“Good luck, I hope they nail his ass to the wall,” Ben calls as I hurry to find Sage.
“Sage, we have to go,” I snap as I fling the door open.
Taking one look at my face, he jumps to his feet, rubbing his hands together. “Aww, this is going to be good. Karma, thy name is Tori.”
Before we can leave, Vienna also jumps to her feet. Although I hadn’t looked at anyone but Sage, I could feel them all watching me. “Tori, are we still on for today?”
I pause and turn to look at her. None of them are glaring at me with judgment, and Vienna wrings her hands in anticipation. “Are we good?” I ask calmly, and she nods.
“Yes, I apologize for getting upset last night. I’m sure you had a valid reason.” The apology feels a little hollow, but she looks sincere enough. My gaze shifts to the guys, and they all nod but don’t say a word.
I make a snap decision. “Do you want to join us? I would like to show you the reason I didn’t do anything last night.”
The four of them exchange loaded glances but quickly jump to their feet.
Xavier gestures. “Lead the way.”
“But the limo was smashed. How are we going to get wherever we are going?” Tristan asks as I lead them to the elevator and down to the garage.
“Please,” Sage scoffs. “Did you think that was our only vehicle?”
The elevator doors open, and there is a fleet of cars waiting for us. Gio’s is obviously missing, but both my and Sage’s personal vehicles are here, as well as Ben and Suzy’s. Tristan’s Maserati is also parked in one of the bays, as is a flashy BMW which I don’t recognize, so I assume it belongs to one of them. Then there are the work vehicles. Each and every one of them is bulletproof and have the same kind of reinforcement the limo had. It’s why we didn’t all end up as mangled piles of mush yesterday. I pick one of the SUVs big enough to seat all six of us.
I drive, and Xavier takes the passenger seat with the rest of them spreading out in the other two rows. No one talks until we’re on the road.
“Where are we going?” Vienna asks, unable to stop her curiosity.
I point to the center console. “Can you all put your phones in there?” I ask them, and Xavier frowns.
“You don’t trust us?”
“Trust is something that is earned, and I trust very few people. In fact, you can count on one hand the people I trust, and Gio and you four are not on that list.” I don’t bother mincing words. I still haven’t heard from Mickey, and until I do and know they aren’t hiding anything, I’m going to err on the side of caution.
“Fair enough,” Colton replies, and when I glance in the rearview mirror, he’s passing his and Tristan’s phones forward to Sage, who takes them and Vienna’s and puts them in the center console. Xavier’s soon follows.
I take a deep breath and take my first step into sharing something work related with them. Colton really came through for me last night, so it’s the least I can do, especially now that everything is in play. “Right, so last night’s B and E was courtesy of my dear uncle Lorenzo. I’ve long suspected he’s working against us, possibly with a rival family, and I recently discovered I was right.”
“We suspect Lorenzo is responsible for Stefano’s early demise, an attempt to take his place as the eldest Russo and head of the family,” Sage adds.
“He assumed two teenage kids would be pushovers?” Xavier questions, and I nod.
“Yes, despite knowing Dad was training us for our roles within the family. We believe we were supposed to be in the limo when it exploded as well.”
“Oh my god!” Vienna gasps, and when I look in the mirror, she’s grasping Sage’s hand tightly.
“But then Gio and Tori cut a bloody swathe through the rival families, taking out anyone who looked at them wrong, as well as rejecting offers of marriage from alliances in the hope that they could just absorb the Russos into their own. In the end, everyone backed off, realizing these teenage kids weren’t pushovers like they thought they were going to be.” I can hear the love, admiration, and awe in Sage’s voice and give him a small smile.
“Everyone backed off, and we made it clear to Lorenzo that he could either deal with the status quo or permanently disappear. He tucked tail and went back into his little rat hole, but both Gio and I knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. We just never thought he would go so far as to partner with our biggest rival, who up until now, we’ve had a tentative truce with that my father negotiated. We aren’t exactly sure what he promised, but it all goes out the window. They’ve declared war, and I don’t plan on losing.”
The car falls silent on my last comment as I pull into a parking lot in view of the warehouse, but not close enough for anyone to notice anything out of the ordinary, the other cars parked around us providing plenty of cover.
I turn off the car and tap my finger against the wheel, anticipation sending adrenaline firing through my body.
“So what is happening then?” Vienna breaks the silence, and I hold up a hand.
“Just watch. It should be any moment now. It would have taken Lorenzo half an hour to drive from Suncity, so by my calculations, he will be pulling up any minute.”
“Something’s happening to your uncle? Are you going to kill him?” Tristan has unfastened his seatbelt, and he leans through the front seats to look at me.
