27. Leona
LEONA
“Leona!”
A screech of car tires drew my attention to the street. I saw the flashes of light at the end of the barrels a heartbeat before I heard the gunfire.
The world tilted.
Pain laced through my arm.
My vision darkened as Cas’s body lay over mine. I curled into a ball, reaching for my weapons, but I didn’t have them. The FBI kept them, and now I was cursing Jack Greer all over again.
Then, silence. Like the world was taking a breath, deciding whether to scream.
My men, my men, they had to be okay.
The thoughts in my brain were white static, except for the irresistible urge to make sure everyone was alive. My vision narrowed to a stain of red drenching the shirt. It only took a second for my brain to catch up, and pain exploded down my arm.
I flinched when hands reached for me.
My ears rang.
A face swam into my vision. I blinked, and the face cleared.
“Cas,” I croaked.
His hands cupped my cheeks. “Baby, talk to me. You’re bleeding. Where does it hurt?”
“Someone fucking shot me,” I breathed in disbelief.
White static filled my ears, except for the nearby screams. Adrenaline and terror coursed through my body in equal measure, a fucking nightmare of a combination.
I felt like I was about to crumble and explode at the same time.
“Is everyone okay? Cas, tell me. Are we alive?”
“We’re alive, darling,” Wynn said, crouching down to my other side. He gripped my hand. “We have to get out of here before the shooters come back. It was a drive-by. Darling, talk to us. Can you move?”
I nodded. They pulled me to my feet, and I hissed in pain, glancing down to see a laceration on my upper arm. The bullet just grazed me, but the jacket was ripped. Damn. I loved this jacket.
“Everyone’s okay?”
All my men crowded around. Obi looked murderous.
Cas and Wynn looked like they were trying to hold it together.
Ryuji looked like he was going insane, with his hair fraying out of its bun and a crazed look in his eyes.
Ciel helped Samuel to his feet and double-checked that he was unharmed before he pushed through them all to wrap his arms around me.
I sank against his chest. His palm cradled the back of my head. He whispered in Spanish, his words catching in his throat until he gave up and went silent.
“It’s—it’s okay,” I stammered. “It’s just my arm.”
Behind my men, Max stared. He looked completely devastated. White as a sheet. Like he’d just seen a ghost.
Give us Max Volpe, and you can walk out of here.
The world devolved into chaos around us. People were running and hiding. Bullet holes peppered the ground. Glass from the FBI building’s entrance lay shattered on the ground.
“We have to go,” Wynn said. “They could make a loop around.”
“Someone tried to assassinate me.” My voice came out airy and light, like that was just not possible, and someone was going to laugh and say it was all a joke.
“I’ll fucking kill him!” Ryuji snarled. He pulled out two more knives, one in each hand, before he started down the sidewalk in the direction where the car had disappeared. “I’ll hunt him down and slit his motherfucking throat! Who the fucking fuck does he think he is! Come back here, fuckers!”
Cas grabbed his arm and pulled him back. They jostled while Cas gripped the back of his neck and whispered in ear. After a few moments, Ryu quieted, but he still fumed.
“God, this fucking stings.” Blood dripped down my arm. I grimaced as I let go of Ciel and turned to Samuel. “You saved my life.”
He had pushed me out of the way, shielding my body with his own.
He nodded at me first, then to Obi. “As your lawyer, I’d advise you to stay and give statements to law enforcement, but as your friend, I’d say you all need to get out of here as soon as possible. Move, now. Before you can’t anymore.”
Agents started pushing through the doors behind us. Security closed in. Our only saving grace was the chaos in the square. Everyone here had just been shot at. There were dozens of casings littering the street.
“Come on,” I said. Our window of escape was rapidly closing. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
Obi picked me up with one hand, bridal style, and turned on his heel. Ryuji and Cas darted forward to push a wedge through the growing crowd so we could run. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder. What a long fucking day.
Before I knew it, we were gone.
“Obi, you have to let me go,” I said patiently.
His arms tightened around my middle. We were sitting in the living room, with all the guys crowded around.
They’d helped Obi clean the wound on my arm and stitch it.
It was wrapped now, and it would heal fine, but it stung like a motherfucker.
The over-the-counter pain relievers hadn’t kicked in yet.
Earlier, Wynn and Ryuji had started a fire in the fireplace. All of my men sat around it in silence, alternating between staring at me, touching me, or looking into the fire with a devastated look in their eyes.
You’d think I had died.
“Obi,” I said again. “I’m all right.”
He pressed a kiss to my hair and shh’d me. Cas held one of my hands while he sat on the floor, and he squeezed tightly. Wynn was on my other side, leaning his back against the chair. His eyes were closed, and the firelight reflected off his pale skin.
I shifted, trying to pull out of his grip, but Obi held tight. His chest rumbled in displeasure.
“Don’t you dare move,” Ryuji said, sitting opposite us on the couch. Shadows hung beneath his eyes, and somehow he’d gotten a hold of a bottle of scotch. It was half empty already.
“What if I have to pee?” I asked Obi. “Do you want me to pee on your lap?”
He sighed dramatically and eased the tension in his arms. I felt like a tiny animal, and Obi was the overenthusiastic kid who was unintentionally squeezing me to death.
