Chapter 35
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FIVE
Rett
This did not go as planned. And even though I should’ve probably been trying to figure out a way to get the bag off my head and learn where I was, all I could think about was Hiro.
“If anything happens to you…”
The desperation with which he held me, kissed me, claimed me still echoed in my mind and body even after I’d been kidnapped. And while wearing a plug to your own kidnapping was not a good idea, having it there gave me something to focus on instead of fear. I felt him even when I couldn’t see him.
Hiro would be coming for me.
He doesn’t have the address.
A professional stalker doesn’t need one.
“He’s awake,” someone announced.
I tried not to react, but I was pretty sure I stiffened. I mean, it was unnerving to know people were staring at you but you couldn’t see them.
The zip tie around my neck was uncomfortably tight. Not tight enough to cut off my air supply but enough to have panic crackling beneath my skin. I did my best to ignore it, taking shallow, even breaths so it didn’t squeeze tighter. But that was hard too.
“Take the bag off his head,” someone said.
Rough hands grabbed me, and I tried to stay motionless.
“Wait.” Tommy’s voice stopped them. “I like the way he looks with a collar around his neck. Leave it on.”
I expected the hands to pull away, but something blunt stabbed through the bag, narrowly missing my eye.
If I’d had my glasses on, they would have surely shattered.
Hiro had wanted me to wear them, but I refused.
I couldn’t wear something so new and nice to a gangster meeting.
I mean, look at what they did to my watch! Should have left that home too.
Wincing reflexively, I skittered back, nearly falling off the chair as the sound of tearing fabric echoed in my ears.
Bright light flooded my eyes when the fabric dropped onto my shoulders, still clenched around my throat with the zip tie.
I recoiled, squinting against the spotlight shining directly on me.
It was hot and blinding, making me wish the bag was still shielding my face.
Something sticky tickled the side of my face, and I reached up to see what it was, but my arms only lifted a couple inches before being wrenched back. Blinking, I looked down, noting my hands were cuffed to the chair.
“Rett!” a familiar voice called, and I lifted my head, squinting through the harsh light to try and make out a face.
“Wyatt?” I called.
“Rett, over here!”
I turned toward the voice as the sound of skin cracking against skin cut through the air.
“Do you ever shut up?” someone yelled.
“Wyatt,” I called. “Wyatt, are you okay?”
He didn’t answer, but I saw his shape a few feet away. It looked like he was in the same type of chair, his hands probably bound too.
“Why are you doing this?” I said into the room.
“Because you owe me,” Tommy said, materializing in front of the light, his body blocking it enough that I could see.
“Why did you have to bring Wyatt into it?” I asked. “He didn’t do anything.”
“He’s good bait. Just like you.”
What does that mean? “Bait for who?”
“Enzo Salvatore, of course,” Tommy said. “The strongest of the Salvatore brothers. Once I take him out, the others will follow.”
“You think you’re going to kill Enzo?” I echoed.
I mean, I always knew Tommy was a little short in the brain department, but this was beyond dumb.
“I tried to go about it a different way, but he didn’t seem to think I was good enough to level up. He didn’t mind using all my customers, but he didn’t want to pay me for it,” Tommy shared.
“Enzo didn’t pay you?”
“Not what I’m worth.”
“So you’ve been stealing drugs to sell them on the side?” I asked.
“You aren’t as stupid as you look,” Tommy mused. Then, “Well, that attack dog of yours isn’t. Without him, I would have had you dealing already.”
“I’m not dealing drugs for you,” I said. How many times was I going to have to tell him?
“Of course you aren’t. Now you’re just going to take the fall for me instead.”
I wasn’t sure how much to say. How much he knew. He must have known Enzo was on his way if the reason he took Wyatt was to draw him here. But wasn’t Wyatt to draw me here?
“I’m here. You can let Wyatt go now. You promised.”
Everyone in the room laughed, and Tommy answered, “He’s only done half his job. When Enzo arrives, he will have fulfilled his usefulness.”
How does Wyatt know Enzo? Is that why he asked me so many questions about him before?
“And you will have fulfilled your usefulness after your attack dog comes and I put him down too.”
The idea of him hurting Hiro made my stomach roil and my hands fight against the cuffs holding them.
“Can’t very well take over the drug business in Buffalo with the mob and two off-the-books hitmen running around. It would undermine my authority.”
A few chuckles erupted from somewhere behind the light.
He wants to kill Kieran too?
“Why don’t you just take the drugs and leave? Set up somewhere else?”
“Because this is my town!” Tommy yelled, coming close enough that spittle peppered me as he spoke. “Why should I start over when I’ve already built up my reputation here?”
“This is Salvatore territory.” Even I knew that.
My head rocked on my neck when he slammed his fist into my cheek. It was the same place I’d been hit before, and I felt the skin split and the warm ooze of blood drag down my face.
“Don’t hurt him!” Wyatt yelled.
Someone hit him too.
A man walked over and leaned close to Tommy, whispering something I couldn’t hear.
“Looks like it’s showtime,” Tommy said. Then, in a louder voice, he told the room, “Listen up. Salvatore’s people have just been spotted. Take your places. Shoot on sight.”
Barely two seconds later, gunfire erupted, so loud that I jerked violently, toppling over in my chair. I grunted as white-hot pain burst in my hand and radiated up my arm and into my shoulder.
Tears blurred my vision as men shouted and more gunfire popped off. Worried for Wyatt, I craned my neck, trying to see if he was okay, but the lights were too bright, and the pain in my hand was excruciating.
And then something tugged on my chair. Pure panic flooded my system, and the chair I was attached to slowly slid backward. I gasped for breath, my throat straining against the zip tie as I started to cough.
Then suddenly, I was airborne, no longer on my side but midair as someone ran with me around a tall set of crates.
The chair hit the ground, and a man completely dressed in black stepped into my sight. I knew him immediately, despite the hat and face mask. The scent of leather and cigarettes was ingrained in my soul.
Cigarettes? He quit.
I jolted back, thinking I’d somehow gotten it wrong, but he tugged the mask off and tipped his chin, showing me his face.
Hiro.
He pressed his finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet, and I nodded.
His eyes swept over me, and I watched his nostrils flare as he took in the blood.
I tugged my hands to show him I was tied up, and he pulled something from his coat and cut me free immediately.
I sagged forward, but he caught me, putting me on the ground before reaching for the zip tie around my neck.
Anger burned in his eyes, and violence nearly attacked the atmosphere around him as he snapped the tight plastic off my neck.
The second it was free, I gasped in a deep breath, automatically putting my hands up to feel where it had been.
“Where else are you hurt?” he asked gently, but everything else about him vibrated with rage.
“Tommy is going to kill you. Kieran and Enzo too. We have to go,” I croaked.
“Pip, I need to know where you’re hurt.”
I pulled my hand from my neck and held it up. My pinky and the finger next to it were broken. They definitely shouldn’t look like that.
“No!” Wyatt wailed over the sounds of the gunfight, and I surged to my feet.
Hiro caught me around the waist and towed me back.
“That’s Wyatt,” I yelled. “I have to help him.”
“Stay here,” Hiro said, moving in front of me. Before he could disappear, he stopped and turned back, pulling a gun from somewhere on his body. I watched him disengage the safety and check the clip. “Point and shoot if anything even looks in your direction.”
I took the gun. It was heavy in my hands.
“I mean it, Garrett,” he said, all business. “Aim and shoot.”
I nodded.
“I’ll be right back,” he said and disappeared.