Chapter 21
Dmitri
I get to the hospital as fast as I can after I hear the news.
Panic and fury slam through me as I stride into the waiting area with Denis and Mark right behind me, my eyes landing on Cara as she speaks to one of the doctors.
Relief hits so hard my knees almost give out.
She’s okay.
I lose my breath. It’s like my chest forgets how to work.
I already felt wary about letting her go off into the city without me. Now, I really don’t want her to leave my side.
We were apart for a few hours, and someone tried to kill her.
“Cara?” I say as I stride over to her.
She turns from the doctor and lets me pull her into my arms. “I’m okay.”
“And her father?” I ask.
“He’s stable,” the doctor says. “Awake and responsive. I can take you to see him.”
I nod to him before glancing over my shoulder at Leo, Mark, Denis, and a handful of pissed off Irish men awaiting instructions. “Lock this place down. No one gets near that room.”
Cara tenses, but she follows me anyway.
“Tell me everything,” I murmur to Cara as I pull her to me and kiss the top of her head before nodding to the doctor as he gestures to Sean’s room. We head inside to find Sean lying in the hospital bed in a blue and white gown, monitors surrounding him on both sides.
“Dad?” Cara says as she quickens her pace to reach his bedside. She takes his hand, being mindful of the IV stuck into the top of it.
Sean slowly turns his head to peer at her. “I’m fine, Cara. They patched me up. They just want to monitor me for a little while.”
Cara lets out a shaky breath as she lowers her head. “You could’ve gotten yourself killed!”
“It would’ve been worth it,” Sean says, like he’s talking about the weather. “It happened so damn fast. We were just walking around the corner to the car when they drove up on us.”
“Did you get a look at them?” I ask him as I remain by Cara’s side, keeping my voice low so that no one outside of the room can hear me.
Sean shakes his head. “The windows were tinted. When I saw the back one lower, I jumped in front of her. I knew what was about to happen.”
Discomfort seeps into my bones as I lower my gaze to Sean’s upper chest where he was shot. That could’ve so easily been Cara. I could’ve lost both the woman I love and my baby today.
“They were aiming for Cara? Is there any chance that it could’ve been a hit on you, Sean?” I ask him, my hope already faltering as Sean frowns.
“The gun was aimed at her,” Sean confirms. “When they hit me instead, they sped off.”
I scrub my hand over my face, unable to find a silver lining in this mess other than Cara being alive and unscathed. “I’m tired of cowards hiding behind glass and guns. They won’t just man up and face me.”
“Because they know they won’t win against you,” Cara replies. “This is easier for them.”
My teeth grate together as I pull my phone out of my pocket. “We’re going to find who did this. I’m going to have my guys pull every second of security camera footage in the area. If we can read the license plate of the car, that will give us a lead.”
“Good idea,” Sean says. “I would help, but…”
I shake my head. “Just focus on getting out of here. I’d recommend having some of your men linger around the hospital to keep an eye on the place after we leave.”
Sean nods. “Will do.”
“We should go,” I tell Cara, whose brow furrows in reluctance.
“He’s right,” Sean says as he pats her hand. “I’ll be fine here. Go help Dmitri find out who these guys are before they attack again. Because they will.”
Cara nods and draws away from him, letting me lead her out of the hospital room and toward the exit with my arm around her shoulders. “How soon can your men get their hands on that security footage?” she asks.
“Probably by the end of the day,” I reply.
Cara’s face hardens, and the fire in her eyes is familiar. She feels the same rage that I do about all of this.
“I want to see it,” she says. “I want to help you find these assholes.”
My men work quickly.
Once we pull the footage and catch the plate, all it took was greasing some palms at Metro for the car owner’s name and address.
A man named Devon Hardin who has no direct affiliation with any of the crime families around here. I can only assume that he’s an independent contractor who doesn’t care who he works for as long as he’s getting paid.
While Cara got to watch the footage with me, she’s sitting this part out.
“Move!” I order.
Mark kicks the door in on my command, and the four of us storm inside. Since it’s close to midnight, darkness cloaks the inside of the house, but we quickly make our way through in search of our target.
A silhouette stumbles into the hallway. “What the—”
I slam him down on the ground before he can finish.
“Get the fuck off of me!”
Mark, Leo, and Denis help me drag Devon into the nearby dining room and zip tie his hands to the arms of a wooden dining chair.
“Don’t fight,” I warn. “You get one chance to make this easy.”
Devon laughs in my face. He isn’t going to work with us. I slam my knuckles against his jaw, making his head snap to the side. “Then we do it the hard way.”
“What the fuck do you want?” Devon grits out as he glares up at us, moonlight flitting across his angry face.
“You tried to carry out a hit outside of a wedding dress shop,” I state, watching his expression stiffen. That’s enough of an admission of guilt, and I can’t help but punch him in the face again just for thinking about killing my fiancé.
“What the hell, man?” Devon snaps at me, blood dripping off his chin. “It wasn’t me!”
“You almost killed my girl,” I grit out as I step closer to him, resisting the urge to strangle him to death. “Your car was there,” I snarl. “Your plate is on camera. And you’re the one who just stumbled out of bed at midnight like you’ve got nothing to hide.”
Devon scoffs at me. “Yeah, fine. I shot some old guy.”
“That was her father,” I say in a cold voice. “Who paid you?”
