Patrick
As soon as my phone pinged, I knew it was going to be bad.But pulling up to the scene and seeing the carnage has me jumping out before the SUV comes to a complete stop.
I spot Hayes’s body and rush over to him.He groans and gets up.I see where a bullet grazed the side of his head and several impacted his vest.
“Check on Sloane.”He groans again.“She let them take her because he promised not to kill us.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“It was the better option.He would have killed her to get her out of there.”
“I’m okay,” Sloane yells, and men help him out.He’s got a bullet in his shoulder and is all banged up, but he’s alive.
“Where did he take my sister?”Alek demands.
“I hit my head, so I didn’t see anything else.But that asshole Bolt was with him.He turned on you.He knows I gave her that bracelet.”
“That’s why the signal is dead.”
We’re trying to figure out how to get the equipment we need to read the VHF tracking chip I have in her shoes when all of a sudden I hear a loud ringtone.It’s the song fromSuicide Squadcalled “Wreak Havoc.”I know that’s Daria’s favorite movie.
“Daria, where are you?”Alek answers the phone on speaker.
“I’m in the trunk of a car.I just disabled the signal jammer.Can you find me?Tell Patrick I love him and that I’m trying to stay safe, but Broderick is planning to kill me while he watches.Don’t let him stop living if you don’t make it on time.”
“Daria, don’t you leave me,” I bark into the phone.
“Patrick, please know I forgive you if you can’t find me.I love you.”The line goes dead as we hear someone yelling.I know they found her.
I look down at my phone as her GPS signal pings, and I run for an SUV, not waiting for anyone.
The location isn’t far.I won’t allow her to give up on me.Alek, JJ, Jordon, and Hayes jump in with me before I take off.
“I don’t care.Kill Broderick as soon as you see him.He’s got her at an automobile junkyard where they crush cars.He purchased it years ago.”Other vehicles surround us, and I know the army is coming.
“I’ll stop the car crusher.That’s the only thing he could put her in where you’ll have to watch as she dies,” JJ says, and I nod.
“You and I are getting Daria,” I tell Alek.“My men will get Broderick and his men.”
“Andrei and the others are with us too.”
“I only care about my wife.”
Gravel sprays as we almost spin out when I yank the wheel and turn into the junkyard.The car crusher is running, and before I even come to a complete stop near it, we’re all out.Gunfire cracks around me.Bullets fly past, but I only have one focus.The large ’80s-model Cadillac in the car crusher.
It’s the kind that doesn’t squeeze from the sides but comes down from the top.I watch the trunk, where my wife was last, start to be crushed, and her screams tear through the air as a bullet slams into my vest.I don’t care.I stay on my feet and keep running.She is my only priority.
The crusher stops as more gunfire erupts.Something tells me to check the back seat while Alek goes for the trunk.Sure enough, when I open the door, she’s lying along the floorboard.I pull my wife out and hold her tight.I’m never letting her go again.No one can protect her like I can and will.
Looking around as I step off the equipment, all I see are my soldiers, Bratva soldiers, and Italian soldiers too.Broderick and his men are all dead or dying on the ground.
Epilogue
Daria
A Couple of Hours Later
After Patrick saved me, he took me to his house, where the doctor checked me over.I’m five weeks pregnant, according to the doctor.She was able to run an ultrasound, and everything is good with the baby, but she wants me to take it easy for a few days.Patrick told her no problem.I’m lying in his large bed in his room, while he’s meeting with all the families, even the Triad.
