Sebastian
Imade my way to the cabinet in the Organisation and poured a whisky, then pulled up a chair to sit with Hayden, Valon, and Logan.
Hayden pulled his laptop out and brought up some CCTV. It was Dante and the guy I’d tortured not too long ago about Luca’s shipment. They were clearly working together, money being exchanged between them.
Swirling the glass, I took a sip. “What’s the plan?” I asked.
“Well, if we can’t get my products back, then we need to make it so they can’t distribute anything,” Valon said.
I took another sip of that amber liquid to force that sick feeling back down.
I should have been at home, not here.
I wasn’t quite sure what the fuck was going on. Dante had been so quiet. He mostly operated in Barking but had warehouses in Essex, but the guy I’d tortured had said it was him, and Hayden had found the proof.
“We should hit one of his warehouses,” Logan suggested.
It wasn’t a bad idea. I mean, I could do with watching something other than my relationship burn to the ground.
“Get everything sorted, and we’ll leave in an hour,” Hayden said.
“Logan, can you get the guys ready?” I asked.
“Will do.”
“Let me contact my cousin, Olli, to help us.” Valon rose from the chair. “This is his forte.” He smirked, then left with Logan, and it was just me and Hayden again.
“Did you get that file I asked for?”
Hayden looked over at me. “Yeah, I did some digging, and there was nothing untoward with him. Raised by a single mum. Attended Oxford for business, the usual. He’s clean.”
“There’s something there. Check again.”
He let out a heavy breath. “You don’t trust me now?”
My eyes widened slightly at his words. I trusted him with my life. “You wouldn’t be sitting here if I didn’t.”
“Well then. Trust me when I say there’s nothing more to dig.”
I rolled my eyes at him. There had to be something, but I decided to leave it; this wasn’t the time to push him.
“You sure about this with Dante?” I questioned.
Hayden sat forward on his chair. “Didn’t expect that out of your mouth.”
“I know you aren’t one to start anything.”
“He took Valon’s products, and it was probably him who fucked over one of our warehouses. I don’t know what he’s playing at, but we need to stop him now before he thinks he can keep getting away with it.”
Hayden was right. If I’d learnt anything about this underground world, it was to never allow anyone to walk all over you, because the minute you did, they all came knocking.
I looked down at the whisky in my glass. “I was meant to be at home to talk with Aria tonight.”
He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “You know you’re playing with fire by not telling her the truth.”
“She can never find out this was the cost of saving her. It would kill her, knowing I’d done that for her.”
“Aria loves you. She has for a long time. She accepted your underground fighting and killing Nicholas because of what he did to her. When are you going to realise you have to stop putting your guard up with everyone who cares? You’re going to lose her.”
That guard had been up for so many years, I wasn’t sure it could ever fully come down, as much as I wanted it to with her. It already felt like I was losing her. Like she was getting further and further away, and I couldn’t reach her no matter how hard I tried.
“Soran thinks I should finish with her. To keep her safe.”
He blew out a breath, pausing for a moment. “Maybe he’s right. If she doesn’t know what she’s dealing with, how can you really keep her safe?”
“Hayden—”
“No.” He cut me off. “The reason me and Serfina work so well is that she knows every single thing. I’d never lie to her about anything I do, and I never have. She knew from the minute we got together that this is who I am, and if she couldn’t accept it, then there wouldn’t have been an us.”
“Serfina was raised in this life. It was something she grew up with. Aria’s the complete opposite. The only reason she knows anything is because of her time in Leeds, and look what that did to her. I won’t do that to her again.”
“This is different. You’re nothing like Jason.
You’d never physically do anything to her that he did, but you need to realise that by lying to her, it’s the same thing, and that kind of betrayal from you will hurt her harder than anything he did.
I hope you’re prepared for when that day comes. And mark my words, it will come.”
I pulled the car up not far from the warehouse, turning the engine off.
The night sky was pitch black, the moon a thin grey crescent surrounded by the stars.
Hayden sat in the passenger’s side, hacking the surveillance feed so we could see how many people we needed to deal with.
It wasn’t long before Valon arrived with his cousin Olli, and then Logan and the men in another car.
Logan tapped the window, and I rolled it down.
“What we working with?”
“You’ve got one on the entrance, four around the building and … two inside,” Hayden replied, eyes focused on the screen.
“I’ll let the guys know,” Logan said, then left.
“They all look like Dante’s men, and it looks like Kieran is one of them.” Hayden’s eyes met mine.
Good. Kieran was one of Dante’s top men. I’d take pleasure in getting rid of him.
“Lucky for me, not so lucky for them,” I replied, grabbing my Glock from the glove compartment, then stepping out of the car.
The March spring air didn’t have a chill to it tonight. It brought warmth, and the only sound out here was the crickets chirping in the fields.
