23. Verona
23
VERONA
“W ould you relax?” Selene said, gesturing to the empty spot on the couch. She’d brought a damn arsenal with her, literally decorating my coffee table (which used to be her coffee table) with her guns and ammo. She ran a brush through the barrel of her rifle while Ru typed on her laptop and Alba went through a binder full of financial reports from the last year at Crimson.
“Something’s wrong.” I rubbed at the center of my chest while I paced in front of the window. “I can feel it.”
Selene cracked her neck and stared up at me. “You’re making me nervous.”
“You should be,” I said.
“Hush.” Ru pushed to her feet so she could grab my shoulders and stop my pacing. “Everything is fine.”
I didn’t think so. Hollywood and I hadn’t left things on good terms, and since he walked out yesterday, I hadn’t heard from him. Maybe I needed space to figure things out, to figure out what I wanted, but something still felt off. My blood sang with danger, as if the few pieces of Hollywood that were inside me and the pieces of me in him recognized that all was not well and had been trying to alert me.
“He’ll let you know when he’s back,” Castor said from his spot at my dining room table.
“He’s with Slip and Coins, and they do this run all the time. It’ll be okay,” Alba said, smiling in that sunshine way of hers.
“We got into a fight,” I admitted, causing both Alba and Ru to glance up at me with identical raised eyebrows. “He wanted to go public, to tell everyone about us.”
“So there is something going on?” Ru said, her eyes wide with hopeful anticipation. “I knew it.”
“Yes,” I said, rubbing my hands over my face. “But I fucked it up.”
I told them the situation, trying to keep my voice down so Wheels and Castor didn’t hear from the kitchen, but screw it. They were here most days anyway, and based on the conversation a few days ago, they already knew. Apparently, everyone already knew. I was the world’s worst secret keeper, even when it was my own.
“He’s changed,” Ru said, as Alba nodded in approval.
“He wants to be better,” Alba added. “To do better.”
“I’ve never seen him this smitten with someone,” Ru said.
“If he told you he loved you,” Selene said, “that’s pretty big. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him admit that about someone before.”
“Ugh, I know,” I groaned. “I got scared. I didn’t want people to know just in case this ends badly. This could hurt ... he could hurt me.”
“That’s the risk you take by letting someone in,” Alba said, her voice gentle like she was trying to coax a wild animal. “In order to love him, really love him, you have to trust that he won’t do that.”
“How did you know that about KC?” I glanced at her, hoping for some resounding life changing advice.
“I pushed him away, at first,” she said, her eyes clouding with a wistful gaze. “When I thought Benito would come after me, I pushed him away to keep him safe.” Alba let out a small giggle. “Fat lot of good that did. He just held on tighter.”
“That’s the thing about these alpha assholes,” Selene said. “You run, they chase. You give an inch, they take a mile.”
I sighed, letting that wash over me. I had to make up with Hollywood as soon as he got back. I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings, and if there were anyone in the world I could trust, who I could bring into my life, it would be him. He’d already gotten a lot closer than anyone ever had before.
“Hey, V,” Castor called. “I’ve got something to show you. Come here.”
He’d been trying to find whoever sent me those strange messages for the last few weeks. When he’d gotten here earlier, he’d said he was close. I walked to the spot behind him so I could peer over his shoulder, watching as he pulled up a video feed of a bar with a group of bikers milling around. It reminded me of the clubhouse, but dirtier and smaller with different ole-timers and uglier hang-arounds.
“What is this?” I narrowed my gaze to see if I recognized any of the people. “I’ve never been there. I thought you said they were in Madison County?”
“I thought so, too,” Castor said, leaning back in his seat as Selene, Alba, and Ru came to stand next to me. “Whoever it is bounced their VPN off a thousand different servers. They’re good.”
“Holy shit,” Selene said. “How are you doing this? Are you spying on them?”
“Someone’s fucking with V,” Wheels explained, joining the group to watch the other club mill around. “Is it the Kings of Carnage?”
