Chapter Thirty-Four
My phone goes off as I pull into The Den parking lot. He knows I’m coming. I kill the engine, pull my phone out, and see a message from Jude.
Connect me to your earpiece.
I let out a frustrated sigh but do it anyway. “What?” I snap as soon as the line connects. “I can handle this one on my own.”
“Emma is trying to find your location.”
“Surprise, surprise,” I groan. “I’ll be back soon.”
“I locked her out and then she went offline, so I think you’re good. Did you tell her where you were going?”
“Left her a note.” I remove my helmet, and head for the back entrance. “I’m going to lose you as soon as I enter.”
“I know. Just keep your head, Luca. You’re a better fighter than Ivan.”
“He cheats,” I growl. “And I have no doubt he’ll cheat this one, too.”
“You can beat him at his game. Just focus on taking out the threat, not enjoying it. Better to be alive and take it out some other way. There’ll be more hits after this, but not if you’re burning in hell.”
“Thanks for the pep talk.” I punch the code on the back entrance, and I’m met with grins on two of Ivan’s men’s faces. The call disconnects, and I’m left to fend for myself.
“He’s waiting for you,” one nods to the entrance into the chamber. “He knew you’d come.”
“Time to make up for all the missed lunch dates,” I joke, sliding past them and heading for the door. It’s the same entrance Emma took the night I almost killed her for the third time. It’s the same entrance all the victims take when they want to die.
I swallow hard, remembering the gun in my waistband. It won’t do me a lot of good in the dark. I also know I might enter and be met with an array of bullets myself. I put nothing past Ivan, but with some luck, he might feel like talking.
Maybe.
I step inside, my Vans silent on the concrete. I let the door click behind me, locking.
“Welcome,” Ivan muses from somewhere in the darkness. “I’d ask you how you’ve been, but rumor has it you’ve been balls deep in a Nightingale.”
“It happens,” I say, blinking my eyes to help them adjust. I don’t go for my gun. I don’t want it on the table yet.
“You killed my son for pussy.”
“And you killed my mentor,” I blurt out the accusation that I’ve been holding onto for years. I couldn’t trace the source of the hitman, but there was only one other person who knew where we’d be that night. Only one person Victor trusted with the information.
“What an assumption,” Ivan howls. “Why would I kill my best friend and partner?”
“Because you hated him,” I answer.
“He was being an idiot, coming to your rescue like a fucking hero.”
Guilt racks my chest, and my mind sears with the memory of him taking a bullet meant for me. I took out the hitman immediately, but he never came back to another source. And no one else came after that.
“He had the audacity to die in your place,” Ivan continues, his voice full of hate. “He betrayed his own fucking morals. He showed you mercy, instead of letting you take the hit like you should’ve. We all go down at some point, and he cared too much to let you take yours.”
“And so you kept putting them on me.”
“And you kept beating them.”
“Good practice,” I remark, unmoving in the darkness.
“You’re one of the best. Better than Manny. All you had to do was let him live, and I’d just have kept you sharp. You were proving you were more than what Victor could be.”
“I don’t know about that.” I creep to the left, staying in the shadows of the blackness.
“That”s because you failed, Luca. You showed your cards, just like Victor did. I knew it was coming. You found this fucking room to work out your rage in secret. And it was only a matter of time. Victor was weak to let it happen. The fucker chose love over life when he took a bullet for you.”
I blink twice. Love. Victor loved me? I don’t know why I never thought about it. I don’t know why I thought Ivan loved Manny and Victor didn’t love me.
Ivan would never die for Manny.
He might draw me out to kill me, but that’s just another fucking game to men like Ivan. And for some reason, it pisses me off on behalf of Manny. The distraction of thought is a mistake, and I take a direct hit from something on the side of the head.
I crash to the floor, grabbing my head to cover.
“Gotta stay sharp,” Ivan barks above me, smashing what I think is an aluminum bat into the side of my head again. My hand breaks the hit, and I manage to grab ahold of it. He bursts into laughter and continues to cackle even as my heel takes out his knee and he hits the floor. Fighting in the dark isn’t my forte, but it’s easier to not get distracted by the blood, which I’m sure is gushing out of my nose from hitting the concrete.
I force myself to sit up, still hanging onto the bat. Ivan makes a kick to my stomach, and while it hurts, it busts open the adrenaline.
“When I’m finished with you, I’ll find the little redhead of yours. Try her out for myself,” Ivan taunts.
Every fucking demon I keep locked away is let loose at his words, and I see red—the same shade as Emma’s hair. The same color I saw when my eyes landed on Manny’s hand in her pants.
“Fuck. You.”
“Ah, there he is,” Ivan rumbles. “Victor always said you had a monster in you. It’s why he showed you this room. Gotta keep the monster at bay, huh?”
