Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Idread getting up the next morning, and Sage has to physically force me out of bed, but just after my shower, I get a message from Agent Garcia that has me putting on the jets.
I rush to get dressed and hurry downstairs.
I’m not sure what Vienna has decided, so I wear my usual work uniform but take a change of clothes suitable for a spa visit on the off chance she hasn’t had a change of heart.
“Whoa, where’s the fire?” Ben asks as I barrel into the kitchen.
“Lorenzo is on his way to the warehouse. The feds are going to raid it soon, and I kind of want to watch from a distance to make sure he doesn’t get away. Where’s Sage?”
“In the dining room.” Suzy points in that direction.
“Good luck, I hope they nail his ass to the wall,” Ben calls as I hurry to find Sage.
“Sage, we have to go,” I snap as I fling the door open.
Taking one look at my face, he jumps to his feet, rubbing his hands together. “Aww, this is going to be good. Karma, thy name is Tori.”
Before we can leave, Vienna also jumps to her feet. Although I hadn’t looked at anyone but Sage, I could feel them all watching me. “Tori, are we still on for today?”
I pause and turn to look at her. None of them are glaring at me with judgment, and Vienna wrings her hands in anticipation. “Are we good?” I ask calmly, and she nods.
“Yes, I apologize for getting upset last night. I’m sure you had a valid reason.” The apology feels a little hollow, but she looks sincere enough. My gaze shifts to the guys, and they all nod but don’t say a word.
I make a snap decision. “Do you want to join us? I would like to show you the reason I didn’t do anything last night.”
The four of them exchange loaded glances but quickly jump to their feet.
Xavier gestures. “Lead the way.”
“But the limo was smashed. How are we going to get wherever we are going?” Tristan asks as I lead them to the elevator and down to the garage.
“Please,” Sage scoffs. “Did you think that was our only vehicle?”
The elevator doors open, and there is a fleet of cars waiting for us.
Gio’s is obviously missing, but both my and Sage’s personal vehicles are here, as well as Ben and Suzy’s.
Tristan’s Maserati is also parked in one of the bays, as is a flashy BMW which I don’t recognize, so I assume it belongs to one of them.
Then there are the work vehicles. Each and every one of them is bulletproof and have the same kind of reinforcement the limo had.
It’s why we didn’t all end up as mangled piles of mush yesterday.
I pick one of the SUVs big enough to seat all six of us.
I drive, and Xavier takes the passenger seat with the rest of them spreading out in the other two rows. No one talks until we’re on the road.
“Where are we going?” Vienna asks, unable to stop her curiosity.
I point to the center console. “Can you all put your phones in there?” I ask them, and Xavier frowns.
“You don’t trust us?”
“Trust is something that is earned, and I trust very few people. In fact, you can count on one hand the people I trust, and Gio and you four are not on that list.” I don’t bother mincing words.
I still haven’t heard from Mickey, and until I do and know they aren’t hiding anything, I’m going to err on the side of caution.
“Fair enough,” Colton replies, and when I glance in the rearview mirror, he’s passing his and Tristan’s phones forward to Sage, who takes them and Vienna’s and puts them in the center console. Xavier’s soon follows.
I take a deep breath and take my first step into sharing something work related with them.
Colton really came through for me last night, so it’s the least I can do, especially now that everything is in play.
“Right, so last night’s B and E was courtesy of my dear uncle Lorenzo.
I’ve long suspected he’s working against us, possibly with a rival family, and I recently discovered I was right. ”
“We suspect Lorenzo is responsible for Stefano’s early demise, an attempt to take his place as the eldest Russo and head of the family,” Sage adds.
“He assumed two teenage kids would be pushovers?” Xavier questions, and I nod.
“Yes, despite knowing Dad was training us for our roles within the family. We believe we were supposed to be in the limo when it exploded as well.”
“Oh my god!” Vienna gasps, and when I look in the mirror, she’s grasping Sage’s hand tightly.
“But then Gio and Tori cut a bloody swathe through the rival families, taking out anyone who looked at them wrong, as well as rejecting offers of marriage from alliances in the hope that they could just absorb the Russos into their own. In the end, everyone backed off, realizing these teenage kids weren’t pushovers like they thought they were going to be.
” I can hear the love, admiration, and awe in Sage’s voice and give him a small smile.
