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“Giada can’t know we’ve talked, or that we’re suspicious of her.” Ant took out his cigarettes and popped one between his lips. Then he held the pack out to Stefano. “Not if we want her, along with her associates.”
Was she a soldier for another family, or was she the head of the snake trying to take mine?
I took a quick glance into the outer office. Carmine still watched over Alex, Ronan, and the bouncer.
“We need to keep up the ruse,” Carlo said. “Luca Bruno is dead.”
And Lucas Thomas was an enemy of the Bruno family.
Chapter Fifteen
Allegra
Sitting in the darkened car, we watched the house for thirty minutes. Parked across the street and a half a block away, I could make out the shadow of the recessed side entrance. Periodically, a soldier would cross the slice of light from the streetlamp.
Wearing thick leather gloves, Knox saturated the steaks with the clear liquid. “Don’t worry. This turns rottweilers into basset hounds. Quiet and lazy. I’ll be back in a couple minutes. Time to feed the dogs.”
Staying to the shadows, he jogged across the street and crouched near the fence line. He reached between the bars, and tossed the steaks a few feet into the property, then with the edge of his blade, he tapped the wrought-iron fence.
Two huge rottweilers ran along the fence line. Scenting on the steaks, they growled and shredded the meat, kicking up dirt with their massive paws.
Knox backed away but didn’t turn his back on the fence until he was a few feet from the car. I exited the vehicle with the duffel over my shoulder.
“Ready?” Knox grabbed the duffel from me.
I nodded and followed him back across the street. “I’m scared.”
“I know.” He crouched and set the bag on the ground. “Listen, I can’t do this if I’m worried about you.” He opened the bolt cutters over the joints of the security gate in the fence. “I need you to wait in the car,” he whispered. “There’s another gun in the glovebox. No one comes near you.”
“I still think I should come with you.”
“Fuck that. You walk in there, you’ll be seen as merchandise. Don’t ask me to choose between you and Dee. I can only keep one of you safe.”
“Dee.”
“Then stay in the fucking car.” His gaze briefly met mine. “Ally,” he quietly spoke my name. “I’m not me without you.”
The fight left me. I nodded and held the fence as he worked on the hinges. Finally, the metal pin snapped, and the gate creaked on the broken hinge. “If she’s drugged, you’re going to have to carry her out.”
“I know.” He stood and aligned the cutters with the top hinge. “A lot of shit needs to go right for us.”
“A lot of shit can go wrong.” The fence dropped at an angle into the soft soil. One of the dogs lifted his head, then rested his snout on his paws again.
Knox dropped the bolt cutters into the bag. He checked his gun, twisted on a silencer, and then checked his magazine and made sure to have extra clips.
“Get in the car and stay there,” he said. “I need you behind the wheel. Keep the engine running. Any sign of trouble, get the fuck out of here. Once I’m inside, give me ten minutes to get her out. If I’m not out in fifteen, get the fuck out of here. If you hear gunfire or see cops, get the fuck out of here. Call Marco. Tell him everything.”
“Be careful. I’ll watch for you. I’ll be ready.”
He squeezed my hand. “Ten minutes.”
Knox lifted the gate and pried it open. I hauled the tools onto my shoulder and quietly made my way to the car. Knox had turned off the overhead light. I set the tools in the backseat, started the car, grabbed the gun out of the glovebox, and checked the exact time. Ten minutes. Then I stared at the property, my gaze shifting from the broken gate resting askew and the side door to the property, waiting for it to open with Knox and Deidre.
Time seemed to slow. I rolled down the window so I could listen. Rationally, I knew the engine purred, yet because of my heightened senses, the quiet rumble sounded like a freight train in my head.
Crickets chirped in the distance. A motorcycle revved its engine somewhere down the block. Blood rushed through my ears, and my heart didn’t seem to beat at all.
Voices sounded from the shadows. I leaned back in the seat and scanned the surroundings. Listening. Shallow breaths floated past my lips.
