28. Elio
ELIO
This was fucking hopeless.
Eight fucking safe houses.
We managed to find eight of them, and it was all for fucking nothing. There were no signs that those houses had been used in the first place.
I took a drink of my water and turned to look at Valentino. There was the same hopelessness in his eyes that was reflected in my own.
I was sure he was thinking the same thing I was.
That we wasted the last three days dredging through the woods for a fucking dead end.
I looked over at Romeo. He was looking down at the paper map in his hands.
Cell signals in these parts were spotty at best.
We were communicating with Massimo via satellite phones, and he managed to send us the coordinates to locate the houses.
It wasn’t easy.
And it was taking too long.
I stood up and looked out at the expansive area in front of me, trying to think about anything else but what Isa might have gone through.
Was my girl eating properly?
Was she hurt?
I closed my eyes. I knew she was hurt. I saw the fucking video from Valentino’s apartment.
I had watched it over and over again, trying to find any clues. All I ended up doing was torturing myself with the image of Isa being thrown against the dresser. Of those fuckers beating on her.
Of Thompson knocking her out cold and carrying her out of there, taking her away from me.
Valentino came up and stood beside me. “We’re going to find her.”
I nodded because that was all I could manage.
We were going to find her, but what kind of state would we find her in?
The satellite phone hanging by my side rang, and I picked up.
“Elio, we got her. We know where she is.”
My heart hammered from his words. Romeo heard and came up to us.
“Where?” I asked.
“I’ll give you the coordinates. Write them down. I don’t think it’s far away from the last house you ransacked.”
Romeo nodded as he wrote down the coordinates, checking them on the map.
“How did you get this?” Valentino asked.
“She sent it to us. From Walter Thompson’s phone.”
I shared a look of surprise with Valentino. How did she manage to get her hands on that?
“She sent it to Tommaso’s phone.”
Fucking hell.
We got her.
“Okay, thank you. We’re going to get her now.”
“Alright. Just… be careful. All of you, okay?” Massimo said, and it wasn’t hard to hear the worry in his tone.
I clicked the phone off and looked at Romeo. He rechecked the map. “We’re about six miles away. The car will bring us pretty close, but there will be some hiking.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go,” I said, heading out to the Jeep.
I was going to bring my girl home, no matter what.
We stayed hidden behind a boulder and looked out at the house.
It was the correct place.
We caught sight of more than a dozen patch members coming to and from the house all day. The sun was still out, but it was getting closer to five in the evening, and no one seemed to have slowed down.
They were setting up for a wedding.
My fists clenched.
I already knew who was getting married.
And I couldn’t fucking wait for the moment I had Waylen Thompson’s blood coating my skin.
We had been watching the place for the last two hours. We couldn’t act now because we were outnumbered, but more men were coming our way. We just needed to wait for them to arrive, and pretty soon, this entire place would be surrounded.
Hopefully, we will have more time.
I didn’t know when the wedding was supposed to take place, and there hadn’t been any sightings of Isa since we got here.
Roberto, one of the men who came with me, slid up beside me.
“What have you found?”
“The house seems to be a standard one-story. I guess it’s a four-bedroom house, judging by the size. All but one window can be accessed from the outside.”
“All but one?”
“There is a window in the corner that has metal bars on the outside.”
That must be where they were keeping Isa.
“Did you get a good look inside to confirm anyone in there?”
He shook his head. “The curtains were closed, but I did see some movement. And I saw Joseph Gambino laughing with the other Thompson brother, not too far away.”
His face hardened.
I got that. Joseph was a fucking traitor. And in our world, there was only one way to deal with a traitor.
I nodded, and Roberto fell back, Valentino taking his place.
I looked at him. He nodded, keeping his eyes straight ahead. “I heard.”
“I need to know that you can keep a straight head when it’s time to move into offense,” I said.
“Me? You should probably worry about yourself.”
“I’m good.”
He nodded. “She’s doing fine, isn’t she? They wouldn’t hurt her. At least, not now when they need her to walk down the aisle.”
“Yes,” I said, wanting so badly to believe that. She had to be fine. Valentino didn’t say anything to that, and I didn’t press him.
I checked my watch. It was nearing six, and there were still no signs of our backup. It looked like they were finished setting up.
There weren’t a lot of men attending the wedding. I counted about thirty, but that was still more than the seven men I had with me, including Valentino and Romeo.
