Chapter 40 Alessa
Alessa
Micah’s bullet wound was through and through. It caused a lot of tissue damage and severe blood loss, earning him a walking cast and a few nights’ stay at the hospital, which he’s glaring at me about.
“You signed Holden out. Get me out of here, shithead.”
I shake my head. “No can do. You need to get blood and rest.”
“I can rest at home,” Micah argues.
“You can’t stay home alone,” I roll my eyes, “And I can’t babysit you.”
“You don’t have to babysit me. I’ll call someone. I’m not staying here.”
I give him a dry look. “Who are you going to call? Everyone that would put up with your ass is here at the hospital.”
He glares harder. “I have more people than just you guys.”
I snort. “No, you don’t.”
“Come on,” Micah says, dropping his head back on the pillows. “If you love me, you will.”
“I just stormed a fucking heavily guarded warehouse for you. I don’t have to prove shit.”
He looks at me again, this time without the glare. “Thank you,” he says sincerely.
“You’re welcome.”
“Now, can you sign me out?”
I throw my hands up. “No. Go to sleep.”
“You’re not my favorite niece anymore,” Micah says, closing his eyes.
That makes me laugh. “I’m your only niece.”
He doesn’t open his eyes, but he smiles. I watch him until his breathing evens out, and I know he finally fell asleep. He’s been fighting sleep like a toddler, trying to convince me to get him out of here.
I had so many thoughts running through my head when Micah went missing, and knowing Viktor had him made it that much worse.
Losing Micah would be like losing my dad all over again.
When Viktor dropped the bomb that Micah was dead, I lost it.
Everything slammed into me at once, and I just reacted.
I didn’t give a fuck about anything except for taking him out. Now he’s officially gone for good.
No way in hell he would tell me where Jay is. But Ghost, Alexey, and Dmitri, along with a group of guys, are searching everything of Viktor’s, trying to find even the slightest clue.
“Can I come in?” I turn to the voice, and Evander’s standing right inside the door, one foot out like he’s ready to run.
“Yeah,” I smile, waving him in.
He sits beside me in the other chair. “How is he?”
“A pain in the ass,” I grouch. “He’s the worst patient ever.”
Evander chuckles. “I can imagine he doesn’t want to stay here.”
“You got that right.” I run my fingers through my hair. “I have nowhere for him to stay, and until Jay is gone, we’re still on the run.” We’ve already been in one place for too long, being at the hospital. But I couldn’t leave until I knew Micah was okay.
I look at Evander when he doesn’t say anything, and he’s just looking at Micah.
No matter what Evander pretends he feels about Micah, he still came to his rescue, which shows me how he truly feels.
His face was lined with worry when he stepped out of the car with Mateo. Mateo looked just as worried.
“He can stay with us,” Evander says finally.
“I can’t ask you to do that.” For one, I wasn’t joking about Micah being the worst patient. He got shot a couple of years ago, and I thought I would smother him with a pillow. For two, I can’t put that on Evander, given his history with Micah.
“You didn’t ask. I offered.” He looks back at me. “He can’t stay here, Les.”
“I’ll figure something else out.”
“No,” Evander smiles softly. “You know he’ll be in good hands. Go sign him out, and I’ll take him home. Let me worry about him. You take care of yourself and your guys.”
I kiss Evander’s cheek, and he smiles. “Thank you.”
On my way to the nurse’s station for an argument I know is already coming, I message Ryder to let him know the plan. I walk up to a haggard-looking older nurse. “I need to sign Micah Poletti out.”
“Oh, honey,” she says, “He can’t leave yet. He still has another unit of blood to receive, and his wound was pretty bad.”
I swallow my crazy and remind myself that she’s just doing her job. “I’m signing him out. Or we can just leave. The choice is yours.”
“I’ll have to call security.”
I shrug. I have my own security. “Have it your way.”
I walk back to the room, updating Ryder.
They won’t let me sign him out. Threatened me with security. Be ready.
Ryder
We will be, il mio sole.
Have I told you today that I love you?
Ryder
Yes. But you can tell me as much as you want.
I love you.
Ryder
I love you too.
Smiling, I shove my phone into my back pocket and step into the room. Micah is sitting up in bed, staring at Evander. Awkward as fuck.
