AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Now is not the time to discuss his tendency to make himself at home in my apartment. The fact that he feels the need to grab the extra gun when he's already wearing one in a shoulder holster, says whatever is happening is serious.
He slips the extra ammo into his pocket and holds the gun up and ready. "Hold onto the back of my shirt. I need to know you're there."
With no thought to argue, I slide my hand under his jacket and grab his shirt.
He jogs out of the apartment and down the stairs. I stay with him the whole way. Helios, Theo, Bobby and Michael are all downstairs in the club when we get there.
"I'll get her to the mansion." Helios reaches out like he's going to take my arm. "You need to go hunting."
"I'll hunt down the walking dead menafterI get her safe," Atlas snarls. "You, Bobby and Michael stay on our six. Theo, you're driving my SUV."
He hustles me outside and into the SUV's middle seat while the other men get into another SUV parked behind the club.
Atlas gets in beside me. "If I say down, you bend over and keep your head below the line of the window. If I say floor, you unbuckle and get on the floor, curled into as tight of a ball as you can."
"Okay." Childhood training comes back and I sit slanted sideways so my head is not a target.
"Brava regazza."
It's a totally inappropriate time to be getting wet, but my body reacts predictably when he calls me good girl again in Italian.
"What's going on?" I can finally ask since him giving me an answer will no longer slow us down.
"Zeus's informant contacted him. Two teams arrived yesterday, maybe earlier, from Russia. Their orders are to take me and Zeus out and to nab you."
"What do you mean nab me?" I brush my hair into a smooth, wet ponytail and hold it in place with the scrunchie. "Why?"
"Ivan."
Dropping the brush into my purse, I go hot and then cold, remembering what this Ivan wants to do with me.
Atlas calls his brother and puts him on speaker. "I'm heading to the mansion with Lucia."
"Do you think that's wise? One of the teams is targeting me and I'm here."
"They don't know we are aware of them. If it were me, I'd wait until you leave the estate. Easier to get to you. Our biggest point of vulnerability is when we arrive."
"There's no vantage point for a sniper. You made sure of that," Zeus says. "If they attack it will be at close range."
"It doesn't look like they had anyone on the club yet. We aren't being followed."
"Good. They got in yesterday. They may still be sourcing their weapons. Plenty of time for you to hunt."
Why does Atlas have to track these guys down? He's one of the targets, for goodness' sake.
Only I know. This is the way it is in the mafia. It's his job.
"I'm not going hunting until I know Lucia is in the saferoom where no one can get to her." It's the second time he's put that out there.
Warmth unfurls inside me. He's determined to keep me and the baby safe. After what he said in my apartment, I don't believe this is only because I'm pregnant either. I am his sun, the star around which his world turns.
His future.
"Of course not, brother. Your woman's safety comes first." There's a strange tone in Zeus's voice and I wonder what it means.
The SUV lurches to the right, goes up on a curb and back onto the street with a bone jolting thump. A rock hits the back window causing small cracks, but the window doesn't shatter.
Another rock hits and I realize they're not rocks. They are bullets.
