I smirk and shake my head. “Nope, something better, and he’s never going to know I’m responsible.”
“Here he comes.” Sage points at the vehicle moving down the road, and I roll my eyes. My asshole of an uncle drives the most ostentatious bright green Lamborghini. “I wonder what’s going to happen to the car when he’s gone. Can I have it?”
“Sure, because that’s just what you need, a car that goes from zero to a hundred in three point six seconds,” I say sarcastically, not taking my eyes off it as it pulls up to the gates of the warehouse. A guard comes out with a snarling dog on a leash and peers in the window before gesturing for the gates to open, then Lorenzo drives through.
“The dogs seem to have recovered well,” I remark absently to Sage as I watch my uncle get out of his car. I can tell by the way he’s waving his arms around that he isn’t happy.
“That’s where you broke in last night?” Colton asks.
“Yup,” Sage replies.
“All those women and men are in there?” Vienna asks, holding her breath.
Again, Sage answers. “Yup.”
“What’s going to happen to them?”
I turn to look at her, and she’s wringing her hands, but instead of watching my uncle, she’s looking at me.
I give her a gentle smile. “Hopefully they are all about to be liberated.”
Just like that, the street falls into mayhem. Eight black government SUVs surround the warehouse, and a SWAT van pulls up, men and women in tactical gear pouring out, their guns held high. Although we can’t hear anything, we can see they are yelling. Gunfire erupts, and the feds take cover behind their cars, but the guards are no match for the government personnel. The gunfire doesn’t last long, and I see a few dead bodies lying on the ground as they get the gates open and make their way into the compound. I watch eagerly as they flood into the warehouse. More gunfire erupts, and Vienna lets out a little yelpand clutches Sage. He pats her absently, but like me, his eyes are glued to the action.
The gunfire stops, and the car is silent. Only the sound of our breathing can be heard as we watch with loaded anticipation. Eventually, people begin to pour out of the warehouse, and another set of vehicles, this time paramedics and ambulances, arrives in a blaze of sirens.
We watch as victim after victim is led out of the warehouse and shown to an ambulance to be checked by medics. Feds swarm them to question them, but I ignore all of that, my eyes locked on the warehouse door. Eventually, the thing I’d been waiting for happens. My uncle comes out, and while I didn’t expect him to go down without a fight, I didn’t expect him to be wheeled out on a gurney with medics surrounding him as they rush him to a vehicle.
“That’s a lot of blood,” Sage comments. You can’t miss it. His shirt is gone, and there is blood smeared all over his chest as one of the medics straddles his torso, giving him compressions. I hold my breath as I wait for them to load him into the vehicle and take off, but instead, they stop, and the paramedic shakes his head, giving up on CPR.
“Well, isn’t that a delightful sight?” I murmur as I see Agent Garcia step out if the warehouse, a girl wrapped in a blanket in his arms.
“The death of your uncle?” Xavier asks, and I shrug.
“That among other things. Okay, are we ready to start our day? Should we have breakfast out? I suddenly feel like celebrating.” I turn away from the action and start the car, driving away from the chaotic scene.
“Did you tip off the feds?” Colton asks, and I scoff.
“Me tip off the feds? Now why would I do a thing like that? An informant just happened to know all that was going down and told me. Had I wanted to protect my uncle, I could havewarned him, but as it happened, that helped take him off the board permanently.” I reach out and turn the radio on, blocking the chance for any more questions, and I start to sing along as we drive toward Suncity, brunch at the Lucky Diamond, and my relaxing spa day with Vienna, happier than I have been in ages.
I’m not sure what the guys do while Vienna and I are pampered and massaged into comas, but the four of them are waiting when we leave the spa. I had an amazing morning and feel light and airy after spending time with Vienna and just talking about girly shit. I don’t remember a time when I had so much fun. There were no expectations, just casual and intimate conversation, and I learned so much about her. She really does love the boys more than life itself, and their bond is soul deep.
I also learned she’s a sucker for children and small animals, and if she had her way, she would have a menagerie of animals and a whole truck load of kids. She laughed when I wrinkled my nose at that statement but didn’t make me feel bad about my lack of maternal instincts. She asked me what I would do with my life if the choices hadn’t been taken from me, and I didn’t know the answer to that. We talked movies and fashion, and she gossiped about the people in her classes, but I refrained from asking the one question I really wanted to ask.
We are walking back through the hotel to meet the guys when I finally cave to my curiosity. I guess acting like a teenager has made me regress, because I really want to know the answer to this.
“Do you ever see Stacey?” I ask her quietly, and she wrinkles her nose.
“Yeah. She, the twins, and Nikki Steel hang around a lot of the same people we do. Stacey is constantly putting her hands all over the guys. I want to throat punch her,” Vienna growls.
“I can teach you that if you want,” I offer, enjoying the thought of Vienna doing that to the bitch.
She smirks. “Xavi already taught me. It’s been easier to avoid her since we’ve been living at your place and don’t hang out at all the college haunts.” She pauses for a moment. “She’s probably going to be there on Saturday. Will that be a problem for you?”
I scoff. “Stacey is but a blip in my memory. Seriously, the only thing you will have to worry about is me putting a bullet between her eyes at the party.”
“You know you could leave your gun at home for a change,” she suggests, and I visibly shudder, and she laughs.
“That isn’t happening,” I tell her as we approach the guys, who are sitting in a small lounge area in the foyer of the hotel. Before we get to them, she puts a hand out and stops me. I turn to face her, raising a questioning eyebrow.