They don’t even realize I walked in. “So. They won’t let me sign you out; we’re just going to have to leave.”
Micah slowly looks at me, promising pain with his eyes. “This is how it is.”
“These are your only options. Stay here or go with Evander. We’re still on the fucking run, Micah, and I don’t have a house to take you to.” I have to take a deep breath before I can talk again. “You can’t stay here. So, make up your mind.”
Micah’s eyes soften. “I’m sorry. Let’s go.”
Packing up Micah’s stuff, I mentally apologize to Evander a million times.
Micah is going to make his life hell.
After we got Micah loaded up, without much security trying to stop guys the size of mine, we headed back to the safe house to pack up and move again. I want to celebrate Viktor dying, spend quality time with my guys, and pass out for twenty-four hours.
Ryder pushes open the door to the safe house and then shoves me back with his arm. “Stay here.”
“What the hell, Ryder?” I ask, trying to push past him.
“Please, Il mio sole.”
Something in his voice makes me pause. I nod, and he disappears into the house, pulling a Glock from his holster. He comes out a minute later, his face grim. “You don’t have to go in here. We can pack up for you and leave.”
“What’s in there?” I ask with a feeling of doom.
Ryder looks at the other guys, then back at me. “He’s been here.”
The feeling of doom intensifies. “Let me in.”
He looks at me for a second, then finally nods, stepping to the side so I can walk in.
All over the walls are pictures. Some are pictures I’ve seen before since he sent them the first time. But the others make my blood run cold.
There in vivid color are pictures of him every time he would sneak into that room and touch me without my permission, Zane and I tied up in that room, him when he shoved his fingers in me, me sleeping in that room that he took me to with the big window.
Then I look at the other wall, and I feel like I’m going to throw up.
Pictures of us sitting in the living room, the kitchen, us sleeping in any of the rooms, and the night with the guys in the movie room, my first time with Zane again. There are so many of them from inside my house I can’t even take them all in.
I clamp a hand over my mouth and run outside, then heave up everything I ate that day off the side of the porch. I feel hands slide into my hair, holding it out of my face. “We can pack up, Beautiful. You don’t need to see that again.”
“Why can’t he leave me alone, Zane? Why won’t he just go the fuck away?”
“We’re going to end this,” Zane promises, turning me to face him. “This will be over.”
“What if we can’t find him? What if I have to live the rest of my life on the run?”
“We will do whatever it takes to keep you safe.” Zane kisses my forehead. “You aren’t in this alone.”
“I just want it to end.”
He jerks me to his chest. “It will.”
The other guys start coming out, loading the car up. Gage silently hands me a toothbrush with toothpaste already on it. “I figured you’d want to brush your teeth.” Leave it to Gage to pick up on that.
“Thank you,” I say sincerely, taking it from his hand.
Zane kisses my forehead one more time before he disappears into the house to help the other guys, leaving me to get rid of the nasty taste in my mouth.
Once the last of our stuff is loaded, Dex leads me to the SUV, sliding me into the back with him and Holden.
I look around when I don’t see Ryder. “He’s taking the pictures down, Baby girl,” Dex mutters, taking my hand.
“He figured you wouldn’t want Ghost to see them. ”
Five minutes later, Ryder gets in, slamming the door so hard that the whole car shakes. Zane silently reaches over, places a hand on Ryder’s thigh, and backs away from the house.
No one knows what to say. Our privacy was invaded.
Not only had Mani put bugs in my house, but he also put cameras.
And Jay has been watching our every move.
He found our safe house, which means nowhere we go is ever going to be safe until he dies.
I’m so fucking tense my shoulders are screaming in pain, but no matter how many times I try to roll them, nothing fucking helps.
It doesn’t bother me that he plastered the pictures of me in that hellhole. What bothers me is that he invaded my privacy inside my home. I’ve already dealt with what he did to me. The main thing that bothers me is that he constantly reminds me he’s still here and after me.
Rocco went earlier and checked the cabin that Gage and I have to see if it’s clear, and we’re going to hunker down there for tonight.
We’ll figure out the rest tomorrow. Ghost is going to sit vigil on the outside with his guys to protect us, for which I’m grateful.
