Chapter Twenty-Five
Giana
Adrenaline pumped through my veins as we rushed out of the room.
A leaden weight sank to the depths of my stomach, and it took everything in me to push down the bile creeping up the back of my throat.
Angelo found them. How he did it was the million-dollar question.
It would determine how this final collision would play out.
“We’ll know for certain once we know which one was hit.” Merrick’s jaw ticked as we descended the stairs. Kellan was already waiting with the door open as the van pulled up to the front.
“It could be a trap,” I warned, pursing my lips.
“I don’t like this. If this was Lorenzo—” I tried to quell the anxiety raging like a hurricane in my chest, but there was no quashing the torrential force.
Sophia was at Francine’s hotel. I would never forgive myself if something I was grateful for only a couple of hours ago ended up being her demise.
“I’ll kill him myself,” Merrick snarled as we rushed down the front steps and Kellan locked the door behind us.
“We need to call Sebastian or Zane.” I hopped into the back with Merrick, and Kellan took the front with Spade.
“I’ll call them,” Kellan said, flinging the partition open so we could all hear each other. “You call Josh.”
I tapped my heel, my nervous energy needing an outlet as I clenched and unclenched my hands in my lap.
“No answer.” My heart plummeted as Kellan tried the next number.
Merrick’s jaw ticked, but he just hung up and called back again. Spade sped down the driveway, the tires squealing as he turned onto the main road. Sebastian’s men closed the gate behind us. If it was a trap to draw us out, at least we’d know if Angelo came after the house.
Kellan ended the call. “I’ll try Francine.”
The car idled as we hit a stoplight. We were at the main intersection between Fallpond and East Haven.
But if we went the wrong way now, it could cost us precious minutes that we might not be able to afford.
If we went to the wrong place, we might be falling right into Angelo’s trap and leading them to the real hideouts.
Neither Kellan nor Merrick was having any luck. The cars slowed in the perpendicular lanes as their stoplight turned red.
“Merrick.” Josh sighed in relief, my heart skipping a beat as his voice cut through the thick silence that had permeated the van.
“Which motel are you at?”
“East Haven.” Josh coughed, the sounds muffled as he must have moved the phone away from his face. “We’re at the… one in East Haven.”
A cool wave of relief washed over me as Spade turned on his signal light and cut a car off to turn left into East Haven. They went for the decoy, but of course Josh couldn’t say that in case Angelo’s men were watching or listening.
“We’ll be there in twenty,” Merrick said, assuring him and most likely me too since he grasped my hand, twining our fingers together as his hazel eyes bore into me.
“Get the fire department there and ambulances. We need to make it look like there were casualties even if there were none. Otherwise, Angelo will know there’s another hideout. ”
“They’re already here; we’ll have to speak with the paramedics.” Josh’s voice was clipped, like he didn’t want to say too much on his end. Good. “I’ll meet you when you pull in.”
Spade pressed the gas pedal, knowing none of the cops would pull us over anyway.
He weaved in and out of cars as the ringtone from Kellan’s phone kept humming in the background.
I was still a little on edge since none of the others had picked up their phones.
I slid my own out of my pocket and dialed Sophia’s number.
“Gi, is everything okay?”
I slumped back against the seat, and closed my eyes. “Is everything all right? I could ask you the same question.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” She was actually puzzled.
“Did the guys not hear their phones the last fifty times Kellan called?” I huffed, pinching the bridge of my nose. The ringing abruptly cut off as Kellan overheard my conversation.
I put the call on speaker so the rest of them could hear. “Did you idiots turn your ringers off or something?”
Zane grumbled something unintelligible in the background before he exclaimed, “Shit!”
“Yeah, shit.” I pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Merrick’s thumbs danced over his own phone screen as he texted Nicholas the info we got from Josh.
“Don’t worry, I’ll always have your back.” Her tone was chipper for the first time in a while, and I couldn’t help but smile at the renewed vigor a simple trip outside the house had sparked.
“Angelo hit the decoy motel, so we’re on our way there to stage a catastrophe so he doesn’t keep looking.”
“Fuck,” Sophia whistled. “See, this is why I should be in charge. You almost gave my girl a heart attack because you couldn’t be bothered to answer your phones.”
Incoherent muttering echoed in the background before Francine spoke over them. “So does this mean you trust Lorenzo?”
I frowned, but it was a fair question. She knew we were still on the fence about the new heir to the Barone empire. But this was a major check in his column. I gave a sharp nod. “We’ll discuss it, but yes. This was definitely a good sign.”
