“Still standing,” he muttered, breath rough in my ear.
I helped him to sit, leaning him against fat sacks piled with God knew what and dropped my knees beside his trembling body. “What the fuck happened?”
“They cornered us then someone fired from topside, killing one of our men,” Lorenzo grunted between unsteady breaths.
“Save your breath, brother.” I removed his hands and lifted his soaked shirt by the hem to inspect the wounds. He’d taken two bullets to the abdomen. Blood poured out, staining his tattooed body. “Fuck.” I scrambled out of my jacket and used it to press down over his injuries. “Dario!” My roar echoed through the empty warehouse. I cleared my voice to holler again, and Lorenzo’s eyes snapped to mine, his expression a mixture of agony and resignation.
“Rayden.” That was the last thing he said before his lids shut and his head fell to the side just as Dario reached us.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I shoved the jacket at Dario. “Keep pressure on the wound. Don’t fucking stop until I say otherwise.” On my knees, I ripped my brother’s shirt apart, leaned over him and commenced CPR. “Stay with me, Renz, don’t you fucking die on me.” My voice thickened with anger-infused emotion as I continued the compressions to his chest, agonizingly aware that although I was attempting to help him, for the first time in my fucked-up life I feared the outcome.
A minute or so passed until he finally gasped out a breath and I shuddered, relieved exhales falling out of me. Slowly, his eyes opened, and he rewarded me with a pained smile. His handreaching for mine, he gave it a light squeeze before his lids lowered again.
“Renz?” Even I could hear the dread in my voice.
“Hmm,” he moaned, keeping his eyes shut.
“Let him rest,” Dario suggested.
Taking over from him, I pressed down on the jacket. Thick blood coated my fingers, and I had no way of explaining what I was feeling or how to react. All I knew was that I sat crouched beside my brother who appeared to be bleeding out a little too much and I couldn’t help him. I felt thirteen again, helpless and not in control. At that time, another brother’s blood stained my young hands. The reminder brought with it the power I’d harnessed since then. There was no fucking way I was losing this brother.
I looked at Dario as he stood to check his gun. “We should get him out of here.”
He shook his head. “They attacked us with the sole intention of ending Lorenzo’s life. Arturo knows your brother is a powerful man with plenty enemies. If word got out that he was a sitting duck in this place, his life would be in further danger. We can’t put him or you at risk.”
His words yanked my attention to the silence around us. Maybe he was right, the fuckers wouldn’t just give up after one blitz attack. They were waiting, watching. Regardless, if my brother died, this world wasn’t ready for me. Only one word would help me survive.
Kill.
Our men found us, and while they kept guard, Dario and I sat in silence for another couple of minutes until Lorenzo coughed and his breathing grew uneven. His jerking body caused his wounds to bleed more. Anxiety blinded my vision, and I pushed down on the wounds, hoping to stop the flow. When that did nothing, I ripped off my shirt in one hard tug, leaving me in awife beater and squashed it around one hole, while stuffing my jacket over the other.
“We need to get him to a hospital.” I tried to stand up.
“There’s too much blood loss. You can’t move him without us knowing the extent of his wounds.” Dario grabbed my arm, pausing my efforts. “And even we could, you know hospitals are a no-go zone for us unless Bane is there.”
I glared at him, grinding my teeth. “So what? We stay here and wait for him to die,” I yelled.
“No.” Dario’s calm always annoyed the fuck out of me. “Joey is out looking for a doctor while we wait for the chopper?—”
“We’re in the middle of fucking crimeville, majority of who wants my brother dead, where the fuck are we going to find?—”
“Get a grip,” he hissed. Apart from Lorenzo, he was the only man I allowed to keep me sane. “Diego called Gian the second we jumped out of the car. The chopper will be here soon and there’s a doctor on board if we don’t find one. Now, I need you to calm the fuck down and take charge like the underboss you are.” His eyes jerked to our men and back to me, reminding me of my position.
My scowl slipped a beat. Seemed like in my state of panic, he’d handled the situation. Dario was right, we couldn’t move Lorenzo and after an almost-death incident years ago, hospitals had become insecure for us. We had high-ranking officers to beat cops on our payroll and those that weren’t, wouldn’t hesitate to take us down. So we avoided places that left us vulnerable and why we had a mini hospital at every estate we owned with trusted doctors on our payroll.
I shifted my gaze, having no fucking clue how to help my brother. His breathing sped up, sweat trickling down his temples, intermittent shudders wracking his body. Panic hovered around my chest, gripping it so tight, I feared I’d be theone to stop breathing. I inhaled deeply, forcing myself to calm down.
“Don’t you dare fucking die on me, brother,” I muttered, pressing down on the wounds.
“He’s not going to, Rem.” Dario squeezed my shoulder, pulling my gaze to him. His smile, usually non-existent, was small but enough to give me hope. “That’s Lorenzo fucking Rossi. He’s cheated death more times than we have fingers to count on, you think two useless fucking bullets will make a difference now?”
My nod was slow, my head taking its time to unscrew from the murder I’d run rampant on these motherfuckers who dared to ambush my brother. Everyone who knew me, knew Lorenzo was my only weakness. I’d go to fucking war if anything happened to him.
“You’re hurt too.” Dario pointed to my arm.
“It’s nothing.” Someone could stab me in the heart right now and I wouldn’t feel a thing.
I didn’t know how long I sat there, waiting, with Lorenzo’s blood running down my palms, but when I heard the whirr of the chopper blades, my hands were numb from the constant pressure I applied, and my sanity was an inch from breaking point.
