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“I didn’t say anything like that. That’s not what I meant,” he mutters, retreating a little bit into his corner of the room. I can see his shock at my response to him, even though he’s used to me having a bit of a temper.
It’s Delilah.
I’m going crazy without her.
I’m getting restless knowing that the longer we mess around, the more time Luka has to complete his mission of trafficking her and god knows how many others. Knowing him, he might even be desperate enough to send her overseas just to spite me, in which case I’ll likely never see her again no matter how hard I look.
I’d spend the rest of my life looking, but not if I don’t have to.
Not if there’s a way to bring her back to safety.
I glance at Regan and knowing what she’s done to betray Delilah makes me sick. At this point, she’s a liability if he doesn’t come through for her, which it looks like he won’t. Do I have to kill her just to keep her from slowing me down? Did I miscalculate how much Luka would care about her?
I’d kill her anyway, but I’d never tell Delilah why.
It would break her.
Delilah’s had a hard enough life, and right now, I feel like I’ve done nothing but add pain and terror to it. I want to believe that isn’t the case, that she’s happy that she met me. But even if neither of us is thinking it, both of us know deep down that if it weren’t for me, she’d be safe in bed right now, worried only about her opening shift at whatever laid-back restaurant she’d be working at instead of the club.
By three in the morning, Rurik has gotten every last one of the men we have at our disposal prepared to storm Luka’s lair and rescue Delilah. They know better than to question why I’d do all this over a woman, especially when I’ve made it clear that her life matters more than anyone else’s.
It’s not about work.
It’s not about the club, the mafia, or even Luka.
It’s about Delilah and the simple fact that I can’t live without her.
I swore I’d never let myself feel that way about a woman, especially not after witnessing what one can do to a man’s heart. But Delilah has made it impossible for me not to fall for her, and now I have to do everything in my power to make sure she makes it out of there alive.
Even if it means risking Regan’s life.
And my own.
26
Akim
“What did you find out about the house?” I ask Rurik, who has appointed Shura as the researcher for our surprise attack.
“Apparently, the building used to be a church a long time ago, so it isn’t built like a regular house. That’s important to know because there are a ton of extra rooms and closets where Luka could hide,” he says, showing me a blueprint that Shura had sent him from his phone.
Damn, he’s running this kind of operation out of an old church? The man is sick.
“Anything else we should know?” I ask, grasping at anything I can to make this come together in some way. The whole operation feels like a shit show already, and we haven’t even started yet.
If I make it out of this alive, I’m going to make sure Delilah knows how much I love her.
I will never, ever take her for granted again.
“Shura says that Luka’s business hours are probably in flux depending on need, so there’s actually a high possibility that he’s going to be wide awake and ready to fight back. I made sure that we got enough weapons in case he’s more prepared than we were expecting,” he continues, showing me a series of texts between him and Jonathan, who had been managing the weapons stock since we opened Agave.
“Okay, okay. That’s all good to know. Keep me in the loop. If anything else comes up, I need to know immediately. We’re really putting ourselves on the line here,” I say, and Rurik nods.
I’ve arranged to meet a fleet of my most trusted, most battle-worn men in an abandoned lot halfway between here and Luka’s estate. Even though most of them weren’t happy to be called out in the middle of the night, they know I’d never tell them to do so unless it was a matter of life or death.
“What about me?” Regan whines. She’s recently awoken from her third nap since we kidnapped her. Now that she realizes that Luka isn’t coming to save her, she’s become more restless than anything, especially because she knows that we might just kill her as an act of revenge.
“You’re going to help us plan our attack since you know him and his house so well,” I reply, trying to hide my irritation. It was my fault that we chose to kidnap her in the first place, and now I need to suffer the consequences.
