Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
NICO
Even in the dark, I can see his fear.
But it wars with cockiness. A stubborn belief that he still has the upper hand.
His gun is pointed at me, after all. Less than a foot from my heart. And from his stance and grip, it’s clear he’s no novice.
No, three armed intruders who somehow found their way past my security aren’t run-of-the-mill criminals.
For them to enter the building, get past the guards, go up the elevator that requires a special code to use, and get into my condo, that means someone behind this—whether it’s one of these three or a mastermind pulling strings from a distance—knows what they’re doing.
Still, I would have thought it impossible.
Unless… they got in another way. Rappelling down from the roof and cutting the glass in a window? Masquerading as a tenant, or disguising themselves as a new employee? Or—
Does it matter right now?
No. Not really. All that matters is neutralizing this asshole and keeping Sofia safe.
Narrowing my glare at the man in front of me, I growl, “This is your last chance. Put down the weapon. Or I will hurt you.”
He lifts his chin defiantly. “I’ll get a shot off first. And then you’ll be lying on the ground, helpless and bleeding, while I go find your little girlfriend’s hiding place.
” He pauses before adding in a pacifying tone, “We’re not here to kill you.
Stand down, and we’ll leave you alone. It’s not like you can identify us with the masks, anyway. ”
“We?” I ask with a skeptical rise of my brows. “I don’t think your friends are going to be doing much to help. Assuming they’re not dead, themselves.” They aren’t. But they’re definitely both unconscious and suffering from several broken bones.
As I glance to my right at one of the intruders sprawled on the ground, his gaze quickly follows.
It’s only a momentary lapse in focus, but it’s enough.
Just as I practiced thousands of times, my arm comes down on his. I hit him just in the right spot to make him lose his grip on the gun. Like the other, he yelps in pain. Then, in a follow-up one-two move, I punch him in the sternum, and then the throat.
He lets out a wheezing gasp before dropping to his knees. His uninjured hand goes to his neck.
I leap on him, pinning him to the ground and choking him out in seconds. Once he goes limp, I snatch up his gun and quickly stick it on the bookcase behind me.
Scanning the room, I spot all three men, still incapacitated, but one of them is already stirring. And then—
“Sofia!” My heart nearly explodes out of my chest. “What are you… You’re supposed to be in the closet. Is that—”
She moves towards me, wide-eyed and trembling. “I couldn’t hide in there. Not with you out here.” After a quick glance around the room, she exhales heavily. “Okay. What do you need?”
To get back the five years of my life I just lost seeing her out here? For Sofia to get back in the damn closet where she’s somewhat safe?
But she’s here. Looking at me with that stubborn tilt to her chin.
Wordlessly demanding I let her be a part of the team.
So I swallow back the things I’m definitely going to scold her for later, like, What part of stay in the closet until I come for you, she didn’t understand, and say, “Call Knight. Tell him to get everyone over here. Now.”
She reaches beneath her waistband to pull out my phone. “What about the police?”
“No.” My jaw clenches. “We’ll call them after. First, I’m going to interrogate these men myself.”
Sofia stares at me for a second. Then she nods. “Okay, Nico.” She pauses. “Are you okay? Did any of them hurt you?”
“No.” I cup her cheek. “I’m fine. Now, call Knight while I get these pieces of shit tied up.”
Thanks to the healthy stockpile of zip ties I always keep on hand—one of my trainers in the Operator Training Course suggested it, explaining the multitude of possible uses—I have all three intruders fully restrained in a matter of minutes.
Then I drag them to the center of the living room, yank off their masks, and start rummaging through their pockets.
Just as I’m pulling a phone and a small switchblade from one of their pockets, Sofia comes up beside me. “Do you need help?” she asks. “I could go through—”
“No!” It’s almost a shout. But, shit, I don’t want her close to them, let alone sticking her hand in their damn pockets. “No,” I repeat more gently, “I’m fine. Can you just stand over there by the couch?”
She frowns, but does what I ask. “Knight is on the way,” she says. My phone chimes in her hand. Scanning the incoming text, she reads, “Wraith, Houdini, and Jester are en route. They’ll be here in under ten minutes.”
“Good.” I finish searching the last of the men’s pockets and drop the collection of wallets, phones, and assorted weapons on the coffee table. “If you’d like,” I offer, “you could look through their wallets. See if they have any ID.”
Sofia nods quickly. “Okay. I can do that.”
I don’t miss how her hand shakes as she reaches for the first one. Or, as she flicks on the lamp on the side table to look more closely, how pale she is.
Guilt crashes into me. I don’t know how, but this has to be tied to me. A last-ditch attempt by my father to silence her, an act of revenge…
Fuck. I hate him.