I slipped out of his lap, lightly tugging my hand from Cas’s. His dark hair hung in front of his eyes, but he looked at me exasperated. I cupped Obi’s cheek and kissed him firmly. Then, I did the same to Cas and all my men.
They clung to me desperately.
“Guys,” I soothed. “This night was terrible. I missed you all so much. But I’m okay, I promise. Can someone please say something?”
Ciel cleared his throat and spoke first. My shy hacker. “What happened with the FBI?”
I swallowed. We hadn’t talked about the reason for my arrest…or the deal they offered me. Samuel had separated from us before we’d headed home, and as far as I knew, he hadn’t filled in Obi either.
“Can I change first? I’m covered in blood and I want out of these clothes. And then we can talk about it?”
Ciel shook his head. “I’m sorry, baby girl. Talk to us first. Wynn or Cas or Ryuji can go grab you some clothes, and we’ll help you change, but you’re not leaving our sight for a while.”
The corner of my mouth pulled into a small smile. Of course not. These possessive men were crazy, but the reality was I didn’t want to be away from them either.
“Okay,” I said. Wynn got to his feet, kissed me gently, and then left—presumably to get me something to change into. I walked to my hacker and held my arms out in front of me. “Help me change.”
Ciel stood and slowly drew my shirt over my head, but I winced when the fabric rubbed over the bandages on my arm.
With tender fingers, he helped me unbutton my jeans and step out of them.
If it wasn’t for the fire, I might have shivered in only my bra and underwear, and my arms wrapped around my middle in some weird, self-conscious motion.
I obviously felt fine around my men, but Max wasn’t even looking at me.
He had barely looked at me since he shouted my name before the shooting.
I released a breath of relief and then felt my heart warm as Ciel pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “What happened when you got arrested?”
I let him pull me back to the couch, and I sat next to him. “Well, they shoved me in the back of an undercover cop car and then took me to the FBI building. Then they handcuffed me to a table and made me wait for a while before someone came in.”
“Those fuckers,” Ryuji growled before taking a drink. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?”
I shook my head. “Nah. They were annoying, but not scary. I think they were more afraid of me than I was of them.”
That earned me his crooked smile, and I instantly felt miles better. I hated seeing my sarcastic asshole depressed and worried about me.
“Who interviewed you?” Cas brushed some hair out of his face and leaned forward.
“The same agents that tracked us down at Ryuji’s club,” I replied. “Their names are Farrah Badawi and Jack Greer. Badawi seems straight and narrow, but understanding. Greer is a dick. He’s out to get us for sure.”
Ciel and Obi exchanged a look.
“Look into them,” Obi ordered. “I want to know their weaknesses.”
“Got it,” Ciel said.
Badawi seemed reasonable. She felt like she would make a deal, even if it wasn’t necessarily the one they wanted. Greer, on the other hand, would rather see us all burn than give us something to use against him. I doubted Ciel would find anything useful as blackmail or weaknesses.
“What else?” Obi asked. “Did they say anything about the RICO case?”
I nodded. “They arrested me on racketeering charges. And a couple of other things.”
A whole laundry list of things. Things that we had absolutely done.
Obi stared at the ground, and I could just see the gears turning in his head. We needed to talk about what to do now that we knew Greco had manipulated a federal agency against us, but we all needed to cool off first.
Wynn came back into the room with one of his shirts. I gave him a grateful smile when he pulled it over my head. I sat back on the couch and tucked my feet under me. Ciel wrapped an arm around me, and I leaned my head against his shoulder, grateful for his calming presence.
“Why did they let you go?” Max finally joined the conversation from his place at the far wall, on the other side of the fireplace, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest. He stared at the ground, still looking unsettled, and refused to make eye contact.
I blinked multiple times as I tried to place the emotions he struggled to keep from his face.
Was that…fear? I wasn’t positive. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him quite like that before. Not even when we were trapped together on the Albanian ship.
I took a deep breath, bracing myself for the reaction I knew was coming. “They offered me a deal. If I testified it was you behind all those crimes, they would give me immunity in the case and they’d let me go.”
Ryuji snorted with a big grin. “So you did it. I’m a little surprised, but it was probably the right call.”
Cas’s eyes widened as he stood up. “You gave Max up?”
Obi watched me carefully, and for the first time in a long time, I couldn’t read his expression.
Max straightened, and he finally looked me head-on. His mask was back, but his shoulders slumped. “It was the right call, piccola. This is easier for everyone.”
I frowned. “I didn’t give you up.”
His mask faltered, and confusion split through it as his eyebrows furrowed and he sucked in a heavy, shuddering breath. “What?”
“I didn’t give you up. I wouldn’t snitch on you.”
“Then how did you get out of there?” Ciel asked.
I shrugged and plucked at the hem of Wynn’s shirt.
“I told them I’d see them in court. If they wanted to pin all that shit on me, then so be it.
I did half of it anyway. The old stuff, from my father’s days, will never stick because I was way too young.
Samuel argued with them about releasing me until they said I was free to go.
For now. Greer made the ‘for now’ very clear. ”
“You…protected me?”
I stood and walked over to face him. “I made a choice. I will not sacrifice your future for mine. I’ll fight whatever I need to fight.” I turned back to all of my men. “We’ll get through it together.”
When I turned back around, Max stared at me like I’d shattered his heart.