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Our footfalls are soft, the carpet in the hallway and rooms muffling the sound, as we clear room after room upstairs.
The silence is weird. I don’t doubt Donavan has wiped all these men, including Lucian, off the face of the earth, but I don’t hear a damn thing as we approach the last door.
Nash does those hand movements again, pointing and jerking. I frown at him, walking ahead and pushing the last door open.
Cool metal presses to my right temple, a hand reaching out and pulling my weapon from my grip. Whoever it is has given me more of a chance than Donavan or Nash has given the other men in the house. I know not to count it as a good thing just yet as I look around the room and see Donavan. His face is a mask of fury as a man holds a gun to his temple.
“Fuck,” Nash says, handing over his weapon when he sees the one pointed at me.
I don’t know how to feel about it. Nash could easily kill both of these men, but he paused because my life was in danger. My skin crawls with the consideration because I don’t know that’d I’d do the same for either of them if the roles were reversed.
I’m half a breath away from taking my chances and attempting to get the gun away from the Severino man when I hear a feminine whimper.
My head spins when I look to the other side of the room and see Madelene. She’s as gorgeous as ever, her wild hair pinned to the top of her head, tears streaking mascara down her pretty face.
This isn’t how things are supposed to play out. She was left in Texas. Donavan assured me she was safe.
I try to convey to her with a look that we’ll get out of this alive, but I can’t manage to even lie with my eyes right now.
Enraged, I look over at Donavan, his mouth turned down in a scowl, his body vibrating with unused violence. This is in no way a setup, and from the look in his eyes, he had no idea that Alessio had Madelene.
I swallow as the man motions for me to get on my knees.
Nash follows suit a second later.
“Now that everyone is here.”
I look to the left of Mads, feeling pain at the situation tangled with hatred, when my eyes fall on Alessio.
I focus on him because focusing on Madelene makes my brain go haywire. I get that feeling of empowerment, the lie that tells me I’m invincible, that I can protect her against three men, all while being unarmed and in a position of submission.
I also don’t want Alessio to sense the connection I feel to her. It will only make things worse for all of us, considering what she said about Alessio’s obsession with owning her, taking every chance he gets to remind her who she’s vowed to.
Maybe if I were closer, more connected to both Nash and Donavan, we could make a plan with simple glances, but I couldn’t figure out Nash’s train of thought looking directly at him, aided by hand signals.
One guard stands between Nash and me, a gun pointed at each of our heads, and Donavan is in no better a position with one man drawn down on him.
Alessio twists a knife in his hand, the tip digging into his finger and drawing a bead of blood, but the pain doesn’t even register on his face.
It’s the only weapon I see, making it obvious that Alessio has full faith in his men. He knows they will protect him.
“This knife, junior, is the same one I used to peel pieces off Ellie Baker.”
I stiffen. He called me the same thing my mom and brother always called me. I tremble with rage, fear for my family sneaking up on me. It means he knows not only who I am, but is very aware of the only other people, besides the woman sitting beside him that matter to me.
I kept my distance all this time because my mother demanded it, but a side benefit of that is they were safe from all the bad things that touch me in my world. I was certain they’d never be used against me.
My throat threatens to clog with the fear trying to take over, but I push it down, my body growing so stiff an ache settles in my spine with the effort.
“You seem shocked,” Alessio says. “Did you think I didn’t know about you? That I don’t know about Connor and your mom? I had you researched. It didn’t take long. Hollis Ford isn’t really the greatest cover. Fifteen minutes of my men working on your alias to find the connection, to figure out what pissed you off so bad that you’d kill my brother and start a war, was all it took.”