Selene straightened from her spot next to me. She’d had a run-in with the New York MC chapter late last year, but they’d sworn they didn’t want any trouble with us.
“I don’t know.” Castor shook his head. “This is where they are right now, not necessarily where they were when they sent those messages to you.”
“Wait ...” Alba pointed to a person wearing a cut in the top right of the screen. “That doesn’t say Kings of Carnage. What is that?”
I squinted and leaned in, just barely making out the same design as the one I’d seen on the guy who’d put his hands on me at the Viper.
“Is that the Hell’s Knights?” I asked.
“That guy whose ass you kicked at the Viper,” Wheels said. “Wasn’t he from the same club?”
“It sure was,” I said. “Do you see him there? Was he after me this whole time?”
Fuck, to have one stalker in my life was bad enough. To have two? I had the worst luck.
“I don’t see him,” Castor said, pressing something on his keyboard to shift the camera view to another angle. “Plus, he didn’t seem like he was interested in you. He had his sights on that other girl.”
The one he’d drugged. The one he’d tried to lure away and harass in the hallway.
“I don’t understand.” I shook my head, trying to rationalize what had happened that night. “Is the person who sent me those creepy messages someone else from his club?”
Before anyone could make sense of what we were seeing, the sound of car doors shutting out front got our attention. Hope surged in my chest that it might be Hollywood, so I started to walk toward the front of the house. Wheels grabbed my shoulder to stop me, hauling me back before taking the lead spot with Castor and Selene. All three of them had their weapons out, and Ru grabbed a pistol off the table, kneeling on the couch so she could peer out the window. I also grabbed a gun, just to be safe.
I’d never killed anyone before, but my brothers had taught me how to shoot when I was still in diapers. If this wasn’t our family, I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“Shit,” Castor said, turning back around to face us, his eyes wide with panic. “Hide, V. Hide. Go!”
It wasn’t the SRMC, nor was it my mysterious stalker or the Kings of Carnage. When I looked out the window, six guys were getting out of a Range Rover in tactical gear, heading straight for my front door. Just as I backed away from the window, another SUV pulled up and I caught sight of men in black suits before Ru yanked me back toward the kitchen.
“Is that the Caputis?” Alba whispered.
“Go,” Selene whispered, corralling the three of us toward the basement door. A loud boom preceded gunfire, but I couldn’t stop. Wheels and Castor were still up there, and I left them because Selene, Ru, and Alba pushed me down the stairs. My legs shook and my knees threatened to give out on me; I kept going because I had to. Once there, Selene raced toward the back of the house where a set of cement stairs led to a slanted rusty metal storm door. Ru held her gun up as Selene forged ahead, unlocking the barrier before lifting it up an inch to peek out.
Hands trembling and heart racing, I reached into my pocket for my cell phone, managing to get a text out to the SRMC group chat that read “911! My house.” Another set of gunshots rang out above us, and I clenched my eyes shut as memories from the night I’d been shot came rushing back to me. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see straight, and suddenly, I wasn’t in that basement with my sisters anymore. I was back in Saint’s truck, staring up at Hollywood’s lifeless face.
“No, no, no,” I murmured, covering my ears as loud thumps hit the floor above us. My legs locked into place, my stomach churning as the pain surged through my chest again. Agony exploded in my body, and I couldn’t move. I had to stay there. I had to get to my brother. I had to make sure Wheels had?—
“V!” Alba shouted, grabbing my face so all I could see were her bright, sky-blue eyes. “You’re okay. Just follow me. That’s all you have to do.”
I didn’t want to walk. I didn’t want to listen to her. I wanted to curl into a ball and pretend none of this was happening, but when she grabbed my hand and yanked me up those cement stairs, I found myself moving. When she raced across the backyard into the woods, hardly sparing a second glance for Castor and Wheels, I focused on my inhales and exhales, gripping the pistol tighter in one hand, her fingers in the other. Selene and Ru were a few paces ahead of us, disappearing into the tree line. Alba and I were almost there, and if I could just keep pace with her, we’d make it.
