the courthouse? Hadn’t they heard the gunfire? Shouldn’t they have been converging on these son of bitches by now?
The shooter yanked Raphael back, using him as a human shield as they made their way toward the van. “Sorry, but we can’t let that happen. He’s got debts to settle before he gets off scot free. And we’re going to make sure he fulfills every last one.”
“Stop!”
Ignoring me, the four of them hauled Raphael into the back of the van. I popped off some rounds at the tires, hoping I’d at least be able to eliminate their transportation. That’s when the driver, who I’d nearly forgotten about, rolled down his window and fired off three quick shots in my direction.
One clipped my shoulder.
The force of the impact slammed my back into the brick wall.
Shit, that burns.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I vaguely heard one of the men yell. “You know we’re supposed to leave them all alive!”
“Bastard still looks alive to me,” the driver spat.
My disorientation gave the driver enough time to put the van in reverse and speed off down the street, leaving their front bumper and a trail of carnage in their wake.
No. Fucking. Way that just happened.
“Nico!” Cris snapped in my ear. “What the fuck’s going on, man?”
“Ace, alert the cops. Dark van, blacked-out windows, dented front bumper. No license plate. Five shooters. They just made off with Esposito.” I ran across the street to where the four guards lay. “And get a fucking ambulance back here now!”
I grunted through the fiery pain in my shoulder as I bent down to check the first guard’s pulse.
Dead.
Same with the second.
The third one’s pulse was there, but it was faint. I wasn’t sure he was going to make it.
The fourth man actually had his eyes open as he put pressure on a wound in his side. I whipped off my suit jacket and helped him press it against the bleeding hole.
“You’re gonna be all right, man. Help’s on the way.”
He gritted his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut. “They take Esposito?”
I glanced down the street, the dark van long fucking gone. “Yeah. They did.”
The New York boss was no longer in police custody.
I prayed to God those assholes actually did kill him.
Because Raphael Esposito had a massive score to settle with my family.
And if he managed to get free of them, all of our lives would be in jeopardy.
Did he take a blowjob and run?
Was that what Nico’s silence—and avoidance—over the past week had been about? Endeavoring to treat me like all of his past conquests? Since he wasn’t a complete fool, he had to realize eventually that wasn’t going to work forever.
Obviously, whatever I’d felt between us down in that booze bunker had been entirely one-sided.
It hadn’t just been about sex to me, which yes, I knew sounded naïve and cliché. There was some type of connection between us. Something unsaid had been developing on a covert basis over the last two weeks. Down in that booze bunker, I thought I’d felt it strengthening, intensifying.
Now, I knew that had all been nothing more than silly, girlish notions.
For Nico, the whole experience had merely been about getting his nut. Except for the fact that we were temporarily bound together—more like shackled—I was no different than all the ones who had come before me.
I was lying on my towel that I’d spread out on the back patio, my feet dangling in the pool, when I heard the faint sound of a door slamming shut over the music coming through my earbuds.
I’d been going for daily swims in the pool since I’d arrived. Something about the water had always comforted me, made me feel oddly safe. Although, it had lately served as a stress reliever more than anything else, and today’s swim had been a doozy. My arms and legs had sliced through the water so many times that my muscles had been burning by the time I’d called it quits.
The next door to slam shut was the patio door, drawing a deep sigh from me. Since he’d been avoiding me all day, this surely wasn’t going to be good. Ripping out my earbuds, I tore my eyes away from the twilight sky to face him.
And stilled.
I expected to see him standing there. What I didn’t expect was the ferocious, menacing expression.
Aimed right at me.
I leaned up on my elbows and watched him stomp across the patio, never once taking his eyes off me. His appearance was haggard, to say the least.