Page 86 of Fall Before Her Throne

“Cops?” Max frowned. “We pay the police force to ignore this block.”

The sirens got even louder until flashing red and blue lights began bouncing off the walls.

“Shit,” Ryu said, slamming the door shut. He started snapping his fingers. “Grab our weapons and our packs. Let’s go.”

“The back exits,” Cas said quickly, grabbing my arm and leading me through the carnage of wrecked furniture.

“Hurry,” Obi urged. “Before they surround the building.”

Cas yanked open the back door, and together we froze. A SWAT team pointed assault rifles in our faces. Uniformed officers waited behind, also with guns raised.

“Drop your weapons!” one SWAT officer shouted.

“Fucking cops,” Cas said, moving to block my body with his own. “What’s the plan, princess? Want to fight?”

Obi and Max came out of the office, weapons drawn. The SWAT team pressed inside the building, walking us backward toward the rest of my men.

“Drop them! Now!” the officer shouted again. “Or we will shoot!”

Shit. Shit, fuck, shit.

“Do it,” I ordered my men. Slowly, I lowered my Hellcat to the ground.

“Hands up!” another shouted. “Now!”

I raised my hands, keeping my eyes locked on the barrels of their guns. Slowly, my men took subtle steps in my direction while cops flooded into the casino and began surrounding us. I swallowed, hearing Greco’s warnings echo in my ears again.

Are you still at the casino?

The wave of cops parted, and five people wearing dark trench coats, instead of uniforms, pushed through the crowd. My blood went cold as I recognized the two at the front. Jack Greer and Farrah Badawi. The same agents who came to Ryuji’s club. The same agents that Samuel said were after us.

“Leona Vero,” Greer sneered, holding up his badge as if I needed the fucking reminder that the FBI was here. “You need to come with us.”

My men huddled close, hackles raised, forming a circle of defense around me. My eyes flicked down to our guns at our feet. If I dove to grab mine, and the guys followed, could we shoot our way free? Could we somehow get out of this alive?

No. We’d be pumped full of bullets before we had a chance.

“Why?” I lifted my chin. “What the fuck do you want?”

You’ll have to beat me, and it doesn’t look like that will happen.

Fuck. This was a setup. Greco played us from the start.

Greer pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt and held them up with a shit-eating grin. “You’re under arrest.”

25

LEONA

My hands were handcuffed to a fucking metal table in an interview room. Hours had gone by. The FBI agents had given me a paper cup of water, which I hadn’t touched—not putting my DNA on anything—but nothing else, and it was noticeably cold in here.

Shitty FBI interview tactics, freezing me out.

It wouldn’t work.

Hate fire kept me warm from the inside out. Hate for Greco. Hate for these fuckers coming after me. Hate that none of my men were here, and all of them were probably losing their minds.

Where did they take them?