Ghost and Caden more than earned their place with us.
As soon as this is over, I’ll officially welcome them to the Poletti family.
I settle for the car ride to the cabin, leaning on Dex when I feel my phone vibrating in my pocket. I pull it out, an unknown number flashing across the screen. “Look alert,” Dex says, seeing it too. Everyone is instantly alert, and I can feel the car drift to the side of the road.
“What?” I answer.
“Did you get my present, Precious?” Jay’s voice oozes through the phone like poison.
“Sure didn’t.” I pause. “Oh, you mean the pictures? Did you get my present?” He goes quiet, and I know he has no idea that his personal bank is dead.
“Viktor’s dead.” He still doesn’t say anything, and I check to make sure he didn’t hang up.
The line is still open. I finally shut him up for once.
“Nothing to say? That’s fine; I’ll talk.
I know about Mani too. But I’m sure you already know about that since you showed up at what’s left of my house. ”
“You need to stop this game, Precious. I would hate to see you get caught in the crosshairs. Oh, and Zane? I paid a visit to your daddy today.” Zane’s entire body goes rigid.
Zane’s dad, Zeus, passed away years ago, which can only mean one thing.
“I forgot how beautiful his headstone was.” I catch the implied was the same time Zane does.
“You motherfucker,” Zane growls.
Jay laughs. “I thought you would like to know he still had people to visit him. You wanted to play it this way, Precious; now you can deal with the consequences.”
“You really are fucking sick.”
“How long before they get sick of everything you’ve brought to their front door? How long before they get so sick of this shit and leave you alone? Mark my words, Precious, the day will come, and you will be mine.”
Holden gives me a frantic keep-going signal while tapping on his computer.
“They won’t ever leave me. Do you want to know why?
Because they know what love is. You don’t have the first goddamn clue.
Did Mommy not hug you enough as a child?
Did Daddy touch you in the no-no spot? What is it, Jay, that makes you resort to stalking and nearly raping women? ”
“You don’t know the first thing about me,” Jay growls, and I know I hit somewhere close to the mark.
“What’s wrong, Jay? Which is it? It was Daddy, wasn’t it? Is that why you got cut off from his money?”
“Leave my father out of this!”
I exchange a glance with Dex. “You wanna talk about it? Do you need a shoulder to cry on?”
Holden starts gesturing wildly to his computer, and a dot flashes on the screen with coordinates.
He types those in, and an address pops up.
Gage takes his laptop, shows it to Zane, and Zane whips the car in a U-turn, flooring the gas.
Is this finally it? My heart is pumping out of control; my palms are getting sweaty.
Are we finally going to end this once and for all?
“You changed, Precious. What happened to the girl that used to lie there and let me give her so much pleasure without a word?”
My stomach rolls and Gage jerks the phone out of my hand.
“What’s up, Jay? Gage here. You know, the one you thought died?
My dad tried that once, didn’t stick. Anyway, when I get my hands on you, I’m going to rip your fucking eyeballs out with my bare hands.
Then I’m going to cut off every finger that ever touched her.
Then I’ll cut your shriveled cock off and mail it to your dad to remember you by.
Until then, have a fantastic fucking night.
” Gage hits the end call button and hands my phone back.
A hysterical laugh bubbles out, and I clamp my hand over my mouth to stop the sound.
It’s no use; I lose it. Every eye in the car stares at me as if I’ve completely lost my mind, and I probably have.
Jay mentioning me not fighting him when he touched me in front of my guys brought so much damn shame.
The laughs turn to tears, and I can feel my lungs starting to seize up.
Everything from today slams into me. Almost losing Micah, and my greatest shame being broadcasted for all the guys to see.
“Shit,” I hear Dex mutter, “Baby girl. Look at me. You need to breathe.” I shake my head, tears streaming down my face. I feel like I’m drowning; Dex’s face is cutting in and out. “Come on. I need you to breathe. Zane, stop the fucking car!”
I can hear the panic in Dex’s voice, something I’ve never heard before. I want to reach out and tell him it’s okay, but I can’t get my arms to move. They feel like they’re filled with lead.
“Zane! She’s not breathing!”