Chapter 13
Dmitri
The moon is our only light as my group climbs the endless stone steps toward the cliffside villa in one long, silent line.
There’s a back road that leads to the villa, but Ferro’s guards will take that route to get there faster.
And they’re already on the way.
“Remember what I told you on the plane,” I whisper to Andrei as we slow down toward the top of the stairs.
Andrei stops next to me and nods.
“I’m serious,” I tell him, glancing behind me to see Cara crouched next to her father a few steps below us. I lean closer to Andrei so that only he can hear me. “Cara’s pregnant.”
Andrei’s eyes widen. “Yours?”
I frown at him for even asking such a thing. “Yes. Don’t let anything happen to her.”
“You don’t get to die either,” Andrei says. “Not now.”
“Trust me. I’m going to do everything in my power to stay alive for them,” I assure him.
Andrei’s face eventually softens as he nods to me. “Congratulations, Dmitri.”
I give him a grateful smile before looking ahead as I hear the sound of approaching vehicles.
They have their headlights turned off, but the glow of the moon still gleams on their hoods as they roll up to the front of the villa.
We already had one of our guards sneak inside and flip on a light to make it look like someone is inside.
Hopefully, they fall for our trap.
“They’re here,” I whisper before motioning for Sean, Leo, and Damien to move toward the front.
We’re not going to storm all at once. We’re going to sneak inside in groups, fan out to different floors of the villa, and then attack. If we can quietly take out guards along the way, that puts us at more of an advantage.
I look back towards the convoy as at least fifteen to eighteen guards pour out of the vehicles and surround the villa.
My heart jolts to a stop at the sight of Ferro stepping out of one of the black cars.
My hand automatically moves to the grip of my handgun, but Andrei places his hand on my arm and shakes his head.
Now isn’t the right time. Even if I manage to shoot from here and kill Ferro, his entire brigade of guards is going to come after us and kill us as we try to scale back down all these steps. I can’t put all our men in danger.
It doesn’t take long for me to hear glass shattering as the Italian guards storm the villa, busting down the front door to rush inside. Once all the guards are inside, I motion for my group to follow me. Cara, Andrei, Luca, Isaak, Damien, and Cillian move with me toward the front of the villa.
“Cut the power,” I tell Cillian, who nods and splits off to find the circuit breaker box.
I lead everyone around the side of the villa where there’s a balcony on the second floor above our heads. Thankfully, there’s also a tall statue of a man on top of a column for us to climb up to reach the balcony.
I grab the shoulders of the statue and haul myself up, planting my boot on the statue’s head to catch the balcony railing. Sucking in a deep breath, I pull myself up and over the railing, being as quiet as I can as I hear voices from inside.
Andrei comes up next before we both lean over to help Cara up. Luca, Isaak, and Damien follow suit until we’re all crowded on the balcony.
Luca works the lock until it clicks.
I hold my finger up, motioning for him to wait before opening the door. “This leads into one of the bedrooms. There’s a study to the left and a bathroom to the right. Luca, stay here with Damien. Hold this room.” I look at Isaak, Andrei, and Cara. “You three are with me.”
Everyone nods before I motion for Luca to open the door.
Luca holds his breath as he slowly turns the doorknob, gently pushing the balcony door open. He peeks inside before opening the door enough so that we can slip inside of the bedroom.
Once we’re all inside, I shut the balcony door, making my steps as light as possible. By now, the other groups should be preparing to quietly breach as well, and I’d rather not kick things off too early.
“Listen,” Andrei whispers as we approach the closed bedroom door.
Faint voices can be heard from the hallway before fading away. There’s silence for a few seconds until approaching footsteps break through, getting closer and closer.
I tense up, only to hear the footsteps pass the door before falling silent.
With a slow exhale, I try to calm my racing heart. That was close.
The handle turns. The door cracks open, and an Italian appears in the doorway. When he notices us, his eyes widen, and he raises his gun.
Luca acts first, slamming his foot against the man’s hand to kick the gun out of his hand.
I grab the man by the front of his jacket to yank him into the room before hissing at the others. “Shut the door and shut him up!”
Cara eases the door shut and presses her back against it, while Damien and Isaak jump on the guard, shoving a piece of cloth into his mouth to muffle his shouts. They pin him down against the ground, not letting him budge much, even as he writhes and thrashes.
“Fuck,” I breathe out as I rake my fingers through my hair. We’ve barely begun, and we were already almost caught.
“Stay quiet,” Andrei quietly growls at the guard as he leans over him. “If you don’t shut up, I’ll kill you.”
“Someone is coming,” Cara whispers, her eyes widening as she remains planted in front of the door.
I motion for everyone to quiet down as we hear another set of footsteps out in the hallway.
“Marco? Where the fuck did he go?” a man grunts in English, his accent still thick. He then coughs before clearing his throat and moving on.
Cara’s jaw suddenly drops; shock etched into her features.
“What?” I ask her as I move closer to her.
“I think…I think he’s one of the guys who guarded me at the farmhouse,” Cara tells me in a hushed voice, her words rushing out of her. “There was one guy always coughing. His voice was like sandpaper. He reeked of cigarettes.”
I dig my nails into my palm, forcing myself not to storm out into the hallway and put a bullet between the man’s eyes right then and there. “We’ll track him down again.”
