AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That guilt seemed to scream in my ears as I grabbed my gear, loaded into the SUV with a handful of others and did my best to stop my hands from shaking.
I knew the risk of going up against the Levovs.
There was a chance I wouldn’t even make it out alive. There was another chance that their blood might end up on my hands, and in that case, I could kiss Anastasia goodbye.
She would never forgive me if that happened, and I would completely understand. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself, either.
And yet, I couldn’t risk being targeted as enemy number two for deserting Erasmo and the Caprises as a whole.
As off-kilter as I felt, I had to at least pretend like my world wasn’t about to completely go up in flames.
I was so trapped inside my own head that the drive went by in a blink, and we were wheeling up to that isolated warehouse before I knew it.
With my pulse in my ears, I gave an order I couldn’t remember giving, and it began.
Guns drawn, we stormed the property, knocking out the guards at the back door.
It all happened in a blur. Men were everywhere as we charged in, hoping to use our element of surprise to our advantage. With smoke filling the warehouse, we moved through the fog and kept our orders in mind.
Before long, the real chaos began. Volleying gunfire, shouting, and men going down on both sides.
In any other situation, I would’ve been sharp and on top of my game. I would’ve had my clear objective front and center without question. I’d go in and get the job done, but that wasn’t the case.
I felt like a shell-shocked foot soldier as I tried to navigate the place, clinging to my life with every bit of strength I had left.
While Erasmo had informed me the security in the warehouse had been lax in comparison to their other properties, he seemed to underestimate the sheer Levov power.
Their men were on us, pushing back regardless of their numbers. Many on our side went down, but I couldn’t stop for them. I had to keep moving. Not so I could kill any of Anastasia’s relatives, or to try and capture them, but to not make myself a stationary target.
Pulling my shots, I could only think about how devastated she would be if I accidentally took down one of her cousins. One of her brothers.
Those thoughts rang through my mind as I shoved myself against a pallet, shielding myself from the rapid gunfire.
My heart hammered in my chest, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I wasn’t being myself in the slightest, and that terrified me.
I glanced around the wrapped pallet at the sound of booming voices nearby as they captured my attention, hoping I hadn’t been found.
But the sound of heavy footsteps behind me had my head whipping around, only for something hard to collide with my left cheek.
I saw him too late. The man standing there with the fist that had just hit me winding up for another.
It only took one more hit to the face to send me reeling, forced to the ground before I could regain my bearings.
In a blur, everything around me was snuffed out, and I couldn’t do anything about it.
***
My head pounded as it felt like a curtain lifted, and fluorescent lighting nearly blinded me.
Everything was sore, and it felt like I had been hit by a truck before finding myself strapped to a chair in a nearly empty room.
That fog in my mind immediately vanished at the cold, damning realization.
I had been knocked out and captured during the ambush. I was now at the mercy of the Levovs.
Fight or flight made me feel like a caged animal desperate to flee, more than aware that I was in an interrogation room.
Without a doubt, I was about to be severely maimed, if not killed.
