze to where a cloth was wrapped around his leg, and fear unlike anything skittered down my spine .
He was not moving.
Was he alive? Was he unconscious?
Violent rage exploded inside my chest, and I was about ready to launch myself at the thirty-something men in front of me when a loud shout from somewhere nearby had me freezing in my spot. “Boss, someone killed a lot of our men.”
The men standing around immediately drew their guns and began shuffling around.
In the midst of their panic, my eyes stayed focused only on one man.
My man. And he finally moved. His chest shook as he laughed and let out a cough.
My senses, my eyes, my ears, every part of my being was so fucking focused on him, so tuned to him, I heard him say, “I told you my girlfriend would come and kill you all.”
My body screamed at me to move. To shoot them all and take him to the hospital. To prove Dominic right. Because of course I would come for him. There was no question I’d obliterate anybody who touched him, let alone shoot him.
Another man came into my view as he punched Dominic square in the face.
I aimed a shot at him, but one of his men moved and stood in front of him.
And I knew I’d kill that man in the suit with my bare hands.
Not with a gun. He’d suffer. He’d face my wrath.
He’d look me in the eye and know who took his life.
He’d know he’d made a mistake by touching what was mine.
My earpiece crackled, and Lena’s voice filtered in my ear. “We’re inside the building. Naomi’s got the girls. Tara’s got the second floor covered. As soon as you start shooting, Sloane and I will barge through the front entrance. You’re good to attack. Guns blazing, Tiger.”
And I pulled the trigger at the lackey standing in front of the guy in the suit, spraying blood all over his shocked, frozen face, as the lackey’s body slumped at Dominic’s feet.
“Hi, Tigress.” Dominic’s voice might’ve been barely above a whisper, but I read his lips with perfect clarity.
Before the guy in the suit could even point his gun toward Dominic, I shot the hand holding his gun. He screamed, clutching his hand. With guns in both of my hands, I jumped onto the box I was hiding behind and started shooting every man standing there. “Hi, baby.”
More bullets started spraying on top of these men, coming from different directions. I knew my girls were here.
I walked toward the man who had dared to touch my man. I sprinted as I got closer, feeling a bullet zip past my head and lodge itself squarely in the head of the guy on my right.
I jumped and landed with my knees square on the guy in the suit while he screamed in pain as blood poured out of his shot arm. I pressed down on his chest, my knee digging deep into the rib cage. “Who the fuck are you?”
He coughed as he muttered in a hoarse voice, “Viktor Sokolov. You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong. Russian mob. Drug trafficking. Women trafficking. Probably weapons trafficking. Am I wrong?”
He stayed silent. I punched him hard with my brass knuckles, his blood spraying on my face. “I asked you a question.”
He spat out his blood with a cough. “Not wrong. You think there won’t be others popping up if you kill me? This is much bigger than me. Than you. Than your rich boyfriend. You both messed with the wrong people.”
I turned to look at Dominic, who was tied to the chair, his head hanging low. His leg was shot, and blood pooled at the soles of his feet. Anger coursed through every vein of my body. “Dominic,” I called out his name, panic lacing my tone.
He grunted.
I punched Viktor square in the face once again, bashing his face with so much force that two of his teeth flew out. I looked at Dominic and shouted his name. “Dominic. Wake the fuck up. ”
He jerked, and his body moved as he raised his head to look at me. His eyes were bloodshot, but his body heaved in relief. “You’re here, baby.”
Tears stung my eyes. “Keep looking at me, Dom. You have to hold on just a few more minutes. Until I deal with this fucker.”
Viktor’s eyes widened under me. “You’ll never be rid of what’s coming to you.
You’ll constantly have to watch your backs.
If you kill me or affect our base in any way, people far more dangerous than me will come after you.
” His head turned to the shot that rang.
He looked at me and continued, “And your team.”
I held him by the collar of his shirt and bent down. “We wouldn’t even have known about you had you not come after my man. Nobody touches him and survives.”
Before he could keep fucking talking and wasting my precious minutes, I pulled out my gun and shot him square in the forehead. I had no time to kill him with my bare hands.
“Great shot, baby,” Dominic whispered.
I turned to him with a glare and slapped him hard as he was starting to conk out. “Stay awake, Dom. We need to put some serious tracking and monitoring systems in place for you.”
He gave me a wide smile as his head lolled. “You can put a tracker under my skin.”
I scoffed as I started pulling out the ropes holding him to the chair. “Oh, I’m most definitely gonna.”
By the time I untied all of the ropes, silence ensued all around me. The rushing of footsteps had me looking up to find Sloane and Lena running toward me. “I need Naomi. Dominic’s shot. I don’t know how long ago. He’s lost a lot of blood.”
My voice was laced with bone-deep panic. Dominic was barely conscious enough to clutch my hand as I sat on my knees. “Shh…Maira. I’m fine. ”
He was delusional. He could barely keep his eyes open.
It was only my grip on his shoulder that kept him upright in the chair.
I held his cheeks and shook him until his eyes met mine.
“If you fucking die on me, I’m going to follow you.
I fucking dare you to close your eyes on me.
You understand?” The last two words were a shrill scream that I didn’t even realize I could let out.
His eyes finally widened as his grip on my hand tightened. Before he could attempt to say anything, I said to him, “Don’t even try talking. Just shut up. Keep your eyes open. And do not fucking move.”
I turned to Lena and Sloane. “Where’s the car you came in? Where the fuck is Naomi?”
Lena and Sloane dropped down. Sloane was about to touch Dominic’s wound, but red clouded my vision, and I fucking snarled at her audacity.
Sloane quickly raised her hands in surrender. “I’m just looking at the wound, Sami. We need to wrap the wound more if the cloth around his leg isn’t wrapped tightly enough.”
“Fine.”