Cara nods, her breathing bordering on shaking. “When you rescued me, I didn’t think that I would ever be around them again.”
I briefly place my forehead against hers, wishing that I could comfort her better. All that I can do is kill every single person who hurt her. “We need to deal with this Marco guy. He must be the one that guard was looking for.”
“What do we do with him?” Cara asks once I lean away.
Maybe he can be useful.
“Make him use his radio and lure Ferro out to the garden in the back,” I tell Luca. “We’ll kill him if he doesn’t.”
Luca nods and whispers urgently to Marco in Italian as he pulls out his radio. He holds it close to Marco as Andrei yanks the cloth out of his mouth.
Marco glares up at Luca before opening his mouth, the start of a shout bursting from him until Andrei jabs him in the throat with a knife. He lets out a gurgle instead as blood fills his mouth and spills from his throat.
“Bastard. Should’ve listened,” Andrei mutters as he wipes his blade on the Italian’s jacket.
“I can use the radio again,” Luca offers.
“Not right now. Let’s give the others time to get into position,” I tell him. “Andrei, you’ll switch with Luca. He’ll come with us. You’ll stay here with Damien.”
Andrei glances at Cara before looking back at me. “Are you sure?”
I want him to guard Cara, but I can trust Luca to protect her too. I need him positioned here for the attack so that we have help on this floor.
“I’m sure,” I say before walking back to the door. “Let’s try this again.”
Slowly, I open the door, grimacing as it creaks. I give myself enough space to slip through the dark hallway, Cara, Luca, and Damien following me closely. Faint traces of noise sound throughout the estate as Ferro’s guards comb the place.
A soft whine, then silence. The lights die. Power’s out.
I keep moving down the hallway toward the study, my pulse filling my ears in a deafening thudding. We almost make it to the study when the floor creaks up ahead. My eyes lift just as another Italian guard rounds the corner into our hallway.
I don’t have time to do anything but run at him without a thought. I slam into his right side, driving him into the window. The bullet whistles past my ear, the crack of the gun almost deafening me.
The guard’s back hits a window behind him, shattering the glass.
I grab the front of his shirt with one hand and strike him in the face with the other, my knuckles colliding with his cheek over and over until blood coats my knuckles.
The guard weakly swings at me, but he’s too slow to even graze me.
I grab his head and slam it back against the windowsill, hearing the wood crack from the impact. Or maybe it was his skull. Regardless, he slumps against the wall, blood dripping from the back of his head.
“Shit. Come on, Damien.”
I spin around to see Cara and Luca kneeling next to Damien, who lays still on the ground. My heart sinks. I didn’t reach the guard fast enough to keep him from firing. Now, we have a man down, and our surprise advantage went up in smoke.
They know that we’re here now.
Luca looks up at me, moonlight illuminating his grim face as he shakes his head.
“Fuck,” I breathe out. My stomach drops hard.
The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps come from the stairs near the other end of the hallway.
Luca grabs Cara’s hand and pulls her up to her feet. “Run!”
I reach out and take Cara’s other hand, pulling her toward me so that we can all round the corner together to enter another hallway. Gunshots ring out throughout the estate, sounding above us and below us. Our plan went south.
Luca suddenly halts in the middle of the hallway. “Go!”
“What the hell are you doing?” I question him as I stop and spin around.
“Distracting them! Get her somewhere safe!” Luca shouts at me.
“What? No!” Cara protests.
Luca gives me a firm look. “We’re fighting for our lives,” he snaps. “Don’t fail her.”
I nod before tightening my grip on Cara’s hand and pulling her away from Luca as he turns to deal with the guards getting closer.
Cara stumbles after me, breathing heavily as she pitches looks over her shoulder.
I shouldn’t have brought her. What the hell was I thinking?
I see a set of double doors on my left. They must lead to another balcony. I rush over to them and throw them open, revealing a balcony that overlooks a small terrace. “Come here.”
“What are we doing?” Cara questions me as I look over the railing.
There aren’t any statues to climb, but there are plenty of bushes just underneath the balcony. The drop isn’t too far, and they would cushion her fall.
“You need to jump into those bushes and hide somewhere,” I tell her as I point down below.
Cara’s eyes grow wide. “No! I’m not leaving you!”
I pull her closer to the side of the balcony where the railing is, adrenaline pumping through my veins. “You have to. I can’t protect you in there.”
Fear shines in her eyes. “Who’s going to protect you?”
“I’ll be fine,” I assure her as I place her hands on the railing, standing behind her. “It’ll hurt. Land on your feet if you can, then roll.”
Cara’s hands shake as they grip the top of the railing. She peers over the edge into the bushes, breathing out shakily.
“It looks farther down than it actually is,” I promise her, knowing that she’s scared. “You and our baby will be okay.”
We don’t have much time, though.
Cara nods and lifts her leg to rest her knee on top of the railing with her hands. She starts to lean forward, the breeze rustling her hair.
I place my hand on her back to steady her, dread seeping deep in my stomach. I don’t want us to be separated, but she may be safer that way.
Cara breathes in deeply before leaning forward.
I lift my hand from her back, and someone grips my collar and rips me backward.
“Dmitri!” she screams as she tries to grab me.
I hit the ground on my back, my head striking the wooden floor.
Then nothing.