I lunge at him, my mind roaring with what sounds like tumultuous ocean waves. It’s nothing but static as my body collides with Ivan’s with a force that causes him to gasp for oxygen.
I break the bat from his grip and chunk it across the room. I can’t see what he pulls from the darkness, but I know he’s a fucking cheater. The butt of a pistol almost collides with my temple.
“No guns allowed in this room,” I growl, blocking another hit.
“And since when am I a man that ever follows the rules?” Ivan chokes out as we continue to take hits at each other. I block another hit, and I hear the fumble with the gun. He’s going to take a cheap shot.
But I’ll take mine first.
I reach into my waistband, removing the pistol from its place as a twinge emits from my left thigh. I ignore it, ready to fire. But as I come around my body, I miss blocking a third hit.
And everything goes black.
***
“What the fuck?” a voice says in the distance.
Pain sears through the side of my head and as I flutter my eyes open, the lights are too fucking bright. I close them again, letting out a groan.
“He’s awake,” the voice shouts. “Let’s get him out of here.”
“I should’ve come sooner,” another voice says. “I knew it was taking too long.”
“You owe me a big explanation for this, Jude,” the first voice growls above me. “I can’t believe you’ve been hiding all this shit behind my back.”
Oh shit. Henry.
I force my eyes open again, this time meeting a pair of steely gray ones. “How long have I been out?”
“You entered this room twenty-seven hours ago.”
My eyes instantly widen. “What the fuck? Why would you let me lay here this long?” I try to sit up, but I instantly fall back.
“Slow down,” Henry catches me. “Ivan sedated you, and had a false tracker planted on one of his guys to make it appear you’d left the building. It led on us on a fucking goose chase while you were here. But…” His eyes jog off to the left.
And I weakly follow them. “Oh shit.” I take in the sight of a lifeless Ivan, his blonde hair soaked in blood. A gun lay beside him. And a syringe. He’s riddled with bullet holes. But I don’t remember doing it. I barely remember getting my gun.
“Yeah, his cronies ran.” Henry shrugs. “There’s people to clean this shit up. We just need to get you the fuck out of here.”
“Have you gotten her yet?” I ask Jude, who’s standing at the door. He meets my gaze but says nothing. Panic thrums through my body. This is the day. This is the fucking day. And Ivan is dead. I can be there with her. I can go with her. “We have to get back to her.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Henry stops me as I try to jump up. “Who are you going to get? If there’s a hit, it’s gotta wait. You can’t go like this.”
“No, today is the day.” I shove Henry off me. She’s going to be waiting for me. And she’s going to be pissed.
“Have you at least called her?” I demand, nearly falling as I stand to my feet. Henry is there to catch me again, but this time, he helps me stay standing. “Tell me you called her.”
“She doesn’t have a phone,” Jude says through his teeth. “It’s impossible to call someone without a phone.”
“We need to get you back to my place, and then you can go look for whoever you want. You need an IV,” Henry stabilizes me and as I glance down, I see blood dripping from me to the floor. “And I need to patch you up sooner rather than later. My place is only fifteen minutes away.”
I reach for my head and realize it’s still oozing blood. “No, I need to go to my place.”
“No,” Henry argues.
“We have to,” Jude says, albeit reluctantly. “He has a guest.”
Henry stiffens, glaring at me and then back at Jude. “Is this why you’ve been so fucking elusive lately? I knew something was up, but you made it out like you were making headway on Emma’s disappearance. You were really hunting Ivan, weren’t you?”
“Both,” I answer for Jude, relieving him of the spotlight. “He was helping me.”
“With Ivan?” Henry helps me stumble toward the exit.
I take in the room with the lights on and see the blood stains. Everywhere. The concrete floors, walls, and ceiling are littered in dark, disgusting splatters. My stomach lurches, and I’m not sure if it’s the concussion or the view.
I heave, vomiting all over the concrete.
“Who have you been helping him with?” Henry repeats his question, this time sharper, stronger, and with more agitation.
“Emma,” I choke out. “Emma.” Her name is like medication to my body, lighting me up with the urge to get out of this room—out of this place.
“You had the hit on her, didn’t you?” Henry’s voice is terrifyingly quiet, and I brace for what’s to come.
“I did,” I answer him as the breeze from outside rushes in and fills my lungs. “But it’s day zero now. Time’s run out.”
“She’s safe,” Jude speaks quickly as Henry’s grip tightens. “She’s at his place.”
“Why did no one tell me?” Henry exasperates. “Lydia’s been going fucking mad.” He jerks me, and I groan out in pain—and then vomit again.
“He had to keep her safe,” Jude says. “Her hit expired at the end of yesterday.”
The words hit me like a freight train, and I suck in a sharp breath. It’s over now. It’s over for me. It’s over for her. We’re free.
I just have to get home to her.