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“Sloane,” I murmur. “We need to get out of here. If the feds catch us here, we’re all fucked. We’ll take Jules with us. The feds will take care of the others.”
Sloane shakes her head. “I’m staying. I’ll tell them the truth when they question me. I was kidnapped, for Pete’s sake! But I can’t leave knowing they’re here, by themselves. What if they have a reaction? It’s my responsibility to make sure they’re okay. It’s my job.”
I look up at Nico. “I’m not going. I won’t leave her again.”
Layla nods. “Okay, that’s fine. We’ll take care of things here. Nico, you need to get the hell out of here, though. Like, now.” She exchanges a look with Nico and he lets out an impatient sigh.
“Fine!” He says, throwing his hands in the air. “Max, you stay with the girls. You’re licensed to carry a firearm because of the security work you did at the club.” He points at a few of his other guys. “Same with you. The story is simple. Layla was kidnapped and kept as a sex slave by the Bonnaros. She managed to escape and came straight to you guys. When you got here, you did what you needed to do to save them. No time to call the cops. Got it?”
Kat claps her hands. “Very nice work, Mr. CEO. Always ready with a story, huh?”
Nico smirks at Kat. “You should know better than anyone that you always need an alibi.” He motions for the rest of the guys to follow him. “Johnny just texted me again. We need to move.” He stares at his phone and moves past the elevator. “Let’s take the stairs. The last fucking thing we need is for this elevator to get stuck.” He reaches for the door handle and pulls it open. “Johnny said we probably have about ten min—”
“Ten minutes, huh, Salesi? I don’t know about that. I think your time’s just run out, you motherfucker!” A low, gravelly voice growls from inside the stairwell, pushing Nico forward with the barrel of a gun. Mike pushes about five of his guys ahead of him so they cover ours. “You really thought you were gonna just come in here and blow this whole thing open? You didn’t think I was on to you? On to all of you?” He laughs, a crazed, sinister sound that sends chills through me. I shove Sloane over to the room at the end of the hallway to keep her out of sight and away from this standoff. I look around on the floor, but my gun is too far out of reach.
There are about six of our guys with guns on Mikey, but he’s got one gun on Nico and a handful of guys ready to take us out. That means nobody shoots until he gives the word. And Mikey knows that, bastard that he is.
“Hey, Max,” Mikey calls to me. “You’re next, you sonofabitch. I should’ve finished the job the night I popped your dad, but you know what they say. An eye for an eye. You took, and now I’m gonna take!” he screams, shoving Nico against a wall.
Sloane’s whimpers cut me like shards of glass, and I slide a finger to my lips, shifting around…to do what, I have no idea. I’ve never felt so fucking helpless and useless in my life.
Mikey’s goal is to take down the Salesis. If he can’t get Nico indicted for sex trafficking, he’ll do the next best thing and kill him in cold blood in front of his own crew. You cut the head off a snake and it goes fucking nuts. We saw that first-hand when we took out the head of the Cappodamo family.
Is that his plan?
The eye-for-an-eye bullshit?
Did he lure Nico here with that plan in mind? Did he feed Layla bad information to get Nico down here?
Did he know?
The throbbing between my temples paralyzes my mind for a few blissful seconds. There are so many unanswered questions, too many to worry about right now. Although, Nico looks cool as a fucking cucumber right now. He’ll never show any signs of fear.
Fear makes you weak.
Weakness gets you killed.
That’s always been his mantra.
And he’s sticking with it.
Rocco’s hand slides behind his back and he grips the handle of his gun. I try to catch his eye. I know we don’t have a better option, but Mikey won’t think twice about shooting Nico, even if it means he dies, too.
Time stands still. There isn’t time to dick around for much longer. Mikey must know that. He’s getting ready to make his bold move. That’s why he has his guys here, ready to attack. They’re gonna be his armor once he pulls that damn trigger.
“You fucking assholes took too much!” Mikey screams, yanking Nico back by the collar of his shirt. “Especially you, Salesi! Your grandfather put my dad in prison. He was killed on the inside because of an order your fucking family gave!” He twists Nico around to look at him. “Did you know that? Or were you too busy screwing the chicks at your sex club?” He narrows his eyes. “And don’t think I’m done after I plug your ass, Salesi. I’m going for Shaye.” Mikey looks at me, a wild look in his eye. “That’s right, Max. I’m taking every fucking thing! This doesn’t end today. Oh, no. This ends when I fucking say it does!” He thrusts the gun deeper into Nico’s spine, and I can see him wince. But it’s so brief, I could have almost missed the pinched expression on his face.
Nico’s voice is calm and reassuring, even with this crazed lunatic pressing a gun to his temple. “Mikey, my grandfather—”
“Shut the fuck up, Salesi! I wanted to see you rot in prison, but that was before you assholes killed my brother! Now you’re gonna rot right next to him, six feet fucking under!” He cocks the gun and our guys scramble, exchanging panicked looks, knowing they have no chance to save him.
Mikey looks at me again, his eyes wild and desperate. “Hey, Max, once I blow Nico’s head off, think about taking over for him as the head of the family. You should be able to drive it into the ground in no time, you good for nothing asshole!”
I slide myself up the wall with no gun in my hand but a whole lot of rage bubbling in my veins. Tommy shoots me a look, but I shake my head.
I look at the guys, all poised to take Mikey out, but the sick fuck is ready to die. The only thing is, he won’t die alone. He’s taking Nico with him.
“This is fucking poetic. Your fearless leader! He doesn’t look too fearless to me, does he, guys? Nope, he looks like he’s about to shit his Armani pants, don’t you think?” Mikey gets close to Nico’s ear. “I’m gonna end this for you, Nico. Any final orders for your crew? Yeah, I didn’t think so!”
