Chapter 18 Reign
REIGN
Fuck.
I hid myself between two buildings, pressing my hand against the wound on my shoulder to stop the bleeding.
Luckily, the bullet only grazed the skin. It still hurt like a bitch.
We had an advantage tonight.
The Caparelli were outnumbered and surprised in the attack.
They would want to thank the two blabbermouths in the bar for that.
I scoffed and shook my head. Even if I hadn’t unintentionally heard the two fuckers discussing that kind of shit in public, we would have found out about the attack. Or at least, that was what I was choosing to believe, giving the benefit of the doubt to the one fucker I wasn’t sure I trusted.
I took in a deep breath when I accidentally moved the wrong way, pulling at the injured muscles. Even if the bullet had only grazed my skin, the split was big enough that I was sure I would need stitches.
I wanted to kill the fucker who had shot at me again. If I could bring him back from the dead, I fucking would. I was going to have to go back to see Jamie like this.
She had been careful not to ask me questions about my job so far, but hell if she would be able to control herself once she got a good look at my wound.
Footsteps came from my right at the mouth of the alley, and I tensed, tightening my grip on my gun.
I aimed at the shadow of a large fucker standing there, waiting for him to make his move first.
He calmly walked into the alleyway.
“Put the gun away,” he said, not really looking at me. I doubt he could see me in the dark.
I didn’t put the gun away.
He let out a small sigh. “I know you’re in here. I saw you come in.”
My finger twitched to just pull the trigger and kill the fucker. How easy it would be too. I didn’t trust him, but Kingston did. And I knew Jamie would be sad if I killed her brother.
I let my arm fall to the side and stepped out into the light, coming face-to-face with Caine.
“Sure you should be out here talking to me like this?” I asked. “You risk being caught.”
He shrugged. “No one is around. Most of the Caparelli men are scrambling, either to hide away from the Bratva or from the FBI. I can’t believe you fuckers brought the cops into this.”
I smiled. “Why not? It would do the world some good to have fewer of those men out in the street.”
“You say that as if the Bratva is any better.”
I shrugged. He was right about that. The Caparelli Famiglia and Mahankov Bratva weren’t different. Not at all. We were the same, struggling for power on this useless piece of land.
Caine didn’t say anything. If I thought Kingston pulled off the indifferent look well, he had nothing on Caine Caparelli. The fucker was cold as ice, and even I could feel a sliver of coldness running down my spine from looking at him too long.
Footsteps came from behind, and we both tensed until Kingston showed up.
“Don’t just stand around. Get moving. We need to act fast and move the goods before the FBI gets its hands on them.”
“Already taken care of,” I said. “Makar, Baran, and Fabian should already have loaded it into the trucks.”
Kingston shook his head, showing his annoyance for the first time. He didn’t approve of involving the FBI, but I thought that was the best course of action.
Caine turned to Kingston. “Consider the goods as a little goodwill from me to show my willingness to work with you bastards.”
“It might sound more convincing if you didn’t call us names,” I said. “It hurts our feelings.”
“I think you’ll live.”
I smiled and winked at him. The fucker still didn’t show any reaction.
Like a fucking ghost.
“This is where we part ways. For now,” Caine said. “And remember the deal.”
Kingston nodded.
I waited until Caine was gone before turning to Kingston. “What deal?”
He didn’t say anything right away, as if he were debating whether to tell me. Then, “We help him get rid of the current head and put him in power over the Caparelli men. And then the Bratva would be working with the Italians.”
“Yeah? How long do you think that’s going to last?”
“It doesn’t matter as long as he and I both get what we want.”
“And what do you want from this?” I asked. Because while Kingston had brought me into the fold, so to speak—letting me know Caine was working with us and betraying his father—Kingston never told me what he wanted.
He looked at my shoulder. “Go get that tended to.”
Then he walked away. I stood there for a long while before pulling out my phone.
I frowned when I noticed a missed call from Jamie.
I called her back right away, but all I got was her voicemail.
Dread came over me then, the weight heavy and uncomfortable as it settled deep in the pit of my stomach.
What the hell.
I pulled up the cameras I had installed in her apartment. The scene that unfolded had my heart running cold.
