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“Yeah,” the rest of us reply.
The plan is simple enough. We drive through the gates and right through the front doors of the house in this car, which is basically an armored tank. Then comes the tear gas, the bombs and the shooting. Kill anything that moves that isn’t one of us. Spread out and find our boy.
Chapter
Seven
JESSIE
The entire ground floor of Alexei’s mansion is carnage. They were prepared for us, but I don’t think they expected us so soon. It seems like Mikey has blown up half the house, and the explosions, along with the tear gas, have taken out the first wave of Alexei’s men. The gas masks prevent us inhaling the smoke from the bombs too and we are able to move freely through the haze. Mikey indicates his head that he’s heading toward the kitchen and Conor heads upstairs. I remember my father and Vlad referring to holding rooms in the basement when I was here.
I tap Shane on the shoulder. “I think he might be downstairs.”
Before he can reply, half a dozen of Alexei’s men appear out of nowhere, coming in through the hole in the wall that was the front entrance only a few minutes earlier. They run toward us and we dive for cover behind the marble staircase.
“Go. I’ll meet you down there,” Shane shouts as he jumps up and takes two of them out. They fire back and I contemplate staying and helping.
“Go, Hacker!” he orders. I hand him my semi-automatic so he has two and can hold off these guys more easily before I make a run for the basement stairwell, pulling the Glock from my waistband as I do.
As I reach the bottom of the stairwell, two men run toward me. I squeeze out two quick rounds and they drop to the floor. I hate guns, but I have been using them since I was eighteen and I have a perfect aim. Pulling off my mask, I toss it onto the floor. There is no smoke or tear gas down here.
I edge along the quiet hallway, praying that Liam is down here and he is still alive. As I approach the first room, I steel myself to look inside. When I do, it’s empty and my heart rate increases as I approach the second one. When I find that empty too, I glance toward the end of the hallway to the room at the back. If Liam is down here, he must be in there. As I make my way closer, the adrenaline starts to thunder around my body and I take a deep breath to calm my breathing and my racing heart. I need to stay calm and prepare myself for whatever I may, or may not, find in that room. Because if Liam and Alexei are in there, then this might be my only chance.
I draw level with the room, and unlike the others, the door is closed. My fingers grip the handle and I take a beat. You got this, Jessie.
As I push open the door, a man is standing directly in front of me, with his hand raised and the barrel of a gun aimed at my head. He doesn’t have time to squeeze the trigger before I put a bullet in his neck. He drops to the floor and the sight behind him almost stops my heart. Alexei has Liam chained to the floor. Jumper cables and bloodied instruments lie scattered on the ground around them and the entire room is filled with the metallic smell of blood, making me wonder how much of Liam’s has been spilled in here.
I watch my father holding up Liam’s battered and broken body by his hair, and my throat constricts as I struggle to take in air. They’ve had him for a little over six hours and yet have inflicted so much damage. I resist the urge to run to him and wrench him from my father’s cruel grasp. Above me, the sound of gunshots and carnage can be heard as the rest of the Ryan brothers tear this house and its occupants to pieces.
At least I hope that’s what is happening. But the reality of our situation is slowly starting to sink in. Alexei’s army outnumbers us by at least five to one. He could have called for reinforcements by now. I could lose one, or even all of them here today, and that thought makes me feel like my heart has been torn from my chest.
“You came home, printsessa,” Alexei sneers. “I knew that you would.”
I raise the Glock in my hand and aim at his face. He laughs at me and shakes his head. “You won’t use that.”
“Try me, Papa. Now let him go.”
“You couldn’t kill me to save your own life, Jessica. You think I believe you’ll kill me to save his?” he snarls as he jerks Liam’s head and causes him to groan in pain. The sound slices a welt across my heart.
“Please let him go, Papa!”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Have you learned nothing from me, printsessa? What makes you think I will allow any of these Irish pigs to live even one more day after they stole you from me?”
I glance at Liam and my heart begins to break into a million pieces. The sound of an explosion above us makes me and my father look up and he starts to laugh again. “My men will be making sure your friends pay for their crimes. While you stand here pretending you have the balls to kill me.”
My pulse is thrumming against my skin as my blood thunders around my body. What if Shane and Conor and Mikey are hurt too? How the hell do I get us all out of this alive? I have one last bargaining chip at my disposal — me. “Let him go and I’ll come home, Papa. If it’s me you want, then I’m yours.”
“But you’re already mine, Jessica,” he frowns at me.
“You don’t understand.” I shake my head. “I’ll stay. Of my own free will. I will try and be the daughter that you want me to be, Papa. I will marry whoever you choose for me. I will give you grandbabies. But only if you let my friends go.”
“You’d do that for him?” he sneers as he jerks Liam’s head again.
“Yes.”
“Why?” he spits.
“Because if you kill him, you will destroy me. If you kill any of them, you will destroy everything I have left. You took one family from me, Papa. Please don’t take them too. I promise I will try to be a good daughter for you, but please give me something. Show me that there is something in you worth trying to love,” I plead with him. I see his eyes soften at the corners and the hint of a smile plays on his lips. For a second I wonder if he is considering my proposal, but his smile turns cruel and mocking.
