Chapter Forty-Three
Jakob
An alarm sounds throughout the estate as my alarmed eyes go to Elias’.
Damn, I guess those guys knew what they were talking about.
With our plan in place and safely executed, we just have to wait for them to realize we aren’t there and leave.
They can set the entire estate on fire, and we’d be protected in this underground bunker.
I had no idea this was even here, which I guess is the point.
After the guys left earlier we moved the women and children down here.
We stayed out until about five minutes ago.
There’s definitely a bug, camera, or guard leaking information, and we didn’t want to alert them too early.
The best thing about this bunker is that the soldiers and guards also don’t know it’s here.
So we’re about to learn pretty quickly if it’s a man or a device.
The men plus Lelonie stand at the wall of TVs streaming different surveillance cameras for the house.
We watch in horror as Natasha shows up with about twenty men at her back.
She looks like a fucking warrior princess.
If she wasn’t here to hurt literal kids and other women, I’d be impressed.
The Byrne soldiers fire off shots, but they’re simply outnumbered.
The fight is over in minutes, and every one of them lies dead on the driveway.
She uses the blood of one of the guards to write on the large glass window of the guard shack.
Truce, Over.
“She has a petulance for dramatics, huh?” Lee chuckles under her breath.
It’s a threat for me and Declan. One or both of us won’t come out of this.
That’s bullshit though. Our plan is flawless, and I’ve checked Declan’s location enough to know he’s fine.
She can’t do shit to get to me or anyone from here.
She’d have to know about the tunnels and the bunker.
Not to mention the codes and exactly where it’s all located.
No, her plan’s been ruined thanks to the baby Byrne’s.
The soldiers that she has with her wear ski masks and gloves to cover their faces and hands.
Dressed in all black long sleeves and pants, it’s impossible to identify them.
They take out guard after guard as they make their way up the driveway and to the front of the house.
Four of their men go down in the trek. No one even glances back at them, much less slows down to help.
It seems like it’s been hours, but it can’t have been longer than minutes when they breach the front door.
Like a well trained military unit, they break up into teams and disperse throughout the giant house.
Natasha stands in the foyer with two men.
It’s pretty obvious that one is the guy she always has with her.
It’s the other one who brings me up short.
He’s bound by handcuffs. His head and face are covered so we have no idea who it is.
I turn to grab a headcount of the guys, and we have them all.
Annie has worked her way in here and is looking at the screen in silent contemplation.
We all watch with bated breath while team by team they make their way downstairs to report that no one is here.
“That’s impossible. We’ve had this place watched since last night. The only people who left were the four oldest.” She screeches. At least that’s what it sounds like. I don’t know another word for it.
“Yes, Ma’am, I understand that, but I’m telling you they aren’t here.” One brave son of a bitch speaks up. I almost pity him when, in the next second, she lifts a revolver seemingly out of nowhere and pulls the trigger, shooting him directly in the heart.
She turns her attention to whoever she has bound beside her, and when she rips the mask off of him, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be sick. Calvin’s wide eyes wheel around the room in terror. Before she can say anything to him, he roars at the top of his lungs.
“Anneliese!”
I think every person in the room’s eyes turn to Annie. Her shoulders hunch in and her eyes meet the floor. I wrap my arm around her shoulder, but she pushes it off of her and storms from the room. Lee goes to chase after her, but it’s Flynn and Sullivan’s friend, Zach, who stops her.
“I’ve got it. I have no idea what’s happening in here or how to help, anyway. I’ll talk to her.” He follows in the direction Annie just disappeared from.
Zach is about my height, and for lack of a better term, built like a brick house.
He’s played football about as long as he’s known the twins, which is since preschool.
The man is a giant. His Dad is the leader of the cartel.
Typically with kids of crime organization leaders, even when they pick a different life path, they’re hardened because of what they’ve experienced.
That may be true for Zach, but if it is, he hides it extremely well.
He’s the quietest out of all the guys, which means I have all the faith in the world that he’ll be able to talk to Annie right now.
I turn back to the screens in time to watch her backhand Calvin. I didn’t catch the interaction, but it’s clear that he’s pissed her off. He straightens back up and the look in his eyes can only be described as murderous.
“You want to hit me, Calvin? Smack me around like you do that little bitch of yours? Too bad she never had the balls to tell anyone what you were doing to her. Instead, she unknowingly brought the enemy behind family lines.”
His eyes find the floor as she scolds him, and my blood boils as she talks.
Was he hitting Annie?
“No, I’d never act out against you. We finish this, and you will take back the crown that you’re owed.
” I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now.
His Russian accent is so thick as he talks that I’m floored that this is the first time I’m hearing it.
I never caught a hint of an accent in the handful of times we’ve talked over the past year.
“We can’t finish this if there’s no one here to finish, you idiot!”
“I am sorry, dear cousin. I have failed you.”
He hangs his head in shame, but that word brings me to an immediate halt.