I didn’t think as I ran out of there, heading straight to her apartment—the entire way, I hoped, fucking prayed she was okay. Because if something happened to her, I would fucking destroy every fucking member of the Caparelli Famiglia.
I kicked open her door with my foot, watching as it creaked from the move, nearly falling off its hinges.
Beside the door was a black battering ram, obviously what they used to break it down. I cautiously walked inside her apartment, pausing when I felt something sticky and wet on my boots.
My throat felt like it was on the verge of shutting.
I didn’t think I breathed properly as I followed the trail of blood all the way to the end of the hallway.
A body lay there motionless. I let out a small sigh of relief when I realized the blood belonged to this fucker and not my girl.
I rolled the body over. He was still breathing, but barely.
The blood seemed to be coming from the bullet wound on his leg and on his chest.
I shook the fucker, slapping his face until his eyes opened in small slits.
“Where is she?” I asked.
He gasped out something I couldn’t hear. I leaned down closer to his face, barely making out the word “Gone” before his eyes fell shut.
I shook him harder, but he didn’t wake this time.
Fuck.
She wasn’t wearing her shoes when the fucker took her from the apartment, and her phone was left in her room. There was nothing for me to track her with.
I closed my eyes.
If something happened to her…
Nothing was going to happen to her.
But fuck, where was she?
I needed manpower.
But who the fuck would I call to help locate Jamie Caparelli?
And I didn’t even know where to start.
I moved my hands down the fucker’s body until I came upon something hard. I pulled out the fucker’s phone. I slapped him again, harder, until his eyes opened, then I turned the phone toward his face.
It took a few times to get it unlocked, and then I was in.
I scrolled through the texts. Bingo. They had a fucking group chat.
Stupid fuckers.
It took some scrolling before I found the location—a warehouse that the Caparelli used to store their goods about five years back, before the police raided it. It had stood empty since… until tonight.
I pulled out my own phone and called in reinforcements, but I knew Makar, Baran, and Fabian were busy loading the goods elsewhere. It would take them a while to get here.
It looked like I would be on my own for a while.
Wouldn’t fucking matter.
I was getting her out of that place tonight, no matter what.
At a glance, the warehouse appeared empty. But upon closer inspection, I could see several men standing guard. My best bet was to take them out one at a time, as much as I could, before they noticed something was up.
I snuck up on the first one from behind.
My blade had already slit his throat before he could think about making a sound.
His blood gushed out and hit my hand. The warm liquid helped to keep me focused and not rushed, even if that was what I wanted to do.
I let the body fall before dragging it inside the building, hiding it behind a small alcove nearby.
I moved along the wall, letting the darkness be my cover. The fuckers around were sloppy. Untrained.
I wondered if this was truly a reflection of the Caparelli men. Then again, they weren’t really with the famiglia, considering they were willing to help a traitor kidnap Jamie.
I found my next target once I rounded the corner of the warehouse. The fucker was on his phone, clearly distracted.
They were making this way too fucking easy.
I silently moved toward him and, like the first fucker, slit his throat before he was even aware of what was going on. There wasn’t really anywhere for me to hide the body, so I sat him up against the wall and left him there. Hopefully, it would be a while before they caught him.
I managed to kill three more on the outside, and then there weren’t any left.
It seemed the fucker only managed to turn a few handfuls of the Caparelli’s men with him if five men were all he could spare to guard the outside.
There would be more on the inside. I pushed my way toward the broken window and looked inside. I couldn’t find anyone.
Where was she?
I pushed away and looked up.
It was possible he had her on the upper level. It would be riskier to go up from the inside. I looked around, hoping to find something I could use to help me scale the building.
There was a fixed ladder about twenty feet away from where I stood. Just as I was about to walk over to it, I felt someone behind me.
I turned around too late and got a punch in the face.
My head bounced back from the impact, and before I could really get my bearings straight, arms wrapped around me from behind. Someone kicked the back of my knees, and I fell to the ground. The arms around me tightened.
“What do we have here?” a voice said. I looked up at the fucker, but it was too dark to make out his face. “What’s your business here?”
I didn’t speak.
“No?” he asked. “Let’s see how well you can keep your silence after a few rounds with us.”