A sweet, sickly smell hit me, and I was going to guess it was whatever they were cooking up in that warehouse.
I made my way to Valon. He and Olli were standing there with the car boot open. I peered in—petrol canisters, C4 explosives, and two guns.
I arched my brow at him. “You drove all this way with that in your boot?”
“Don’t worry, Sebastian, I did explosives in the Albanian army for years.” Olli squeezed my shoulder.
“You two are crazy, you know that?”
Valon chuckled to himself, patting me on the back. Pretty sure that when these two were together, they enjoyed watching things blow up.
Rhys, Logan, Zane and Kai made their way over, kitted up, ready to go.
“Hayden will let you know when it’s clear, and you can do what you need to,” I told Valon, who nodded.
“Feels like old times.” Zane smirked.
It did feel like that right now. Taking out the people who came for us in the early days of the Organisation had been a weekly job on its own.
“We’re ready when you are,” Logan said to me.
I nodded, and we made our way towards the warehouse, moving fast but low, everyone falling behind me.
My heart was thumping against my chest, and I slowed just as I reached the side of the gate.
Logan stepped forward, and before the guard even had a chance, he’d already taken him out, the silencer keeping it discreet.
Zane grabbed his body and pulled it behind the bushes to conceal it.
Rhys and Kai spread out through the grounds, making their way around the back of the building, Zane hanging back in case anyone else turned up.
Logan and I crept closer to the warehouse. Laughter echoed through the air, and I paused. Two men stood a few yards ahead, joking as they smoked, unaware it was about to be their last breath.
I raised my Glock, taking one of them out. Red splattered in every direction as the body slumped to the floor. Logan took out the second, and he soon joined his friend on the ground.
Rhys and Kai should have taken the other two out by now, so I gestured to Logan to enter the front, whilst I went around the back.
As I entered, I heard Kieran’s voice vibrating through the building.
Burning rage fuelled my stomach. I couldn’t wait to kill this man.
I stayed behind the boxes, peering through the gap to see him standing there, talking to another man.
Creeping forward, I saw Logan enter the front.
Kieran noticed him straight away and pulled his gun, and the other followed suit.
Before they had a chance to do anything else, I landed a bullet in the man’s skull, Kieran’s head snapping to see him fall to the ground. He didn’t have time to react as I wrapped my arm around his neck, placing the barrel against his temple.
“Sebastian fucking Knight,” he spat out, dropping his gun to the floor.
“Hello, Kieran. Were you not expecting guests?”
“You’ll pay for this.”
I let out a small laugh. “I doubt that very much.” Then I hit him over the head with my gun, and he crumpled to the floor.
“Rhys and Kai are at the entrance with Zane. The place is clear,” Logan informed me.
I scraped the metal chair across the floor as Valon entered with Olli, explosives and petrol in hand.
“We’re going to get everything set up,” Valon said.
“Logan, can you find me something to tie him up?”
He nodded and soon returned with some rope, helping me tie Kieran to the chair. His feet were bound to each leg and his arms to the sides so I could access them easily.
“Kieran.” I slapped his cheeks a few times to wake him up.
He soon took a deep breath, jolting back as he struggled to move. His eyes darted over his body, his head catching up with the fact that he was bound to the chair.
“Dante’s going to kill you for this,” he hissed.
I let out a silent laugh. “I’d like to see him try.”
“You’re a fool if you think you’ll walk away without any consequences.”
Did this guy ever fucking shut up? I slammed my fist into his nose, blood pouring from it and droplets hitting the ground.
“Cunt,” he shouted, spitting the blood in his mouth at me.
My eyes flicked down to where it landed on my T-shirt. “That’s disgusting, Kieran. Don’t you have any manners?” I pulled the top over my head and threw it to the side.
“Do what you want to me. I won’t tell you anything.”
“That’s fine. I was going to burn the building anyway.”
His eyes widened, realising that I was going to leave him to go up in flames with it. He tried to struggle free, but he wasn’t getting out of this.
“Sebastian,” Valon called, and I turned to face him. “It’s time.”
“Let’s go,” I said, and we made our way out of the warehouse.
“That was tame for you,” Logan commented.
I ignored him. Logan had seen a lot over the years.
Kai, Zane, and Rhys were at the gate, and Rhys arched his brow at me. My eyes flicked down, and I realised my chest was bare. When we reached the cars, I grabbed a spare top from the boot and placed it on.
“Light it up.”
Olli smirked, then pressed the button on the detonator. A roar vibrated through the air, and then the glass shattered. The building glowed with orange and red hues from the flames as the walls caved in.
I got in the car and started the engine as Hayden closed his laptop and looked over.
“This will be the only time I ever tell you to put your foot down so we can get home.”
I let out a small chuckle and shook my head.