I was trembling. I hadn’t even realized until this second, as the adrenaline wore off and the pain crashed, that my entire body shook. “My father. Back from the dead. And he justtookAngel. He plans to use him to destroy Giovanni.”
Grayson rumbled and then took off through the same door I’d used, but it was too late. They were long gone now, all those men and guns and the damn father I’d lost.
Along with the love of my life.
Well, one of four. But that didn’t mean I could spare any of them.
We had to get Angelo back, no matter the consequences.
two
BILLIE
Rhett led me over to the couch, careful of the broken glass and furniture that littered the floor. He was taking such painstaking effort to keep me safe that it eased some of the swirling panic that had been holding me in a near incoherent state.
Jace had followed Grayson and so had Vee, with the rest of her people, and so it was just me and Rhett in the awkward silence.
“Thorn, love, you’re starting to scare me.”
That knocked more shock from me, oddly, and I managed to suck in a deep breath and turn to face him, to see him clearly, without the fuzziness of vision that I’d been experiencing. To my surprise, some relief crossed his face before I even said anything. “You were nearly hyperventilating,” he said softly in explanation. “Your breaths are short and rapid, and I wasn’t sure if you were going to pass out or not.”
That might explain the fuzziness.
Thankfully, a few more deep breaths added clarity that had been missing a few seconds ago. Clarity and anger.
“Gray and Jace?” I said shortly. “Can we check on them?”
I was pushing up from the couch as I spoke, but it turned out there was no need so sat my butt back down. They were literally walking through the door, safe and uninjured. From what I could see anyway. Everyone was a little beat up and spattered in blood from the fight, but I couldn’t detect any life-threatening injuries.
“Prickles,” Grayson murmured as he reached the couch. He dropped to his knees before me, uncaring of the debris on the floor, and wrapped his arms around me. “You’re okay.”
“He lost it when he couldn’t see you,” Jace said drily. I couldn’t see Bellerose’s lead singer around Grayson’s broad shoulders, but I already knew the expression he’d be wearing: a little smirk but with dead eyes, the kind that hid everything he felt deep down.
“We all lost it,” Rhett replied huskily. “They were trying to takeour Bellerose. Our little Thorn. Those motherfuckers.”
Grayson was still holding me like his life depended on it, and no lie, it was one of the nicest hugs I’d had in a really long time. Full-bodied, holding all the parts of me together. Another sliver of calm followed, and when he pulled away just as Jace dropped down next to me on the couch, I was able to think and breathe almost like normal.
This was also when Vee returned to the room, by herself this time, her weapon out of sight. My glare was joined by three others as she strolled nonchalantly across to us. This fucking bitch had some lady balls on her. Guess you needed them to survive in the male-driven mafia world.
Which was all well and good until she used them against us.
Grayson was on his feet in the next second, and he towered over the couch as he stood protectively between us and Vee. “You have two fucking seconds to explain before I break your neck.”
The words weren’t shouted like I would have done. Outside of the curse, his tone was akin to having a perfectly pleasant conversation with his grandmother, while threatening to take her life.
“I will explain everything, I promise,” Vee said immediately, and I peeked around Gray to see she was holding both hands up in front of her. “The rest of my people have taken up security around the perimeter, so we’re safe to chat for a few minutes and come up with a plan.”
“To save Angel, I fucking hope,” I snarled, my emotions unable to be hidden as well as Gray hid his.
“Of course,” she replied smoothly. “But as I said, we have time. I already have people looking out for his new location, and we’ll go from there.”
Grayson grunted. “And why should we trust you or yourpeople?You set us up. You allowed them to get close to Billie, and that’s unforgivable.”
Vee’s expression fell. “I admit that part took me by surprise. Obviously. I had no idea they were going to try and curry favor with me by attacking Billie. The second I caught word of that, I was here with as many of my people as I could gather in a short time. We set off all those shots on our way in to distract and buy time. I figured you all could work it out for a few minutes until we made it inside.”
So it had been Vee shooting up as a distraction. It was a good plan, unless we’d all been killed in those few minutes. “You take too many risks with other people’s lives,” Rhett said softly, clearly thinking the same as me. “We aren’t pawns on the board for you to play with and sacrifice as needed. That’s not how a fucking friendship works. You let us think we were friends, Vee.”
Some of her bravado fell, and she rubbed a hand across her eyes as weariness descended briefly over her features. “You know… fuck. I’m sorry. I’m really fucking sorry. I’ve been in this world of cutthroat bastards for too long I honestly forgot how to have friends and not just alliances. But I swear to you all, I never intended for any harm to touch you guys.”