One of the men—the one I took out first, flops over and blinks dazedly at me. He’s hogtied within an inch of his life, so he can’t do more than wriggle around. “Wha—” He blinks again. “What happened?”
I move to his side. Glowering at him, I snap, “You broke into the wrong fucking person’s place, is what happened.”
“What—” He turns his head back and forth, his eyes going huge when he realizes both his accomplices are tied up, too. “How did you—”
“I wasn’t just in the military,” I reply. “I was Delta. Do you know what that means?”
He sucks in a breath. “Fuck.”
“So you do, then.”
“Listen.” He gives me a pleading look. “It was his idea.” He angles his chin at the man I took down second. “I thought it was just a burglary—”
“Fuck that,” the second man snarls, apparently now awake again. “Don’t fucking lie, Gio. You knew—”
“No, I didn’t.” Gio shoots an angry look at the second man before adding, “Dave did! He and Benito planned it all!”
“What the fuck, Gio?” Dave barks. “Don’t use my name. Or his. What the—”
“You used mine,” Gio retorts. “So don’t go throwing rocks at plastic houses or whatever that saying is.”
“It’s glass houses,” Sofia interjects. She glares at Gio. “It’s, People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” To me, she adds, “They all have their IDs on them. That one is Gio Bianchi. That one”—she looks at Dave—“is David Newman. And the one still unconscious is Benito Ricci.”
“Thanks.” I lean down so I’m right in Gio’s face. I’ve already determined he’s the weak link, and I’m going to take advantage of it. “So, Mr. Bianchi. You’re the lucky one. Want to know why?”
He gulps. “Why?”
“Because you get to determine whether you and your friends live or die.”
“What?”
“Yes.” I turn to Sofia. “Which one is his phone?”
She hands a battered black phone to me. “This one.”
“Thanks.” As I take it from her, I murmur, “I really think you should go in the bedroom for this.”
Her chin lifts again. “No.” Her gaze meets mine. “I’m staying here. And whatever you do to them, don’t worry about me judging you for it. I promise.”
I kiss her forehead. “Just stay back, okay?”
She nods. “I will.”
Once I get back beside Gio, I crouch down. He flinches at the death burning in my gaze. “Okay,” I start. “I’m guessing someone sent you. Am I right?”
He shakes his head.
I pull my gun from my waistband and put it to his forehead. Then I cock the trigger. “Try again.”
What little color he had left drains from his face. But he still shakes his head. “No. I won’t talk.”
“Sofia.” I glance in her direction again. “Does he have any photos in his wallet?”
She looks through his wallet and nods. “Yes. An older woman. It looks like it might be his mom.”
Gio gasps. “No. NO.” His eyes roll. “You can’t. She’s not involved—”
“Yes,” I growl. “Yes. I can. You came here looking for the woman I love. What were you going to do once you found her? Beat her? Take her? Kill her?”
“Please,” Gio begs, “just leave her alone. I’ll—”
“Shut the fuck up,” Dave snaps. “He’s not going to do anything.”
“David here has a photo of a woman in his wallet,” Sofia says. “She’s very pretty. And she’s holding a really cute dog.”
Dave goes quiet.
“So,” I continue. “You have two choices. And remember, I’m in control now. Not you. Either you tell me why you’re here and who sent you, or I kill you and go after the people you care about. Which do you choose?”
Would I really? Go after an innocent mother or girlfriend? A helpless animal? No. Never. But they don’t know that. And I really hope Sofia knows that, too.
Gio stares at me. His chin wobbles. “Fine. But you won’t hurt my mom. Right? You’ll leave her alone?”
“Yes.” I lift the gun from his forehead. “Now. Why were you here?”
He swallows. “To take the woman. Deliver her to our boss.”
“How did you get in here?”
“The heating vents. We came in through the kitchen.”
Fuck. The damn vents?
I take a steadying breath. “And who’s your boss?”
He shakes his head again. “I can’t say. He’ll kill me.”
“Okay.” I start to stand. “I’ll go look up where your mom lives now.”
“Fuck. Fine.”
Dave says in a warning tone, “Gio. No.”
“I have to! It’s my mom.”
A series of rapid knocks on the door interrupts us. Before I can, Sofia looks at my phone and says, “It’s Knight. And it looks like Wraith, Jester, and Houdini behind him. Plus—” She frowns in confusion. “The guy from downstairs? The reception guy? Edwin?”
Oh, shit.
I jump up and hurry to the door. Opening it, I tell my friends, “Thanks. We had some unwelcome visitors tonight.”
Knight lifts his chin at me. “Of course.”
Jester glances at the three men on the floor. “You didn’t save any of the fun for us?”
Houdini looks over at Sofia. “You alright?”