59. Chapter 59
Rosalina
After stocking up on weapons, I was almost ready. Just one more thing.
The cellar door was daunting. I didn’t want to go back down there, but I needed more proof before I left.
The metallic scent of blood wafted up the steps, reminding me that this was time-sensitive.
Before I had a chance to talk myself out of it, I pounded down the stairs, careful not to step in the many pools of blood.
Ignoring the shouts from the alpha strapped to the table, I grabbed Lorenzo’s cell, but it was locked.
“Hey, my guy. What’s Lorenzo’s password?” I called to the alpha bucking against his restraints.
“Fuck off! I’ll never tell you.” He would if I had the time to torture him, but I was running short on that today.
I nudged Lorenzo’s cold, dead hand over and tried pressing the phone to his fingerprint. No dice. Grimacing, but knowing it had to be done, I grabbed his head by the hair and held it in front of the screen.
It opened.
Fucking, ew. Whatever it took at this point, though.
I scanned through his texts. The newest was from “Big F” telling Lorenzo to ‘bring the girl’.
Who else could Big F be if not Francisco?
I swallowed a chuckle at the stupid nickname and kept reading.
Lorenzo replied that he would be on his way shortly, but they might have a situation with a mate mark.
Guess he didn’t count on me fighting back. I scrolled further down the text chain.
It was all there. The conversations with Francisco.
Lorenzo telling him how to find me. Before that, details about my father’s affair with his wife.
That she was pregnant, and then Francisco’s rage and denial followed.
A few days later there was a reply from “Big F” saying he’d found proof, and it was all true, followed by an invitation to join his pack with me as their omega.
Excuse me? What in the fuckity fuck?
Francisco was going to take over Lorenzo’s pack, and they were going to force bond me. Normally I’d have to consent, but if everyone in the pack bit me in, all they needed was to force me to ingest blood from each member and the bond would snap into place whether I wanted it or not. Again… Ew.
Of course, they’d have to break the bond Nico initiated first. There were only a couple of ways to do that. Make me reject the bond, make Nico reject it, or kill one of us.
My head spun. Francisco wouldn’t resort to killing his son over this, would he?
When faced with it, would Nico dissolve this thing that was growing between us?
To save his own life, I hoped that he would.
My chest stung at the thought. I didn’t want him to dissolve it.
I should’ve completed the bond while I still had the chance.
There was no life I could imagine without the three of them in it.
But to save his life, I would let him go if that was the only option.
Lorenzo was dead now, so their old plan would surely change. I had the proof I needed. Now I just had to get it to Nico.
We could still salvage this.
Oh look, “Big F” had an address in the contacts, and it was only about an hour and a half away. I glanced at the decapitated head, then back at the phone. “Okay, big guy, you’re coming with me.”
I grabbed Lorenzo’s head by the hair and hurried up the stairs.
Maria hardly spared me a second glance as I scurried past with the random body part and into the garage.
My brother’s G-wagon—the one that’d been sitting in the back, covered in dust, like a monument to the dead—was pulled up front, shiny and new-looking, but defiled by the Vasco’s stench.
I looked down at Lorenzo’s head. “You didn’t suffer nearly enough.”
Plucking the Mercedes keys off the hook, I hopped into the white SUV. It smelled like dirty laundry already, so a little blood wouldn’t hurt it at this point. I set Lorenzo down on the seat and pulled the belt across his face, buckling him in. “Safety first.”
The car roared to life, and I hit the automatic garage door opener. Afternoon sun washed in as I eased my way out onto the driveway. Time to go for a ride.
I started typing the address listed in Lorenzo’s phone for Francisco into the nav. It popped up immediately as a frequently visited location. Why was I not surprised? I pressed the start button, and we were off.
With the windows down and warm, sultry air blowing through my hair, I sped along the highway. The rainforest flew by in a blur of green, and the soundtrack of some random top 40s pop station played at full blast. Nothing mattered but getting to Francisco before he could do anything to my pack.
That’s right, they were mine, whether they liked it or not. I’d gone through too much to go back. This was my life now.
A massive wrought-iron gate came into view as the navigation announced, “Your destination is on the right.”
I turned it off as I rolled to a stop in the driveway.
There wasn’t a gatehouse or a number pad for a code.
There was a camera, though. That couldn’t be right…
In the texts there’d been a mention of having added Lorenzo to the gate system, but what?
I looked at my passenger princess and then back at the camera.
There was no way. You have to be kidding me.
I grabbed him by the hair and lifted his head to approximately where it would be if he were driving, and sure the fuck enough, the tiny light by the camera went green, and the gate creaked open.
That had to be Oliver’s doing. He loved his fancy locks.
Based on the texts, they’d be expecting Lorenzo, and no one stopped me on the way up the driveway. Oliver’s Audi was parked off to the side, backed into its spot, so I did the same right next to it.
The deserted courtyard was eerily quiet, only disturbed by the far-off chirping of birds. I was in too far to go back now. Walking into enemy territory without a plan was a fucking bad idea, but it’d been working for me so far.
Okay, maybe not, but I was still alive, wasn’t I?
