Where I’ve remained silent on the matter until now, and I’m beginning to wonder if our enemies have seen me as compliant despite the truth being I never intended to allow it to happen.
No, Czar is fearless; he might rule with his heart sometimes, but at least he has one.
Czar has always been seen as the spare heir, but truly, he’s the underdog; he’s the one who would come out fighting when nobody suspects it. Where I have been trained to follow my father’s leadership, Czar has been creating his own path and connections, working silently in the background for when the time comes.
He’s the perfect heir. Though my father chooses to overlook it, he’s going to wish he hadn’t.
“What happened next?” I ask Jensen, brushing off the realization.
“I heard him approaching the door, and I slipped into the shadows beneath the stairs.” He blows out a deep breath as if reliving the anxiety he was feeling. “I was grateful Elizabeth didn’t follow him out; she would have seen me without a doubt. But the bastard was so hell bent on getting up those stairs he practically ran up them.”
The thoughts of him rushing the stairs with excitement at the prospect of hurting Hevan makes bile swim in my gut.
He leans forward. “I had to think quickly, Azrael.”
“Go on,” I coax.
“I went straight out to the garage ammunition cabinet and grabbed the machine gun and a couple of grenades.” Czar’s eyes dance with excitement while listening toJensen. “Then I launched a grenade toward the old bastard’s G-Wagon, careful not to hit it.” My forehead creases, and he goes on to explain. “He needed an escape, as much as I wanted to blow the fucker up.”
“Then I radioed through to security, telling them we had a breach while giving your father the opportunity to run. I hid in the shadows and every guy they sent in my direction I shot up his legs, then I moved around to below your bedroom window and shot up toward the balcony, careful to take out the bottom windows just in case…” I flinch as he recounts shooting the balcony; if Hevan had been anywhere near there, the glass could have torn her up, or even worse, a bullet.
“I kicked the gun into the garage pit and rushed inside.” He hangs his head. “But I’m no fucking hero. I’m sorry I didn’t do more.”
“Without you, she would have been in the auction by now, or dead,” Czar says, and my knuckles tighten around my glass, but he’s right. Without Jensen acting quickly, tonight would have been an entirely different story, and I wouldn’t only be mourning the loss of a baby but the woman I love too.
“Whatever you do next, I’m by your side,” Jensen says with conviction, and it’s as if he can read the intent in my eyes, because he side-eyes Czar.
What I do next will not just be for myself but for Czar too.
For La Familia.
Chapter Fifty
Azrael
Czar closes the door behind him after I tell him to head home.
“You have a plan?” Jensen asks, and I tilt my head to the side, unsure of my next move.
“I need to use your contacts.” His eyebrows lift. “But unconventionally, in a way that won’t raise eyebrows.” Jensen blinks, and I tap my finger on my lip. “I need your contact to come to me. Need me.”
He scrubs a hand down his face. “And how the fuck do you suggest we make that happen?”
“Leverage.” My lip curls before I take another drink.
“Azrael,” he warns, and my smirk becomes sharkish. “We don’t want to fuck with some people. Not when they don’t fuck with us.”
I lift a shoulder. “They’ll thank me for my leniency.”
He drops his head forward, then slowly lifts it to face me. “You’re insane. You know that, right?”
I stand at my full height and adjust my cufflinks. “It’s becoming increasingly apparent that that is part of my psyche, yes.”
He snorts. “You crazy ass fucker.”
“I need to move her.” The house sure as hell isn’t safe for her anymore.
He nods. “I’ll make the arrangements. What do you want me to do about Elizabeth?”
