Dominic
Fifteen minutes go by with no contact from my men or Leo. Each moment that passes has my anxiety climbing, and the urge to go out and fight intensifying.
Nico is doing his best to lighten the situation, cracking jokes to make Cassandra smile. She’s politely entertaining him, but by the way she jumps each time the air conditioner kicks on, and how she twists the fabric of her skirt between her fingers, I know she’s worried.
“What the fuck is going on out there?” I stop my pacing to glare at the door, tempted to say, “Fuck it,” and run out guns blazing.
“You heard Leo,” Nico drawls, spinning a coaster on the coffee table. “He’ll call when he knows anything.”
“Yeah, but with surveillance down, he’s at least two steps behind,” I snap and continue wearing a trail into the carpet.
Nico shifts in his seat on the couch, throwing an arm over the back to watch me. “I get what you’re saying, but it’s not worth the risk—”
A series of rapid bangs has me reaching for my gun and Nico shooting to his feet.
“It was the door.” Cassandra’s eyes widen as she inhales a sharp breath.
Nico rushes over, flattening himself against the wall. I motion for Cassandra to take her place behind the wet bar as I join Nico.
We share a look as the pounding starts again.
“Ready?” Nico whispers.
I nod and lift my gun.
Nico sets his shoulders, drawing his weapon.
“Jesus Christ, open the fucking door.” The knocking increases as my brother’s irritated voice carries through the door.
“Marco?” Nico calls.
“Yes.” Marco slams his fist against the wood. “Now let me the fuck in before some Russian pricks decide to shoot me in the middle of the hallway.”
Nico twists the knob and opens the door just wide enough for entry.
I grab Marco by the arm, pulling him in front of me. “What’s going on out there?”
“We took the fuckers out on the top level.”
I nod, already aware.
“But there were more stationed in rooms downstairs.” Marco runs a hand over his cropped hair.
“Shit, man, they’ve been planning this out for a while.
Jonathon grabbed one of the younger guys and got him into a supply closet to interrogate him.
Guy broke like a little bitch. He told us that the Medina organization used a shell corporation we didn’t know about to book a bunch of rooms under the guise of their employees attending a conference. ”
“Does Leo know?” I ask.
“Yeah.” Marco walks toward the couch, stripping out of his suit jacket. “He’s working on finding out how many men booked that block of rooms . . . and how many more were hiding out in them.”
“Shit,” Nico mutters. “So, where is everyone now?”
Marco works on loosening his tie as he sighs. “Before I came down here, Jonathon and Victor spotted Anatoliy and were attempting to locate him on the upper floors. Leo is still working to get surveillance back up, and we broke up our soldiers to patrol the lower floors.”
Done with the lack of information, I pull my phone from my pocket. “I’m calling Leo.”
I migrate to the bar where Cassandra waits, listening with rapt attention, and place the device on speakerphone.
“Dominic,” Leo answers. “We’re close to getting surveillance back. We had it for a minute, but the Kozlova team intercepted again. Victor’s tech team thinks they found a way to block them entirely.”
“Marco is here,” I say. “He told us Kozlova and Perez’s men were staying in rooms downstairs.”
“Yeah,” Leo grunts. “From what we can tell, they had the fourth and fifth floors blocked off. We’ve got soldiers down there now, but I’m only getting bits and pieces. I think we may have lost control of the fourth.”
I grit my teeth as my hands curl into fists.
“But one bit of good news. We’ve been able to block off the stairwells from the casino under the guise of maintenance, and we’ve programmed the elevators to skip the fourth and fifth floors. So far, no one in the casino seems to know what’s going on.”
“What about the guests in the ballroom?”
“Vincent and Lucas have them waiting.” Leo pauses as commotion builds in the background. “Surveillance is up!”
Marco whistles and mutters, “Thank God.”
“Oh, shit.” The change in Leo’s tone has the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. “You guys have a problem.”
From across the bar, Cassandra reaches out, grabbing my arm. “What problem?”
“Cassandra and Dominic, get out of there now!” Leo barks. “The enemy soldiers from the fourth floor are in the stairwell, congregating on your floor.”
“Shit.” Nico draws his gun and rushes to the door with Marco hot on his heels.
“Dominic,” Cassandra pleads, mouth dropping open as she breathes deep.
“Get your gun,” I direct her. “We’ve got to run.”
“Dominic,” Leo says. “Go back upstairs the way you came. Jonathon and Victor cleared the top floor. If you can get up two levels, we can work on sending a team to protect you.”
My eyes lock with Cassandra’s. She nods, resolute and ready to fight.
With one hand, I hold my gun, and with the other, I hold the hand of my wife.
“Let’s go.”