Chapter 28 Gaven
Gaven
Jacquelina made a mistake when she booted me from the Price Estate.
If she really had been smart, she would’ve killed me then and there.
Instead, she thought herself invincible.
She might have been cunning enough to betray her father, cutthroat and heartless enough to frame her sister, but she wouldn’t last in this world. I would make sure of it.
In the darkness of the country road, a small light appeared in the darkness, bobbing up and down as the holder grew closer to where Matteo and I were stationed in the woods directly behind the Price Mansion. Matteo disappeared from my side and a familiar voice called out a moment later.
“Fucking hell!” Hadrian sounded irritated. “Call your man off, Belmonte, or I swear to God I’ll put a bullet in his brain myself.”
“Not before I do,” a feminine voice replied.
I whipped around and snarled. “Who the fuck did you bring?” I demanded.
Hadrian grasped the barrel of Matteo’s gun as it was aimed at his chest and shoved it to the side before side-stepping him and lifting his free hand to curl two fingers into the darkness.
A moment later, a tall, slender, dark-haired woman appeared, holding her own weapon.
She had it aimed at Matteo, who blinked back at her, undisturbed.
“Put it down, Scar,” Hadrian said as he shut off his flashlight and stowed it in his back pocket.
The lack of new light cast the rest of us in shadow once more, with only the moon hanging above us as a means of seeing.
Thankfully for me, I’d been in many situations like this one, and my eyes adjusted quickly.
She glared at Matteo but followed the man’s command, lowering her weapon before tossing the long rope of braided dark hair over her shoulder.
Hadrian sighed and continued forward, moving until he was at my side at the mouth of two large oaks where I’d been sitting for the last hour, watching the estate.
“Scarlett’s my wife,” Hadrian answered my earlier question, side-eyeing me.
I tamped down my surprise. I knew very few men in our positions that ever married—unless they were required to like I had been.
Hearing that he was not only married but had brought his wife to such a dangerous mission shocked me.
“And,” he hedged, “she’s your girl’s friend. ”
“Friend?” I repeated the word and turned, looking over the new woman once more with a keener gaze. So this was the infamous Scarlett Thief.
“Eyes on the face, fucker,” Hadrian snapped, practically snarling at me.
“I’m not interested in your woman,” I replied coolly. No, the only woman I wanted was rather slippery. My attention went back to the mansion. The back door opened, and several guards poured out—one limping as he did so. They exchanged places with the men stationed on the back grounds.
“No, I suppose you aren’t,” Hadrian conceded. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to stop your wife from being taken. We weren’t exactly equipped to handle a large force ourselves.”
“But we’ll get her back,” the woman—Scarlett, he’d called her—said. “I promised her we’d help.”
“That was with her client,” Hadrian reminded his wife.
“Doesn’t matter.” Scarlett shook her head. “A couple of years ago, Eve got me out of a pickle—whether it’s her client or being kidnapped by her deranged sister, I owe her.”
“Eve?” I frowned back at the woman. I hated that damnable alias of hers. “Her name is Angel.”
“Right.” Scarlett nodded. “Sorry, it’s a habit.”
I eyed her again, but then my gaze drifted back to the building. She was in there somewhere. Scared? Probably. Reliving her father’s death? Most likely.
“So, what’s the plan, man?” Hadrian asked.
Just as I parted my lips, a new voice rang out in the darkness. “Take the mansion, obviously.”
The cavalry had arrived. Ian, Archer, and Jensen melted out of the woods like they’d always been there. Their bodies were laden with supplies—bags of weapons and ammo. As Jensen approached and tossed one at my feet, it landed with a loud thump. I didn’t hesitate to bend down and unzip the contents.
After Matteo and I had lost our main weapons to Jackie, we’d only had our backups in the car to rely on.
Having a rifle back in my grip felt like coming home.
I checked the boxes of ammo and found that they’d delivered on their promise.
Once I’d hung up with Hadrian—and found out that I’d been right in my assumption that Jackie had captured Angel—I’d called them in, and this was what we’d been waiting for.
The bag contained several handguns, a sniper rifle, and enough bullets to take down an army. I glanced up at the men. “Thank you,” I said, meaning the words more than I ever had in my forty-one years on this earth.
