52. Cole
FIFTY-TWO
COLE
T hree days.
Three whole fucking days.
Enzo had gotten to talk to her on the phone yesterday. She assured him she was OK. He said she sounded awful, and that alone made me want to storm Matteo’s fortress and burn it to the ground like Dominic had done previously.
I’d tried to get the guys to go to Matteo’s with me, but even Enzo seemed resigned to the idea.
I knew what a powerful man Matteo De Santis was, but fuck, he had our girl.
Sitting here and letting him keep her made me sick.
We all knew the sorts of shit Matteo did to women.
Bianca was a prime example of the hell he could put them through.
If he touched her, I’d kill him. I didn’t know how, but I’d figure it out. All my Rosebud had to do was say the word, and he was a dead man. I didn’t need Enzo behind me to put out the fucking hit. I’d do it my damn self.
We hadn’t told Dominic because Enzo cited he had enough going on, and there wasn’t fuck all he could do to help since he was on the outs with Matteo.
Everything was resting in Ass Hat’s hands.
I hated it. Loathed it. The moment he walked through the door with her, I was going to kill him. I didn’t care anymore. I was sick of this shit. If the guys weren’t going to end it, I would.
“Are you leaving?” I demanded as Fox came into the room. Every damn time he’d come into the room the last three days, I’d ask because I was waiting for the phone call.
Enzo sat forward, and E looked up from his sketchpad.
“Yeah. Anson called. He said she’s ready.” Fox visibly swallowed.
“Do you have a weapon?” Enzo asked, getting to his feet.
“Yes, but it won’t matter. They’ll take it from me, I’m sure.”
“If something happens to you,” Enzo said thickly, staring into his eyes. “Fox?—”
“I’ll be fine,” Fox murmured. “Promise.”
“I don’t like this,” I said, my frustration at an all-time high. “You shouldn’t be going alone. This is fucking nuts. Let me come?—”
“No,” Fox said sharply. “I’m not going to risk Rosalie by bringing anyone. I’ll be fine. Anson is there. I trust him.”
“There’s your first fucking mistake,” I started.
“Cole, enough,” Enzo barked out. “I know this is hard. You’re not the only one struggling with it. If Fox thinks he has this, we need to trust him.” He winced, clearly in pain from being shot in his damn arm. The entire night Rosalie went missing had been fucked.
I shot him a glare and left the room, unable to handle it anymore.
Quickly, I went to Rosalie’s room, where I’d been sleeping since she’d been gone, and curled up in her bed.
Pulling out my phone, I cycled through photos and videos of her that I had.
It’s all I’d been doing since she’d been gone—that and roaming the streets, looking for anyone with information on the hit.
All had been quiet after.
Not a fucking peep.
I stared at the picture of her I’d taken only a week ago. She was sitting in the living room with her music in front of her at the picture window. Her green eyes were focused outside, her pencil at her lips as she thought about her song.
When I’d taken the picture of her, she’d looked over at me, a big smile spreading across her face that had warmed my insides. I’d fucked her right on that window seat, not giving a shit if the world saw me do it.
I was so in love with her; it hurt my fucking soul every second she was away from me. I felt like I was dying with each passing minute she wasn’t in my arms.
Hastily, I wiped at a tear and darkened my phone screen.
The guys didn’t understand how deeply I felt for her.
They knew love for her in their way, but mine was much fiercer.
Or at least I thought it was. Fox’s probably transcended space and time, but I was racing him to the finish line on it.
I didn’t give a shit if they had a history.
My feelings were just as strong. E kept his love soft and hidden, just for her to feel.
And Enzo. He was fierce, but his love was violent. I suppose mine was, too.
I exhaled, thinking about what it was like to find her gone, how my whole world had come crashing down.
“Where is she?” I demanded, my heart pounding as I stared at her things on the ground. Anson’s car was nearby, so I knew he was somewhere close.
“I don’t know,” Fox choked out, putting his phone to his ear as he called Anson back.
He’d seen the missed phone call a half hour ago, but we were dealing with Enzo and the gunfight.