We had weapons that we carried in our backpacks, but I was sure this was also the base the fucker was using to hide most of his arsenal.
We were outnumbered and outgunned. Usually, odds like this didn’t bother me so much, but with Isa involved…
I didn’t want to risk anything happening to her.
“What do you want to do?” Romeo asked, having seen the men gather around. Someone walked inside the house.
“Wait it out. Give time for our backups to arrive,” I said.
“And if they don’t come in time?”
Fuck if I knew.
“Get your weapons out. Tell our men to do the same. And give me the smoke bomb.”
Romeo handed it over to me. I clutched it tightly in my fist as I watched the front door open, holding my breath. On my other side, Valentino tensed.
I caught sight of white first.
Then pale skin, brown hair, and the pair of big blue eyes of the woman I loved, and I?—
Fuck, my heart hurt looking at her.
Her face was bruised. Her hair fell flat from the top of her head, the strands dull and dry, and the fucking wedding dress…
It was cheaply made and didn’t deserve to touch her skin.
“Fucking hell, what have they done with her?” Valentino said softly.
She wasn’t smiling. And beside her stood a woman I recognized as Nova. She was holding on to Isa, as if giving all her strength to my girl to keep her standing. The women shared a look.
“Did you catch that?” Romeo whispered.
I nodded.
“Do you think Nova is the reason Isa was able to get her hands on Walter’s phone?”
I didn’t fucking know.
We didn’t know much about Nova Thompson, except for her date of birth, the hospital where she was born, and some rather spotty school records. And that was all. She was like a ghost. There was no record of a credit card, a bank account, or her ever holding a job… nothing.
The wedding march started to play as the fucker Waylen stood in front, wearing his cut, dirty jeans, and a creepy smile. I wanted to shoot him.
I could do it too. I wouldn’t fucking miss. But it was the thought of how that would send a surge of panic through the crowd that stopped me.
Nova nodded, leading Isa up to the front. My grip around the smoke bomb tightened marginally before I loosened it and raised my free hand, signaling my men to get ready. I felt everyone move behind me. I reached down and pulled out my gun, getting ready to move.
I had no hope of our backup getting here in time, and while I didn’t fucking care that Isa might get “married” to the fucker in a few moments—it wouldn’t be a real marriage anyway—it looked like she did. And my girl could be stubborn when she wanted to be.
They stopped when they got up to the altar.
One of the patch members was officiating the ceremony.
I ignored him as I looked around Isa, trying to find the easiest spot I could use to get her out of there safely. The only one was behind the patch member officiating, further into the woods. And I would have to get through a lot of fuckers first.
The patch member turned to Waylen and asked, “Do you take Isa to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do.” The fucker smirked, making a show of looking Isa up and down, and his club brothers let out loud hollers and whistles.
Even from a distance, I could see the blood draining from Isa’s face.
Fucking bastards.
They turned to Isa as the officiant asked, “And do you take Waylen as your lawfully wedded husband?”
Isa hesitated.
I straightened when some of the men behind Waylen pulled out their guns, obviously as a way to intimidate Isa to do what they wanted.
Isa didn’t say anything.
I shook my head.
Come on, baby. Just do it. Stall a little longer for me. Please.
The men stepped closer.
Isa shook her head, her shaky voice coming out loud and clear when she said, “No.”
“Let’s move,” I said, already pushing away from where we were hiding.
And it seemed everything happened at once.
Waylen noticed us before anyone else. He was about to shout for his men, but Walter yelled first. “Where the fuck is my phone? Nova! What the fuck did you do, you stupid little bitch?”
Isa stumbled back against Nova just as Walter pulled out his gun.
Waylen had him beat.
He had already drawn his gun and was aiming it at Isa.
Behind me, shouts rang out from our backup.
Waylen’s eyes moved to mine and held a sort of malicious glint in them.
I shook my head. He smiled.
“No!” I shouted, pulling out my gun and aiming it at the fucker as I pushed myself to run faster. And faster.
And still, it wasn’t fucking fast enough. We pulled the triggers. I was a fraction of a second later than him. My aim proved true when the fucker went down, but it was too late.
Too fucking late.
It felt as if everything happened in slow motion when I knew that wasn’t the case. I could only watch helplessly as Isa’s body jerked from the impact of the bullet.