Ian nodded. “You helped us with Perelli,” he said. “No thanks necessary.”
Matteo shifted closer to me and I handed him one of the guns from the bag. “How do you want to do this, boss?” he asked as he took the weapon and checked the clip.
“We hit them hard and fast,” I said. “We don’t give them room to fight back.
They aren’t expecting more men.” I loaded another gun and stuck it into the back of my pants before casting him a warning glance.
“Make sure the guys at the front are ready. I want you to circle around and lead them through.”
“You’ll go through the back?” he confirmed.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“You’re not going alone?” Matteo’s meaning wasn’t lost on me, especially not when he lifted a brow at the others lingering nearby.
“No, he’s not going alone,” Ian answered. “We’ll be with him.”
“They’ll watch my back, Matt,” I said. “Now go.”
He hesitated, but without much of a reason to refuse, he was forced to give me his nod and once he was gone, I threw myself into preparing to take the Price Estate. It’d been a long damn time since I felt my blood pumping like this, and familiar sensations were spiraling through me.
The thrill of the hunt sizzled in my veins.
The knowing that blood would soon be coating my hands and that I would hold bodies and lives, once more, in my command made my insides riot with excitement.
Perhaps, in another life, I could have been another man—one more deserving of Angel—but this wasn’t another life.
This was here and now. This was our reality, and I was thankful for it because it meant that all of the darkness I held would now be used to protect what was mine.
I only hoped she was still alive when I reached her because if she wasn’t …
I shuddered to think of what I would do.
As if he could sense my thoughts, Ian moved to my side along with Archer. “She’ll be okay,” Archer said. “I think your girl’s stronger than you think.”
“She is,” Scarlett piped up.
I nodded and focused on loading another handgun.
Maybe they were right. Angel was no longer the innocent eighteen-year-old who had been forced to marry me.
She was older, wiser, and far more worldly now.
She was intelligent. Creative. Intuitive.
Resourceful. She’d escaped me not once, not twice, but three times.
That was no easy feat, and yet she’d made it as simple as possible.
She’d used my obsession against me, and even if it burned in my gut, I had to admire that too.
“We get in,” I started, shoving the second gun into my chest holster before I lifted the rifle and slung it over my shoulder. “We move fast—before they know what hits them.” I look to Archer. “You bring your field shit?”
His head lifted and fell. “Yup.” He patted the bag he carried. “Got all I need.” He turned to Hadrian. “Want to help me fuck up their security?”
Hadrian grinned in response. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“Alright,” Ian said. “Hadrian and Archer will stay behind, cut their cameras, and take down the fence’s defenses so that we can scale without getting our asses fried.
” He reached into his own bag and pulled out several Bluetooth in-ear devices.
He tossed one to each person in the vicinity before putting his own in. “We’ll use these to communicate.”
“I’m going too,” Scarlett said, stepping forward.
Hadrian practically growled. “No, the fuck you’re not,” he snapped. “You’re staying here with Archer and me.”
Scarlett whipped around on him. “She’s my fucking friend, Hadrian.”
“And her husband will take care of her,” he replied. “Just like Wolf or I would for you. Stay here.”
“But—”
“We’ll need someone to guard the hackers,” I said, stopping her tirade before it could start.
Hadrian, it seemed, wasn't done yet, either. “You have an obligation to go home to our fucking daughter, Scar,” he said.
Scarlett blanched but didn’t refute the statement. “I want to help,” she said instead.
With a sigh, Hadrian approached her and cupped her face. “You will,” he said. “Archer and I need to make sure no one sneaks up on us while we work. You’ll guard us and make sure we’re safe while we fuck them up from the inside out. Got it?”
A moment passed, and she finally nodded in acquiescence, and not too soon either. I was ready to get a move on. We had wasted enough time as it was. It was time to lead the team into the mansion and get my fucking wife back.
“Alright, now that we’ve got that decided.” Jensen’s voice rang throughout the clearing as he moved towards the opening of the trees. He paused and looked back before lifting a pair of dynamite sticks with a grin. “What do you say we blow both gates open and go get our target?”