Chapter 50
fifty
. . .
By the time we stepped off the yacht, I was myself again, not even bothering to return Arturo’s frivolous goodbye. At the vehicles Lorenzo and I slipped into back while Dario jumped in the front passenger seat of our SUV.
“Let’s move,’ he ordered Joey, glancing behind us.
“How did it end?” I asked Lorenzo.
He looked up from his phone, shoved it into his inside jacket pocket and chewed his bottom lip, his expression thoughtful. ‘When a fucker like Arturo laughs that much, it’s because he’s already decided how the meeting would end.”
“Well, he took the deal.”
“Doesn’t stop him from going rouge.”
“I guess we wait then.” I pulled out my phone.
Lorenzo leaned closer. “Still don’t feel like talking?”
I met his gaze, the hum of the engine deepening as we left the coast and climbed toward city. I was sure a solid minute passed between us before I asked, “Did you know?” At his frown, I added, “about Father?”
He studied me for a moment. “What about him?”
Just spit it out, Remo. “That we–”
“Keep up, Diego,” Dario cut in, his tone sharp, his eyes on the rear screen, referring to the soldier driving the other vehicle.
I looked out the rear window. Diego was keeping it tight. “You expecting trouble, Dario?” I turned my head to face forward.
His gaze shifted between me and my brother. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Kyra’s sixth sense rubbing off on you?” I mocked, earning a scowl before he glanced out Joey’s window.
“Boss,” he said.
“I see it, Dario,” Lorenzo replied.
I followed their gazes, noticing three SUVs parked on the side of the road, doors shut, windows tinted, lights on.
“Keep going,” Lorenzo instructed quietly, his weapon already in his hand. I lifted my gaze, looking out his window. Two white vehicles raced down a side road, heading straight for us.
“That lying cunt.”
Joey stepped on the gas and the engine answered with a low, angry growl as the vehicle lurched forward, blurring the streetlights into streaks.
Something hot curled in my gut, the familiar thrill that came with a hunt, except this time we were the deer caught in the headlights of the chasing vehicles.
“Cunts think they have us cornered.” I reached for my weapon under my jacket.
I was a second too late. The first bullet hit the hood, metal skimming metal, the second shattered my window forcing me into Lorenzo.
Then all hell broke loose. Gunfire exploded around us. We returned fire but there were too many. Dario opened fire on the white vehicles. One slewed into bushes but another two took its place.
“Drive!” Dario bellowed at Joey, his trigger finger relentless. “We need to get the fuck off this open road. Now!”
The old buildings of Porto Nerosa rose around us suddenly. “Left!” I yelled.
Joey swerved into a narrow cobblestone street, tires squealing. Balconies, shutters, laundry fluttering in the wind, they whizzed past. The next few seconds happened in a blur of spinning tires, grinding steel and jerking bodies.
The car slammed sideways, metal screaming against stone until we hit a dead stop against a stack of wooden crates. Dust choked the air, thick with the scent of burnt rubber and cordite.
“Out! Now!” Dario kicked the door open.
We spilled into the alley, guns blazing. Shadows moved on the rooftops. Bullets chipped the brickwork around us, sparking like deadly fireworks.
“Split up!” Lorenzo shoved me toward the warehouse entrance, his eyes wild. “I’ll draw them off.”
He didn’t wait for an argument, running left into the shadows. I wanted to follow, but two men dropped from a fire escape. My hand flicked and I put them down, quick and brutal. By the time I cleared the corner, Lorenzo was gone.
Silence swallowed the alley. The gunfire had stopped, replaced by a heavy, suffocating stillness that screamed ambush. I hated the quiet.
“Renz?” I shouted.
“Those fuckers are in alley behind us, get them,” he yelled, his strained voice pecking at my anxiety.
My heart thumping against my ribcage, I raced through the clutter of wood and steel before I heard him groan in pain.
“Renz?” I called out but all I got in response was a mind-numbing hum that had me gripped in a tight-laced fear.
As I reached the back of the building, my steps froze for just a second, my eyes falling on my brother’s still figure, his hands pressed against his white shirt, now tainted a dizzying red.
“Remo,” he croaked through clenched teeth, his expression tight with pain, breaking into my trance-like state. He tried to take a step toward me and his knee folded. I caught him before he hit the ground, his weight slumping into my chest.
“Still standing,” he muttered, breath rough in my ear.