Keep breathing. Inhale. Exhale. It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m going to make it.
Ten yards out from the woods, a burning hot stab hit me in the calf, and I dropped to my knees, wailing with the sting. Another bullet nearly got me in the shoulder, zinging past me and colliding with the tree immediately to my right. Bark exploded, hitting me in the face, and I blinked, hoping this was a dream, that I’d wake up in bed next to Hollywood.
I’m okay. It’s okay. Keep breathing. Inhale. Exhale.
“Fuck!” I got back to my feet, limping to keep up with Alba and the others, but I couldn’t take a step without the agony tormenting my leg and spine. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t run. “Go! Go! Leave me.”
“No fucking way,” Alba said, coming back to wrap her arm under my shoulders, using her body weight to help me. But this would only slow them down, and judging by the shouts behind me, the Caputis were gaining on us.
“Granddaughter,” called a female voice. “Stop running or I’ll kill them.”
Alba’s steps faltered, and for a moment, I thought she wouldn’t listen. I looked over my shoulder to see my brother and Wheels on their knees in front of the house, two guys standing behind them, pointing guns at their heads.
“Shit,” Alba groaned, freezing just before we would have met up with Selene and Ru.
Selene kneeled on the ground behind a log, setting up her rifle on the fallen tree so she could peer down the scope.
“Get behind me,” she hissed, trying to keep her voice low enough so the Caputis didn’t hear.
“The MC will be here soon.” Ru hunched down next to Selene, holding up her gun. “We just have to hold them off until then.”
Alba and I stayed where we were, the sounds of Gabriella’s footsteps growing closer as we turned around to face her.
“I’m not your granddaughter,” Alba said, holding her chin up higher. “I’m a Rose, and I always will be.”
Gabriella smirked, holding her fur coat tighter around her body as she sauntered closer, four men flanking her on either side.
“I promised you, Alba, one day you would know what a mother’s grief could do.” She put her hands in her coat pockets and stared at us with eyes so similar to the woman standing at my side. I could see the family resemblance, but where Alba’s life had made her more radiant, Gabriella’s had worn her down, turned her features drawn and ragged. “Today is that day.”
“What do you want?” Alba said, taking a deep breath. My pulse thundered in my veins and my leg throbbed, warm, sticky blood coating the side of my calf and ankle. I clutched the pistol harder, waiting for the opportunity to raise it and blow this bitch’s brains out.
“This is not about wanting anything,” Gabriella said. “This is about blood.”
“Haven’t you spilled enough?” I hissed, sneering at the woman who had started this war. It was because of her Benito and the former SRMC president had gotten into a fatal dick-measuring contest. It was because of her Penny Wright ran away with Aris. Gabriella had started it all. “Haven’t you taken enough from us?”
“Where is Leo?” she asked, ignoring me altogether. “If you tell me, I may let you go.”
My stomach churned for Castor and Wheels, who still kneeled on the ground with their hands behind their heads.
“What makes you think we know?” Alba said. “We don’t have access to the club’s information.”
“Hmm.” Gabriella nodded and waved a hand over her shoulder, beckoning more henchmen our way. The guys standing behind Wheels and my brother hauled them upright and brought them toward one of the SUVs, but the queen bee didn’t move. She just stared at us with hatred echoing out of her evil gaze.
“Not another step,” came Selene’s threat from behind us.
“If you don’t come willingly, I’ll kill both of them in front of you,” Gabriella said, purposely ignoring Selene by putting one foot closer to us ... then another ... and another. I didn’t know if she met Castor and Wheels or me and Alba, but either way, I heard Selene’s frustrated groan before the sound of her dropping her gun to the ground.
With nowhere to run and no way out, I let go of my pistol and stared Gabriella down as her Caputi bastards lead us to their vehicles.