Thirty-Three
LENI
Three hours later, I still had no solid plan for getting to Silas. My nerves were shot, my mind racing a mile a minute, and every gruesome possibility raged through my thoughts.
What if he was already dead? Cillian was pissed enough that he’d have unloaded a mag on him on the spot. Maybe even multiple of his men at the same time.
My stomach sank, and I visibly cringed at the thought and shut my eyes, dispelling those images. I had to have faith that he was alive, hopefully in one piece. I wasn’t ignorant to the rumors that Cillian was a sadist. Not that we all weren’t in some form or another, but he’d torture his victims out of pleasure, not obligation.
I glanced at where Santino and some of his men disappeared behind a cement wall and shifted my eyes to the surveillance cameras perched around the property. Our arrival, indeed, hadn’t been a surprise attack by any means, as I would assume the same for Silas. But I was banking on that, creating an unexpected diversion for Santino to find Silas.
The door tore open before I could ring the bell. A heavy-set man with a low beard and dark hair greeted me with a long, appraising look. A dress wasn’t the most conventional of outfits to conduct a siege, but at the end of the day, men were all the same. Their dicks made them stupid, and that weakness was precisely what I planned to exploit.
“I remember you, sweetheart. Come back to play, have you?”
“Something like that,” I replied in my most sultry voice. “I think you have something that belongs to me.”
He grabbed my wrist, tugged me inside, and whirled me around, slamming my body against a wall.
“Is that so?” His breath fanned hot over my neck, and I nearly gagged at the remnants of what could only have been a recent meal with extra onions. He patted me down and removed my thigh strap, but not before making sure his fingers found every dip and curve in my body. “Boss is on his way up, said to keep you cozy until he got…cleaned up. You know how it is. Work can get a littlemessysometimes.”
His words shook me.
Silas. Had I been too late?
I swallowed hard and steeled my resolve. If they hurt him, I’d make them pay. Starting with this son of a bitch.
“Can you at least answer one question?” I asked, the gentle inflection in my voice betraying the storm brewing inside me.
He spun me back around, hands on my hips as he coasted toward my ass, cupping both cheeks and slamming me into his erection.
Fuck.
Me.
“What’s that, sweetheart?”
I held his cheek while my other hand smoothed into my ponytail. He was too drunk with lust to see it coming. “Make sure you save a spot in hell for your boss.”
My hair came loose, making him flinch but not giving him the reaction time he needed to avoid hard jabs to the carotid, courtesy of a mini ice pick.
“B-bitch.” His hand shot to his neck, blood squirting between his fingers as he stared at me wide-eyed and in shock before stumbling back and toppling a wooden entryway table.
I knew I didn’t have time for a snarky comeback to send him on his way, so I snatched my blade, fastened it back onto my thigh, and then searched the poor twitching bastard for his gun: one pistol, two mags. Stuffing the ammo down into each side of my bra, I dashed for a dark hallway as hurried footsteps echoed from a neighboring corridor. Two more men filled the small space, their backs to each other once they saw their friend face down, choking on his own blood.
The taller one on the right fell when my bullet pierced his chest. The other man hit the floor, unwounded, but taking refuge behind his large friend and firing in my direction. Pieces of wood went airborne around me as shots rang out. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before I had company and was truly fucked. The moment he stopped to reload, I pounced and shot him twice in the abdomen with another round to the face.
Adrenaline burned through my system, my breaths coming so fast I was nearly panting. Bracing a hand on my knee, I took a second to compose myself and my nerves before I was off down the same hallway from where the men had emerged. I slipped into a small utility room and scanned for cameras, leaning against the door to gather my bearings.
Santino had said there were cellars, and if they hadn’t killed him—the word was so bitter—that’s where he’d be taken to get tortured.
“Hold on a little bit longer for me, okay?” I whispered, taking one last deep breath.
It wasn’t my first time in a dire life-or-death situation. Certainly not my last, but for some reason, I thought of that day at the hospital with Eva and how determined I was to get us both out alive. I could only hope for the same outcome: bar the sucker punch from a spineless asshole.
I slid back into the narrow corridor and came across a thick wooden door. It was partially opened, and I peered inside, noting a spiraling staircase and the glow of dim lights at the bottom. I had no idea what I was walking into, but there was no time for fear or self-doubt. Silas needed me, and I’d be damned if I let his dumb ass down. Wait until we were back home. He would be doing a lot of groveling and pussy-eating, that was for damn sure.
The house had grown eerily quiet when I reached the bottom of the steps. The silence made me uneasy, like I was walking into a trap. It very well could have been, as this all had been almost too easy.
