Her hand reaches out for my arm, and before I canmove away from her, I feel the bite in my skin. I blink in confusion and realize that she just fuckingdrugged me.
“Your friend isn’t going to help you,” she says with a bright smile as she links her arm in mine and starts walking toward an exit as if we’re old friends shopping together. It’s getting harder and harder for my feet to move, and by the time we make it out of the doors to the valet parking, I’m stumbling. “Just a few more feet.”
Suddenly, I’m picked up from behind and tossed in the back of a waiting SUV. I want to fight, to roll out before the back closes on me, but my muscles won’t work.
And then everything goes dark.
Fifty-Five
ROME
“Ican’t reach any of the guards,” Luke says, his face full of fury and worry. “And Scarlett won’t answer the phone.”
I’m pacing the penthouse, staring at the yellow dot on my phone.
“She’s moving,” I announce as ice-cold fear settles in my stomach. “Away from the shopping center. Let’s go.”
“Wait,” Julian says, holding up a hand, and I snarl at him. “I know, we all want to go get her, but we need an army, Rome. If all of Rizzo’s men are here with him, we need our men, too.”
“I’m calling every-fucking-body,” Luke says. “And I’m sending a team to that fucking shopping center. Where’s my girl?”
“They could have them both,” Mateo reminds us, but suddenly,myphone rings, and I see that it’s Smith, one of the guards with the girls today.
“Talk,” I bark into the phone.
“Lulu’s gone,” he says, wheezing into the phone. “Scarlett’s locked in the bathroom. Can’t get her out.”
“We have people on the way,” I reply.
“Too late,” he says, and I know what the voice of a dying man sounds like. “Matthews was in on it.”
“What about Parker and James?” Luke asks.
“No, just Matthews. Fuck. Sorry, boss. Tried.”
He doesn’t say anything else, and I know he’s gone.
“Get this army together.” My voice is hard. “Now!”
It takes too long.
We have Scarlett back and safe in her apartment more than an hour later, but she’s a mess. Sobbing and wailing, and inconsolable. I sent Rita to be with her because I need Luke with me.
I can’t keep my own fucking panic down.
He has my firefly.
And I know he won’t hesitate to hurt her.
“We should have killed him when we had the goddamn chance,” I growl, speaking over something Mateo was just saying.
“He dies today,” Julian says, his jaw tight. “None of them walk away from this. We destroy his entire empire.”
“It’ll be a pleasure,” Mateo agrees. “She’s not stupid, and she’s not weak, Rome. She’s been trained well, and I can tell you that she’s skilled. She keeps acool head, and she’s almost as good at target practice as you are.”
I lift an eyebrow. “This isn’t target practice.”
“No, but she won’t go down without a fight,” he replies, and the wordsgo downhave me swallowing hard. “We have three hundred and fifty men ready to go.”