Francine had given Lorenzo her location when we met with him. From that, he could’ve easily tracked down the other motels in the Fallpond area. But he obviously didn’t hand over that information to his father, or else we would’ve been dealing with a disaster rather than staging one.
“Good because this has to end.” Francine sucked in a sharp breath, sorrow lacing her words as she continued. “And I’m terrified that none of you will make it through if you don’t work together.”
My eyes shuttered closed, her statement like a sledgehammer to the chest because I knew she was right. I’d hoped we could pick them off one night at a time until there was barely anyone to guard the crime boss, but he wasn’t taking the bait. He didn’t underestimate us like Tommaso had.
“You’re right.”
“Good, we’ll see you when you get back. We can call him together.”
She always knew exactly what each one of us needed. “It’s a deal.”
We said our goodbyes as we pulled up to the motel.
“Ready to win an Oscar?” Spade put the van in park and winked over his shoulder.
I couldn’t help but smile as I nodded. Moisture already pooled in my eyes from our conversation with Francine, so I just pulled on those same heartstrings, letting a few tears roll down my cheeks.
“Perfect.” Merrick cupped the back of my head, bringing his lips to mine in a tender kiss.
Any trace of softness was wiped from his expression as he opened the door and helped me out.
He was good. I wiped away the tears as I got out of the van, sniffling before I straightened my spine and marched alongside my guys.
Josh met us halfway, fury turning his cheeks red as he gestured us to the closest of five ambulances.
Smoke billowed off the charred motel; the entire side closest to us was covered in soot, the roof half collapsed, and the walls were missing large chunks where the fire had burned them to ash.
The caution tape was still up, but firefighters were assisting the paramedics wheeling out body bags to them on gurneys.
“I spoke with the supervisor and had them bring out more body bags to make it look realistic. The firefighters are stuffing them with anything that would resemble the size of a body.” A leaden weight sank to the depths of my stomach at the sight of the ambulances loading up the fake bodies and driving off.
Others returned, and the cycle started again.
This could’ve been real. We could’ve lost hundreds of our friends and families if Lorenzo had given up the info Francine gave him. I exhaled a deep breath and rubbed at the center of my chest, trying to ease away the tightness that grew every moment I watched the burned-out husk of the motel.
I could hear the guys talking around me, but their words didn’t filter in through the pounding of my frantic heart.
I dragged in a deep breath through my nose and held it for a few seconds before expelling it through my lips.
A warm hand clasped mine, and I held onto it like it was a lifeline.
An arm wrapped around my shoulders while a second hand gripped my free one.
All three of my guys were here—helping me, supporting me.
The tension eased away as I kept the same breathing pattern and when I opened my eyes, my three men were surrounding me, cocooning me in from the horrors just beyond them.
Josh was long gone, it was only us and the empty ambulance we stood behind.
Merrick ushered me to the side and when I took in the remains of the motel it didn’t cause that same flare of crushing anxiety weighing on my chest like an anvil.
“I’m good,” I said, but Merrick only pulled me closer into his chest.
“Josh has everything handled,” Kellan said as he and Spade closed in around us once again. “They used the emergency cash to bribe the emergency workers into helping us.”
“Good thinking, leaving that cash with the security team, sugar.” Spade winked, his fingers twining with mine. Despite the control I had over my emotions now, I knew they needed to touch me just as much as I loved having them close.
“We’ll stay for a few more minutes to keep up appearances and then we’ll head back to the house.” Kellan squeezed my hand before letting go. “I’ll go speak with the staff. We’ll need to make sure their system shows the correct number of people the paramedics are transporting.”
He gave me one last lingering look, like walking away was the last thing he wanted to do before he forced his feet to move.
The fear that had shredded my insides with its icy claws had finally receded, the burning fury in my chest chasing it away.
It only grew with every moment we watched the body bags get loaded into the ambulances.
Angelo was growing bolder, and it was only a matter of time until he found the right place and we’d have the deaths of potentially hundreds of people on our consciences.
Kellan nodded as he rejoined us, and we made our way back to the van. My spine steeled with every step we took. No doubt this was what he wanted. He wanted to enrage us into acting without thought while making a statement to the town at the same time, but his plan backfired.
No. We were going to contact the son whose knife was ready to plunge into his father’s back at a moment’s notice. And he deserved nothing less than the bloody death that was in store for him.