“Everyone backed off, and we made it clear to Lorenzo that he could either deal with the status quo or permanently disappear. He tucked tail and went back into his little rat hole, but both Gio and I knew that wouldn’t be the end of it.
We just never thought he would go so far as to partner with our biggest rival, who up until now, we’ve had a tentative truce with that my father negotiated.
We aren’t exactly sure what he promised, but it all goes out the window.
They’ve declared war, and I don’t plan on losing. ”
The car falls silent on my last comment as I pull into a parking lot in view of the warehouse, but not close enough for anyone to notice anything out of the ordinary, the other cars parked around us providing plenty of cover.
I turn off the car and tap my finger against the wheel, anticipation sending adrenaline firing through my body.
“So what is happening then?” Vienna breaks the silence, and I hold up a hand.
“Just watch. It should be any moment now. It would have taken Lorenzo half an hour to drive from Suncity, so by my calculations, he will be pulling up any minute.”
“Something’s happening to your uncle? Are you going to kill him?” Tristan has unfastened his seatbelt, and he leans through the front seats to look at me.
I smirk and shake my head. “Nope, something better, and he’s never going to know I’m responsible.”
“Here he comes.” Sage points at the vehicle moving down the road, and I roll my eyes. My asshole of an uncle drives the most ostentatious bright green Lamborghini. “I wonder what’s going to happen to the car when he’s gone. Can I have it?”
“Sure, because that’s just what you need, a car that goes from zero to a hundred in three point six seconds,” I say sarcastically, not taking my eyes off it as it pulls up to the gates of the warehouse.
A guard comes out with a snarling dog on a leash and peers in the window before gesturing for the gates to open, then Lorenzo drives through.
“The dogs seem to have recovered well,” I remark absently to Sage as I watch my uncle get out of his car. I can tell by the way he’s waving his arms around that he isn’t happy.
“That’s where you broke in last night?” Colton asks.
“Yup,” Sage replies.
“All those women and men are in there?” Vienna asks, holding her breath.
Again, Sage answers. “Yup.”
“What’s going to happen to them?”
I turn to look at her, and she’s wringing her hands, but instead of watching my uncle, she’s looking at me.
I give her a gentle smile. “Hopefully they are all about to be liberated.”
Just like that, the street falls into mayhem.
Eight black government SUVs surround the warehouse, and a SWAT van pulls up, men and women in tactical gear pouring out, their guns held high.
Although we can’t hear anything, we can see they are yelling.
Gunfire erupts, and the feds take cover behind their cars, but the guards are no match for the government personnel.
The gunfire doesn’t last long, and I see a few dead bodies lying on the ground as they get the gates open and make their way into the compound.
I watch eagerly as they flood into the warehouse.
More gunfire erupts, and Vienna lets out a little yelp and clutches Sage.
He pats her absently, but like me, his eyes are glued to the action.
The gunfire stops, and the car is silent. Only the sound of our breathing can be heard as we watch with loaded anticipation. Eventually, people begin to pour out of the warehouse, and another set of vehicles, this time paramedics and ambulances, arrives in a blaze of sirens.
We watch as victim after victim is led out of the warehouse and shown to an ambulance to be checked by medics.
Feds swarm them to question them, but I ignore all of that, my eyes locked on the warehouse door.
Eventually, the thing I’d been waiting for happens.
My uncle comes out, and while I didn’t expect him to go down without a fight, I didn’t expect him to be wheeled out on a gurney with medics surrounding him as they rush him to a vehicle.
“That’s a lot of blood,” Sage comments. You can’t miss it.
His shirt is gone, and there is blood smeared all over his chest as one of the medics straddles his torso, giving him compressions.
I hold my breath as I wait for them to load him into the vehicle and take off, but instead, they stop, and the paramedic shakes his head, giving up on CPR.
“Well, isn’t that a delightful sight?” I murmur as I see Agent Garcia step out if the warehouse, a girl wrapped in a blanket in his arms.
“The death of your uncle?” Xavier asks, and I shrug.
“That among other things. Okay, are we ready to start our day? Should we have breakfast out? I suddenly feel like celebrating.” I turn away from the action and start the car, driving away from the chaotic scene.
“Did you tip off the feds?” Colton asks, and I scoff.