We’d gone to a club on the edge of the town, which was deep in the Russian territory of the city.
In retrospect, it was a bad idea, but no one threatened us and got away with it.
It had ended badly the moment we started looking around, asking questions. The Russians were tight-knit; I’d give them that. Weapons were drawn. People died. Enzo was shot in his arm.
I’d wanted to go to the hospital, but Enzo refused and called Emilio and his father. They arranged for us to take him somewhere deep in the city to a connection who fixed him up and pulled the bullet out before sending him on his way with a bottle of pain meds and antibiotics.
Now, we were standing in what had apparently been a struggle. Randy and Jake had been called off by a cloned cell. We’d fucked up. Again.
Whoever was behind this knew what they were doing.
“He’s not answering,” Fox snarled, calling again. And again.
I tugged at my hair, my fucking heart shattering. If someone took her… if she was hurt…
Fuck!
All I could imagine was her screaming for help, and we weren’t there.
Not again. Fuck. Not again.
“She’s going to be OK,” E rasped. “S-She’s strong. S-She’s OK.” He shook, his green eyes wild. There was no way in hell we were going to be able to deal with a meltdown from him, Enzo’s wound, and Rosalie’s being missing. It was too much.
“E, fucking hold it together,” Enzo growled out, his breathing ragged from the pain he was in. “We need you right now, brother. OK? She needs you.”
E nodded and visibly swallowed. “OK. I’m OK. For Rosalie.”
Enzo gave him a curt nod before going to his phone and calling his father. He turned away from us as he talked, his words soft, so we didn’t know what he was saying.
I looked around as Fox cursed and called Anson again.
Where would she go if she were running? And why the fuck hadn’t campus security escorted her out?
It didn’t matter. I’d deal with that shit later. Right now, I need to find her.
I jogged away, E following behind me.
“We shouldn’t go anywhere alone,” he said, catching up to me.
I grunted and walked across the parking lot, looking for clues. I stopped on a curb and stared at everything.
“The alley,” I murmured. “She always goes through there when I’m with her to get coffee when she has a break.”
“Same,” E said, his voice wobbling. I knew he was scared to go into the dark alley. Finding her hurt or dead would send him spiraling. Fuck, it would do the same to me. I’d lose what little sanity I had left.
I rushed into the dark alley and caught the tail end of a blacked-out van pulling away. I frowned, my pulse thundering.
“That’s never good,” E said thickly.
I nodded. Dark, windowless vans in our world only meant one thing.
Clean-up.
I turned on the light from my phone and searched the ground, E doing the same.
“H-Here,” he called out, his voice trembling.
I rushed over to see the smallest dots of blood on the pavement.
I swallowed hard.
“Come on,” I said, my voice hoarse.
We ran back to Fox and Enzo.
“Van in the alley. Blood,” I managed.
Fox swore again and once more tried Anson.
Enzo’s face paled. “We-We need to regroup. Home. I-I need to gather men. I-I…” his voice faltered. “I can’t lose her. I can’t.”
I nodded. “Me either. Let’s regroup. I’ll take care of everything. It’ll be OK.” My words came out stronger than I felt, that was for damn sure.
And now, here we were. Three days later. I had no idea what kind of shape she was in. Her conversation with Enzo had been short, he said.
When asked how she sounded, he shook his head and said she was quiet. Withdrawn.
We had no details past what Ass Hat had given to us.
Fox was gone. I prayed as hard as I could for his safe return.
Everything felt like it was falling apart around us. I was barely keeping it together. E had woken screaming into the night every night she’d been gone. Enzo was throwing up with worry, barely able to lift his damn arm. And Fox. Fuck, Fox was a mess. I was sure he hadn’t slept at all.
Then there was me. Waiting for my Rosebud to come home.
The only thing I knew was that if she didn’t make it here, I’d kill every last motherfucker in this world until only the horsemen stood. And then, I’d kill us so we could be with her.
That’s how fucking far I was willing to go to keep us together.