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He stood, walking closer until we were only feet apart. “Just so you know, I get why you’re doing this. If it were Dante….” He trailed off, his meaning clear. “From what I know, this girl is like your sister. And, in our world, family is everything. Nothing should stop us from protecting it.”
I couldn’t help it. “That’s a different tune to what you said before.”
“I know.” He shrugged. “That was the panic talking. I’m over it now.” His eyes locked with mine. “Just give them hell, Sienna. If anyone can finally get that fucker, I wouldn’t be surprised it’s you.”
“Thank you.” I was surprised by his words. When I’d first met Killian, he hadn’t exactly been a fan of me joining their family. In fact, I seemed to recall that he openly mocked the wedding, calling it a sham.
“Just so you know, you’re not that bad of a sister-in-law.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, shoulders around his ears.
Opening the door, I shot him a smile over my shoulder. “And you’re not that bad of a brother-in-law. Don’t let Dante murder you while I’m gone.” I hesitated, hand still on the doorknob. “And…tell him I love him, okay?”
He gave me a quick salute. “Will do. Just try to stay alive.”
“Will do.”
I called a cab, not even bothering to walk the block. The Snake clearly knew where we were hiding anyway. They could have sent their Aegis agents there if they wanted us all dead. Clearly, there was more to this game than playing cat and mouse. They wanted me to go to the shipyard, and I needed to figure out why. There had to be a reason why they were baiting me to come out in the open rather than coming to me.
Maybe it was a sick need to dangle hope in front of their victim before taking it all away. Or perhaps they just enjoyed seeing in person the utter destruction of their enemies. I tried not to think about what would happen when I finally got there as the cab drove across the city. If Gemma really was alive, I didn’t want to think about what sort of shape she’d be in. Didn’t want to think about it if she wasn’t alive.
Fear writhed in my chest, curling up my spine and slipping through my veins. It hadn’t hit me until then that the message hadn’t even mentioned my mother. If she was still alive, wouldn’t they use both my mom and Gemma as bait? Which told me…my mother wasn’t alive.
I knew it was a possibility. I knew she was probably dead. But this just made it all too real for me. I couldn’t cry, though. My tears had already been spent. There was nothing left but the numb feeling of loss. The absence one gets when their family leaves them, but I couldn’t focus on that now. I had to gather my strength. I was still weak from passing out at the auction hall and exhausted from the rough fucking Dante had given me before I knocked him out.
There wasn’t much left in me to put up a fight. I couldn’t take out Aegis agents on my own, if that’s who the Snake would send to get me. If they did come, I’d be at their mercy, but I was willing to risk it if it meant potentially saving my friend.
If she was still alive.
The cab dropped me off at the entrance to the shipyard. If the Snake knew I was coming, there was really no reason for stealth. I ducked under the railing and walked across the empty parking lot. It seemed like years since I’d last been here. Memories of Dante pulling a gun on David, of telling him I was carrying his child, filled my mind. I threatened that I would make sure he’d never meet his child if he didn’t come with us. Now, I was potentially making good on that threat, putting myself in danger.
I hadn’t had a lot of time to come up with a plan, and with the lack of resources, I didn’t have much to go on. The Snake had manpower. But I wasn’t completely defenseless. I’d hidden disguised daggers and switchblades in my belt buckle and the rings along my fingers. I’d hid knives in the soles of my boots, and one last weapon was hidden in the pendant around my neck. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.
I prayed that if the Snake knew I was with child, that they might spare me. But I doubted it. You didn’t get to the top in this world by having morals and a conscience. If my family’s life meant nothing to the Snake, then I doubted the life growing inside me meant more, especially since they’d be the heir to two mafia families when they were old enough.
Stepping from the parking lot and onto the sidewalk, I eyed the office buildings lining the docks. The buildings were dark. Empty. Just a memory of what it once was. I walked past the door to the Rosania’s office—doors I’d walked through often enough. I could picture the inside perfectly; the tiled floors and white walls, the rows of desks leading to my father’s old office. I imagined never walking through those doors, those halls, again.
I was alone as I walked, with only the soft sounds of the water lapping at the cement docks. The wind whistled between the warehouses, ghosts flitting through the air. Straining to listen, I don’t hear anything out of the ordinary. No footsteps. No voices. Nothing to tell me that I’m in the right place. The note had said to meet at the shipyard. I’d just assumed that the Snake had meant ours.
It wasn’t until I was lost in the maze of warehouses that I finally saw life. Men melted from the shadows, the Aegis symbol printed on their bulletproof vests. They didn’t say a word; they simply surrounded me. And I let them. I didn’t have any fight left in me, and there were too many of them anyway. One man stepped forward, patting me down, searching for any weapons. I had none. Blocking me in, they moved towards the biggest warehouse in the center of our property.
“What, no roofies this time?” I joked. Not that they would get it. These weren’t the same men who had kidnapped and drugged me before. The Snake had upgraded it from street rats to high-end security firms. That told me just how powerful, just how rich, the Snake had grown in the last few months. They no longer needed to poach our men to supplement their ranks.
The men looked exactly as they’d been described—war vets, former U.S. Army Special Forces veterans, and Delta Force personnel. They were rugged, most with stubble lining their jaws. Scars littered their arms, old bullet wounds proudly displayed on biceps the size of small watermelons, and tattoos faded from the time they’d spent in Iraq’s desert. I didn’t know them, but I knew of them. They were not to be messed with. Each one held an M4A1 Carbine—heavy artillery just for little old me. Still, if their goal was to intimidate me, it worked.
We walked in silence to the doors of the warehouse. Two men stepped forward, yanking them open, sliding them to the sides. I saw nothing but darkness, the hair rising along my arms. For the first time, I had a sinking feeling that this was a terrible, terrible idea.
But it was too late to turn back now.
Taking a breath and steeling my nerves, I stepped into the warehouse. The Aegis mercenaries stepped in behind me. I could hear their heavy boots against the cement. Felt their breath at the back of my neck. The only light came from behind us, from the street lamps on the property. Nothing stirred within the warehouse itself.
I could hear my heart beating in my ears, the blood rushing through my veins. Adrenaline wouldn’t help me now. I was too far gone. Too deep into this fucking mess.
When they stopped in the center, I stopped too, slightly confused. The light from the entrance was faded here. I could barely make out the shipping containers that surrounded us. Nothing happened for a few moments, and I almost thought this was all a joke. That this wasn’t the Snake, that maybe it was someone else playing a sick prank for revenge.
But then I heard footsteps. They were heavy, signaling a man approaching, though I couldn’t see him in the dark. I tensed, waiting for the inevitable sound of gunshots. Gemma either wasn’t here, or she wasn’t alive. If she was, she would have made some sort of sound. I would have seen her already. But I saw nothing but shadows.
And then the lights flicked on.
Blinded, I squinted, blocking the light with my hand. It took a while for my vision to right itself. And I really wish it hadn’t.