I crept up the steps and tried the front door.
It was unlocked. I glanced around, but there was no one in sight.
If they expected company, that might be normal.
I nudged it open with my toe, drawing the gun at my hip.
It swung open on silent hinges. Easing my way inside, I found the entrance hall empty.
I worked my way further down the corridor, my shoes silent on the opulent mosaic floor.
My heart thrummed wildly in my chest, and the rush of blood muted every sound but the hiss of my own stilted breath. This was such a bad idea. The adrenaline that fueled my badassery from earlier had long run out, but I was committed. I inched around the column framing the door.
An armored alpha meandered lazily down the hall. I could wait and see if he left or… I had a better idea. I took a breath and slipped around the corner, moving as quickly as I could while keeping my footsteps silent until the barrel of my gun nudged up against the back of his neck.
Dodge that bitch.
He went stiff, feeling the cold kiss of metal against his bare skin. Kevlar only worked if it was between you and a bullet.
“You don’t have to die today,” I said quietly. “Take me to Francisco.”
He grunted and started to turn, but I pressed the gun harder against his skin. “Alphas are hard to kill, but not that hard. Move.”
By now, the stench of death from the decapitated head in my other hand would’ve reached him.
He cleared his throat uncomfortably, but started walking. It wasn’t long before he stopped in front of a door. “He’s going to kill you for this.”
“You think so? Open the door and let’s find out.” I nudged him with the gun again, reminding him who was in charge.
He turned the knob, pulled the door open, and stepped inside. I squeezed the trigger. The nameless alpha dropped like a sack, landing on an expensive rug, spraying a fine, red mist in front of him. Unfortunate.
The man I assumed to be Francisco looked up from what he was reading. His shocked expression turned to fury as I swung the door closed and walked up to his desk, dropping Lorenzo’s head on it.
“You wanted to see us?” I trained the gun on his increasingly pale face.
He straightened the lapels on his dark suit and leaned back in his chair, putting a little more distance between his head and the gun. Not enough to matter, but if it made him feel better.
“Rosa, I presume. I suppose I can see the appeal now.” His eyes raked over my red tank top and down my jeans.
“Eyes up here.” I tipped my chin up.
When his gaze snapped to mine, I noticed how similar it was to Nico’s, and it stole my breath for a second. Forest green and intense.
I blinked. That moment was all it took.
A rumble of pounding feet shook the room right before the door behind me exploded in a spray of splinters, and armed guards burst in.
Francisco moved faster than someone with that much gray in his hair had any right to.
He was on me before I had a chance to get off a single shot.
He twisted my arm behind my back, and I dropped the gun with a thud.
“Everything is fine, boys. You can go, take Roberto, and close the door. We’d like some privacy,” he said to the scowling guards.
I should have shot him as soon as I walked in. Why did I think it was a good idea to try to talk to him? Rookie mistake. And here I’d been doing so well.
A confused look swam across the face of the guard inside the door. With his free hand, he motioned them back impatiently, and they scurried to obey, dragging the body and the broken door shut behind them.
“Now that we’re alone. If you wanted a word with me, you didn’t have to kill Roberto to get it.
That was a very dramatic entrance, though.
I am duly impressed.” He yanked on the arm pinned behind my back until my wrist and shoulder ached, and wrapped his other forearm around my neck.
“Now that you’re here, we really should talk.
I assume by the decapitated head on my desk, you objected to the proposed bond with Lorenzo’s pack.
I can work with that. How about I bond you to me, and we will start our own pack, just the two of us?
That’s how it’s always been for me, and how I prefer it, anyway. ”
“Fuck that,” I said, lurching away from his grip. His alpha strength was too much for me to overpower, though. There was no way I was going to brute-force this.
“Ah, ah… none of that.” He wrenched my arm harder, and I gasped in pain. “If you’re going to be my omega, I do not permit swearing. You’ll learn soon enough.”
“I will never be your omega,” I gritted through the discomfort.
His eyes crawled over my skin. The moment they landed on the fresh bite, he went perfectly still.
His grip tightened, and his words shook.
“I suppose my stupid son did this. And yet—” He took a deep inhale, his nose tracing up my neck.
“You didn’t complete the bond.” His grip on me eased, and I shuddered, sickened by his actions. “Good, that will make this easier.”
“Fuck you,” I snarled, jerking away from him.
His hold on me was so tight that I barely moved at all.
“I said. Do. Not. Use those filthy words in my hearing. You will regret it. Let’s make this your first lesson.” He shuffled me to the door, kicking it open. “Rocco, bring my son to me.”
His forearm bit into my throat, cutting off any prayer of drawing breath. Icy realization washed over me. I was going to die like this.
Super.
I sagged, fighting the urge to pass out. Black spots exploded like fireworks across the fancy wallpaper as my consciousness faded in and out. I’d come all this way to expose this asshole and save Nico from his murderous father, and here I was failing.
This was going badly.
The room blurred around me, and the next thing I knew, I was gulping down a gasp through my poor, abused throat, sprawled like a rag doll on Francisco’s lap. I was effectively a living bulletproof vest propped between him and his desk.
He was going to need it.