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“You think it’s them?” Nicolai asked. “That secret society or whatever.”
Gritting my teeth, I nodded, accepting that it was the only thing that made sense. They’d attacked us in broad daylight at a public venue. Whoever they were, they weren’t messing around.
“Hey, boss,” Mark called frantically over the comms. “The bar’s silent alarm was just tripped.”
Fuck. If the same people who attacked us were also hitting McDonoughs, they wouldn’t stand a chance. We’d gotten lucky that Dante had been monitoring our comm frequency like the paranoid Italian don he was. Something we would be talking about in detail later, but for now, I was just grateful for the backup.
“My men will stay here and work on cleanup,” Dante assured me. I nodded as we piled into one of the SUVs.
Fuck all if I was going to lose Ava.
Not when things had been going so well.
Taking out my phone, I dialed the one person I knew could save her if I couldn’t be there in time.
“Ava’s in trouble, Kenzi.” I didn’t bother with pleasantries. “McDonoughs.”
That was all I managed to say, and then the line went dead.
Hold on, Red. We’re coming for you.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
“You didn’t, by chance, happen to keep any of the fuckers alive, did you?” I asked my father as I helped him dispose of the unwanted trash in the back of one of the vans. He just grunted, which I took to mean, no, he hadn’t. “Would have been nice if you did.”
“You could have kept Christian alive.”
“Pfft,” I dismissed that real quick. “He would have been useless. Plus, that was all Kenzi.”
My sister rolled her eyes at me. “Save your life, and how do you thank me? By throwing me under the bus.”
I shrugged. “I’m not taking the blame for you. Plus, I already said thank you.”
“Could have said thank you by not making me help you carry dead bodies.”
My father chuckled. “Got to learn to clean up after yourself, kiddo.” Kenzi made a noise of disagreement.
“I don’t clean up bodies,” she deadpanned. “I leave them.”
“She never picked up her toys as a kid either,” I whispered loudly to my father. “Always made me or Libby do it.”
Another eye roll.
“Ava!” My ears perked up at the sound of someone yelling my name rather frantically. “Red!”
It was Matthias.
I walked into the kitchen from the alley, following the sounds of his voice. The bodies of the staff had already been taken to the local mortuary, and the families had been notified by the twins. I shivered. I’d rather clean up the dead bodies than talk to any family members. I barely made it past the bar top when my husband scooped me up into his arms, crushing me tight against his chest.
“Matthias,” I choked out. Jesus, he was crushing me. Death by Russian hug. Wouldn’t be the worst way to go. “I can’t breathe.”
“Shit,” he cursed, loosening his hold on me enough to allow my lungs to expand but not enough to squirm out of his hold. After a few moments, he set me back on my feet, his hands roaming my body diligently. He was clinical with his touch, which was probably good since we were in the middle of the bar with everyone watching.
“Are you okay?” I eyed the blood covering him from nearly head to toe. In fact, I looked around at Maksim, Vas, and Nicolai. They were all covered in blood. The only one who managed to come out barely scathed was Dante. “What happened?”
He looked down at me with a knowing smirk. His hand, covered in dried blood, cupped my cheek gently. “Worried about me, Red?”
Feigning nonchalance, I shrugged. “I just don’t want to hear Vas bitch and moan about you being dead again, and funerals are a pain in the ass to plan.”