Cousin. She’s been one step ahead this entire time.
The threat that she made in the parking lot of Knipe slams into my memory like a physical force.
She was never talking about Lee. She was talking about Annie.
What the hell did this kid do to my sister?
And most importantly, how do I get out of here and put a bullet in his heart?
“You were just here mere hours ago,” she screeches. “Where the hell could they be hiding?”
He flinches slightly at the harsh tone in her voice. “I don’t know where they are, but they clearly aren’t here. I do know that you can’t run a family with no surviving members, and the entirety of the BOCG is out there.” His head tilts towards the front door.
The sounds of gunshots filter through the room from what sounds like a separate monitor.
“Where the hell is she, Calvin? She’s my ticket to get back at Fischer for trying to take my man.”
“She isn’t here, Tash. Which means Jakob and the others aren’t either.”
“This is the second time in as many months that you’ve failed me. First that botched break in where you were meant to kill the women in his family, and now this. How do I know you won’t screw this up too?”
“I don’t know where they went, but I do know you’re going to need me in less than a minute when they storm this place. Uphold your promise and uncuff me so I can take out Mac Byrne. I swear I will not let you down.”
Someone has vacuumed all the air out of the room.
I can’t fucking breathe, and even more so when she uncuffs him and hands over a pistol.
They were behind the break in at my parents.
The betrayal that I feel sliced me to my core.
I don’t like Calvin much, and that’s not a surprise after his stunt at the last family dinner, but I could have never guessed that he would be behind this.
Every soldier’s head turns towards the front door at the sound of vehicles coming down the driveway.
We all watch in horror as the Byrne’s and their troops make their way to the front of their house at an alarming rate.
Tires squeal on the driveway, and immediately gunshots follow.
The click of two guns at once makes me jump. What the hell are they doing?
“Lee. Run the cameras. You guys don’t leave here until a Byrne comes and gets you or you watch Natasha die.” Sullivan says in a monotone voice as he secures his gun back into the holster at the back of his pants before pulling another and checking it.
“Absolutely not! What if you get hurt?”
“What if they do? If we go down, we’re all going down together. Don’t even try to stop us. Every single one of you would do the same for your families. Don’t you dare say a word to anyone outside of this room.” Flynn stands up while also checking his weapons.
Stopping them would be a moot point. They may be a hockey player and a firefighter to the naked eye, but they’re fucking Byrne’s through and through.
Declan’s going to kill me for not stopping them, but I wouldn’t put it past them to tag us in the foot or hand to keep us in line at this point.
They’re determined to get to their big brothers.
They look every bit the mafioso’s that they are as they stand from their seats and walk out of the room.
Gone are the men who chose a different path in life, and all that’s left in their wake are two men who were highly trained by the most feared men in the country.
We watch on the second set of monitors as Sullivan grabs Elle’s hand and pulls her from the room she was in and into the hallway.
He wraps her up in his arms and surprises every single one of us when he dips her slightly and seals his lips over hers.
The kiss seems intense even through the camera.
It’s a declaration of love and devotion.
When he finally pulls away, his words echo throughout the room.
“I’m a patient man, Boo. But I’m almost at the end of my rope here. I love you.”
“What– what is all this about, Monster?” Elle watches him like he’s a maniac, and I guess you could argue that he is.
“I just needed to tell you that. Can you go check on Annie? I’m sure it’ll mean a lot to Flynn.” He offers her a small quirk of his lips.
“Of course. We’ll talk about this later?” She asks with confusion lacing her tone.
“Yeah. I promise.”
She presses up on her toes and kisses the side of his jaw before pulling away and turning to go find my baby sister. I look over to the screen that shows the room she’s in and watch as Flynn presses his lips to her temple.
“I’m so sorry for everything. When we’re out of here I want to talk about what happened all those years ago. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I love you, Anneliese. I have to go help my brother, but when I get back we’re trying again. It was always you. It’ll always be you, Anam cara.”
I know enough Irish to know that Declan’s baby brother just called my baby sister his soulmate. Jesus, I mean, could our families get any more entangled?
“It doesn’t matter anymore. I forgave you a long time ago.
I don’t even know why I’ve been denying this.
Go help Sully, and when you come back you can take me to that waffle place we liked so much.
” Her smile is so bright that it brings tears to my eyes.
I don’t think I’ve seen her beam like that since we were kids.
I guess if Flynn is going to make her smile like that then we’ll just have to be all up in the Byrne family tree.
I watch as he presses his lips to her forehead before running from the room to meet up with Sully.
Once I confirm they’re together and Elle is with Annie, I turn back to the cameras to watch as gunfire is coming from every direction.
It’s hard to tell who’s shooting from where or who has been hit.
Motion in one of the cameras upstairs catches my eye as I watch Flynn and Sully emerge into the house from behind a bookshelf.
Declan’s voice booms from the speakers, and if I didn’t know it was impossible, I would swear I could hear him from outside of these walls.
“Jakob!”