23. Declan #2
The words land like ice water down my spine.
"He's using her as bait," Lachlan says quietly. "And if you don't go after her, she's dead."
—
I gather my men by the evening, the best I have, armed with rifles, handguns, and body armor. We load into three vehicles and go over the plan one more time.
The Capetti estate is a fortress with high walls, security cameras, and armed guards. But I've been there before. I know the layout. And more importantly, I know Enzo won't expect me to come tonight. He'll think I need time to plan, to strategize.
He's wrong.
"We go in fast and hard," I tell them. "Two teams. Finn, you take five men and hit the east entrance. Draw their attention. I'll take the rest and go through the west side, straight to the main house."
"What about Mrs. Murphy?" Cormac asks.
"I'll get her." My voice is flat. Final. "You focus on keeping us alive long enough to get out."
They nod. No one questions me. No one asks if this is worth it, if one woman is worth risking all our lives. They trust me.
I just hope I'm not about to get them all killed.
The sun is setting when we reach the spot where we’ll go on foot, and we wait for it to be full dark. When the Capetti estate looms ahead of us, I signal Finn. He nods and peels off with his team, heading east. I lead the rest toward the west wall.
The first guard doesn't see us coming. Cormac takes him down with a knife, quick and silent. We drag the body into the bushes and keep moving. The west entrance is a service gate, usually locked but accessible if you know how. The lock clicks open, and we slip through.
The grounds are massive. Lights glow in the windows of the main house, and I can see movement inside. Shadows passing back and forth.
Then the shooting starts.
Finn's team hits the east entrance right on schedule. The sound of gunfire erupts, sharp and loud in the quiet evening. I hear shouts and running footsteps.
"Go," I tell my men.
We move fast, crossing the lawn in a dead sprint. Two guards appear from around the side of the house, rifles raised. My men take them down before they can fire. More guards pour out of the house. We're outnumbered, but we have surprise on our side. And rage. I have so much fucking rage.
I shoot a man in the chest, reload, and shoot another in the head. We pour past them, and we’re inside.
The back of the house is chaos—guards scrambling and shouting, trying to organize a defense.
I don't give them the chance. I move through them like a storm, my gun an extension of my arm.
Shoot, reload, shoot again. Blood sprays across the floors.
Bodies fall, and I don't stop. I have to get to her.
The stairs are ahead. I take them two at a time, my men covering my back.
There are more guards on the second floor.
I shoot one, pistol-whip another, and keep moving.
I have to hope she’s in her room. I only know where it is because she pointed it out on our way back from the hall, that night when we had the family dinner here.
I try not to think about it further than that.
I don’t need the distraction, or the pain in my chest when I wonder if any of it actually meant anything.
The door is closed. I kick it open.
Enzo is there, and Alessio… and Elena.
She's standing between them, her face pale, her eyes wide with terror. Enzo has a gun in his hand. Alessio is holding a duffel bag, like they were about to leave.
Like they were about to take her and run.
"Declan." Enzo's voice is calm. "I was wondering when you'd arrive."
I raise my gun, aiming at his chest. "Let her go."
"Or what?" He smiles. "You'll shoot me? In front of my daughter?"
"Yes."
The smile fades. He looks at Elena, then back at me. "She tried to kill you. You know that, don't you? I gave her a gun and told her to put a bullet in your head while you slept."
"I know."
"And yet here you are." Enzo shakes his head. "You're even more foolish than I thought."
"Let. Her. Go."
"She's my daughter. She belongs to me."
"No." My voice is steady. Ice-cold anger floods through me at those last words, and the world narrows down to my gun, pointed at his chest. "She doesn't belong to anyone."
I pull the trigger.
The shot echoes in the small room. Enzo's eyes go wide with shock. He looks down at the blood spreading across his chest, then back up at me. "You—"
He falls. I hear Elena scream, and I spin toward her, lowering my weapon.
Alessio moves fast, dropping the bag and grabbing Elena. He yanks her in front of him, one arm around her throat, his other hand pulling a gun from his waistband. "Don't move!" His voice is high and panicked. "I'll fucking kill her, I swear to God—"
Elena's eyes meet mine. She looks shocked and horrified, maybe by the death so close to her or the sudden betrayal of her brother. But as she looks at me, I also see trust there.
She trusts me.
If she’d truly wanted to betray me, she wouldn’t. She’d be trying to get away. Not hoping for me to save her.
"Let her go, Alessio." I raise my gun slowly, looking for an opening. "This was between me and your father. You don't have to die here. Give me my wife, and we can let this go."
"Fuck you!" He's shaking, the gun pressed against Elena's temple. "You killed him. You killed my father. I'm going to—"
Elena moves. It's so fast I almost miss it. She drops her weight suddenly, throwing Alessio off balance. His grip loosens for just a second, and that's all I need.
I fire, and the bullet catches Alessio in the throat.
He makes a choking sound, his gun clattering to the floor.
Elena scrambles away as he falls, blood pouring from the wound.
She lets out a thin cry, her hands covering her mouth as she stares at her brother convulsing, blood leaving him so fast he dies within seconds. And then, suddenly, it’s quiet.
The shooting downstairs has stopped. Faintly, a moment later, I hear the sounds of my men reconvening. But up here, it’s just me and Elena and two dead men on the floor.
I lower my gun and cross the room. She's shaking, her arms wrapped around herself, staring at her father and brother’s bodies.
"Elena."
She looks up at me, tears streaming down her face.
"I'm sorry," she whispers. "I'm so sorry. I don’t think I could have done it. I was going to… I know you saw me, but I didn’t want to; I didn’t, and I—"
"I know." I reach for her, pulling her against my chest. She's trembling so hard I can feel it through my whole body. "I know."
"He was going to kill you. He was using me as bait. I tried to tell him I couldn't go through with it, but he—"
"I know," I say again. "Lachlan and I talked. I figured it out."
She pulls back, looking up at me with red-rimmed eyes. "Then why did you come? You should have stayed away. You should have—"
"I came because you're my wife." I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. "And because I wasn't going to let anyone else use you against me. Not your father. Not your brother. No one."
"But I—"
"You should be able to make your own choices, Elena. Not be pulled in any direction by your family. Or by me." I brush my thumb across her cheek, wiping away tears. "You deserve that. You deserve to choose your own life."