Devon tightens his jaw. “Don’t know. Can’t tell you.”
“Yes, you can. You will,” I reply as I hold my hand out.
Mark drops a knife into my palm. “Should we search the place while you handle him?”
“Might as well,” I say. Just in case I can’t get this bastard to talk.
“Leave my shit alone, you sons of bitches!” Devon spits out as my men spread out to search the house for anything helpful. Based on his panic, maybe they will find something useful.
“Tell me who hired you. Were there other hired contractors with you?” I ask as I point the knife toward him.
Devon glares at me. “I work with some other guys on important gigs. That’s all I can say.”
“You don’t want to talk because you don’t want to get in trouble with whoever fucking hired you. Trust me, that’s the least of your concerns right now.”
Devon grinds his teeth. “I’m not trying to get skinned alive and dumped in a river somewhere.”
“I will do exactly that if you don’t fucking talk,” I tell him as I press the tip of the knife blade against his cheek.
“I was paid for discretion,” Devon replies evenly.
“Your money won’t matter in hell,” I bite out before slicing the knife downward, splitting his cheek the way they did to Cara.
Devon cries out in pain as he recoils from me.
“Found anything?” I call out to my men as I shift the knife in my hand to get a better grip on the handle.
Ten seconds later, Mark strides back into the living room with a phone in his hand. “If he won’t talk, we trace the money.”
Devon stiffens as he stares at his phone.
“Let’s do it,” I say before stepping closer to Devon and letting the tip of the knife blade hover only an inch away from his eye. “Unless you want to tell me yourself.”
A faint shudder rattles through Devon, but he doesn’t say a word. That’s enough of an answer for me.
I walk around Devon and grab both sides of his face, keeping his head straight so that his phone’s facial recognition software can read him. It unlocks. The bank app opens. His balance flashes on-screen.
“Screenshot everything. Transfers, incoming deposits, account numbers—anything linked. Reach out to Owen if you need extra help. He’s good at digging up information that people don’t want found,” I tell Mark.
Mark nods and whistles loudly. “We’re done.”
I turn back to Devon and click my tongue. “You could’ve helped us out. I might have spared you.”
Another shiver passes through Devon as he sinks back into the chair, trying to put as much distance between us as he can. “You’re lying. You would’ve killed me anyway!”
“I’ve spared people before,” I say, leaning in. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
Devon parts his lips to speak, but I slash at his throat with one clean swipe, blood pouring down the front of his shirt as he lets out a string of strangled gurgles. His hands twitch as he tries to reach for his throat, but the zip ties keep him subdued.
All he can do is struggle as the light fades from his eyes.
“Leo, Ivan, clean this up,” I tell them, already hearing them pull open cabinets and drawers to look for supplies. “Mark, you and I will pay our Irish friend a visit.”
“Yes, sir,” Mark replies.
I turn away from Devon and walk out of the house. I never expected to regularly collaborate with the Irish on issues, but whoever hurt Cara is a threat to us all. This is a bigger problem than we ever thought possible.
Luckily, we’re also smarter and more resourceful than our enemies give us credit for.
“Alright, I had to dig deep for this, but I think I found where the payment for the hit came from,” Owen tells us as we gather in his home office. He points to the deposits listed in Devon’s deposits on his bank account. “Here it is.” He taps the screen. “Key Consults.”
“Key Consults? What the hell is that?” Mark asks from my right as we stand behind Owen’s office chair.
“Shell company,” Owen says. “And it’s nested inside a chain of shell companies.”
“So, whoever owns them or works for them is who paid for the hit?” I ask him.
“Most likely,” Owen says as he clicks around, bringing up generic looking websites on his three-monitor setup. “They’re covers. All these are basic companies that no one would give a second look at.”
“Can you find out who owns them? We need to figure out who came after Cara and shot Sean,” I tell him, urgency breaking through my voice.
“I’m working on that,” Owen replies with a faint sigh. “Whoever built this knew what they were doing.”
“Of course,” I mutter, rubbing the back of my neck in frustration. Every time we get close, we run into another damn brick wall. “How long do you think it’ll take for you to crack this?”
“Give me the night,” Owen says, already typing. “If you lend me one of your smarter guys, maybe we can get it done faster.”
“Call in Dex. He’s mostly tech, but maybe he can lend a hand,” I tell Mark.
Mark nods and takes his phone out of his pocket as he steps away.
“Any instincts?” I ask Owen.
Owen’s eyes don’t leave the three screens as his fingers move over his keyboard. “About who ordered the hit? All of the shell companies were so generic that none of them gave me any hints. It could be one of the Italians still trying to cause trouble.”
“I’m pretty sure we killed all who were involved,” I reply, prompting Leo to nod in agreement.
Owen pauses to raise an eyebrow at me. “You can say that with a hundred percent certainty? Every single Italian who hates the Bratva and the Irish?”
I scoff a little. “Well, if there is a straggler who is stupid enough to fuck with us, we’ll take care of them.”
“We’ll find out who is behind this,” Owen says as he turns back to his setup. “In the meantime, stay off public sidewalks.”
I should just lock Cara up in the penthouse from now on to mitigate the risk, but what kind of life is that? She would never forgive me. Besides, how can we raise a family like that?
Before we can have a life together, we need to drag our enemies into the light.
Then we bury them.