I helped him to sit, leaning him against fat sacks piled with God knew what and dropped my knees beside his trembling body. “What the fuck happened?”
“They cornered us then someone fired from topside, killing one of our men,” Lorenzo grunted between unsteady breaths.
“Save your breath, brother.” I removed his hands and lifted his soaked shirt by the hem to inspect the wounds.
He’d taken two bullets to the abdomen. Blood poured out, staining his tattooed body.
“Fuck.” I scrambled out of my jacket and used it to press down over his injuries.
“Dario!” My roar echoed through the empty warehouse.
I cleared my voice to holler again, and Lorenzo’s eyes snapped to mine, his expression a mixture of agony and resignation.
“Rayden.” That was the last thing he said before his lids shut and his head fell to the side just as Dario reached us.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I shoved the jacket at Dario.
“Keep pressure on the wound. Don’t fucking stop until I say otherwise.
” On my knees, I ripped my brother’s shirt apart, leaned over him and commenced CPR.
“Stay with me, Renz, don’t you fucking die on me.
” My voice thickened with anger-infused emotion as I continued the compressions to his chest, agonizingly aware that although I was attempting to help him, for the first time in my fucked-up life I feared the outcome.
A minute or so passed until he finally gasped out a breath and I shuddered, relieved exhales falling out of me. Slowly, his eyes opened, and he rewarded me with a pained smile. His hand reaching for mine, he gave it a light squeeze before his lids lowered again.
“Renz?” Even I could hear the dread in my voice.
“Hmm,” he moaned, keeping his eyes shut.
“Let him rest,” Dario suggested.
Taking over from him, I pressed down on the jacket.
Thick blood coated my fingers, and I had no way of explaining what I was feeling or how to react.
All I knew was that I sat crouched beside my brother who appeared to be bleeding out a little too much and I couldn’t help him.
I felt thirteen again, helpless and not in control.
At that time, another brother’s blood stained my young hands.
The reminder brought with it the power I’d harnessed since then.
There was no fucking way I was losing this brother.
I looked at Dario as he stood to check his gun. “We should get him out of here.”
He shook his head. “They attacked us with the sole intention of ending Lorenzo’s life. Arturo knows your brother is a powerful man with plenty enemies. If word got out that he was a sitting duck in this place, his life would be in further danger. We can’t put him or you at risk.”
His words yanked my attention to the silence around us. Maybe he was right, the fuckers wouldn’t just give up after one blitz attack. They were waiting, watching. Regardless, if my brother died, this world wasn’t ready for me. Only one word would help me survive.
Kill.
Our men found us, and while they kept guard, Dario and I sat in silence for another couple of minutes until Lorenzo coughed and his breathing grew uneven.
His jerking body caused his wounds to bleed more.
Anxiety blinded my vision, and I pushed down on the wounds, hoping to stop the flow.
When that did nothing, I ripped off my shirt in one hard tug, leaving me in a wife beater and squashed it around one hole, while stuffing my jacket over the other.
“We need to get him to a hospital.” I tried to stand up.
“There’s too much blood loss. You can’t move him without us knowing the extent of his wounds.” Dario grabbed my arm, pausing my efforts. “And even we could, you know hospitals are a no-go zone for us unless Bane is there.”
I glared at him, grinding my teeth. “So what? We stay here and wait for him to die,” I yelled.
“No.” Dario’s calm always annoyed the fuck out of me. “Joey is out looking for a doctor while we wait for the chopper—”
“We’re in the middle of fucking crimeville, majority of who wants my brother dead, where the fuck are we going to find—”
“Get a grip,” he hissed. Apart from Lorenzo, he was the only man I allowed to keep me sane.
“Diego called Gian the second we jumped out of the car. The chopper will be here soon and there’s a doctor on board if we don’t find one.
Now, I need you to calm the fuck down and take charge like the underboss you are.
” His eyes jerked to our men and back to me, reminding me of my position.
My scowl slipped a beat. Seemed like in my state of panic, he’d handled the situation.
Dario was right, we couldn’t move Lorenzo and after an almost-death incident years ago, hospitals had become insecure for us.
We had high-ranking officers to beat cops on our payroll and those that weren’t, wouldn’t hesitate to take us down.
So we avoided places that left us vulnerable and why we had a mini hospital at every estate we owned with trusted doctors on our payroll.