Chapter 23

Mateo

"Are you sure this is a smart idea?" Lorenzo asks when I pull into the driveway. "So much could go wrong here."

"I'm going to ask him if he wants in. If someone grabbed my woman, I would damn sure want to be there while he gets fucked up." I hop out of the car and knock on the door.

Rae opens the door a few moments later, her face dropping when she sees me. "What happened? Is everyone okay?"

"Everyone is good." I smile at her, "Is Drew home? I wanted to talk to him for a minute."

"Yeah, he's here." She steps to the side and gestures for me to come in. "Why is Lorenzo in the car?"

"He doesn't think I should be here."

"That doesn't sound ominous at all." Drew says, rounding the corner with the baby in his arms. "What's up?"

"We found the guy from the restaurant." I tell him, hoping that Rae told him about what happened to her and Luna. "We're going to grab him right now."

"I'm coming with you." He states, kissing the baby before handing her to Rae. "Are you okay here for a bit?"

"I'm an adult, Drew." She leans up to kiss his cheek. "Go blow off some steam, but be careful."

"I'm always careful." He kisses her before looking at me. "Let me change real fast and I'll be out."

"Sounds good." I nod and head toward the door. "It was good seeing you and the baby, Rae. I'll have the girls reach out to set something up."

"I'd love that. Bring him home to me, Mateo." She replies as I open the door.

"I will." Stepping outside, I pull the door shut behind me and hop back in the car to wait for Drew. "He'll be out in a minute."

When we stop outside of the pawn shop owned by Owen Nichol, the three of us hop out and head inside. Thanks to Silas, we know what the slimy prick looks like. Hopefully, luck is on our side, and he doesn't know who we are.

When he looks up from the counter he's currently cleaning, his face pales. Well, he knows who we are. Please don't fucking run.

I'm shocked when he stands taller, not breaking eye contact with me. "What can I help you gentlemen with?"

"Oh, Owen." Lorenzo starts, "Can I call you Owen? It's rude of me to assume, I apologize for that."

"Sure." He clears his throat, shifting from foot to foot behind the counter.

"You seem a little nervous, Owen." Enzo states, running his pointer finger across the counter top. "Why is that?"

"I'm not n-nervous." He stammers, his gaze bouncing between the three of us.

"Good, because there's no reason for you to be nervous, unless you've done something wrong. Have you done something wrong, Owen?"

"I haven't, I swear." He shakes his head swiftly.

"What's the point of lying?" I sigh, shaking my head. "Do you know who I am?"

"You'll be a dead son of a bitch if you don't walk out that door right now." A man walks out of the back room, aiming a shotgun at us.

"Put the gun down, Brad." I take a few steps toward him, hoping he takes the bait. "There's no need for anyone to get hurt."

"I'll put the gun down when you Italian pricks are out the door." He growls, stalking toward me.

"Do I sound Italian to you?" I raise a brow at him. "My mother brought me to America every chance she got. I was only in Italy for a few days at a time before we left again." Pointing to Lorenzo, I continue, "He moved to Italy when he was seventeen." Needing to piss him off just a little more, I keep going. "Drew, have you ever even been to Italy?"

"Nope." Drew responds, shaking his head.

"It doesn't matter." He spits, pushing the gun into my stomach. There's my cue.

Quickly stepping to my right, I push the barrel of the gun to the left, twisting it out of Brad's hands and aiming it at his head.

"Let's move this conversation somewhere a little more private, yeah?" Gesturing toward the door, I wait for both of them to walk ahead of me. "There's a black escalade right outside the door.

Both of you get in the back. If you try to run, or make a scene, my men will be paying a visit to Charlotte, Cassidy and all of those adorable little crotch goblins."

They both stiffen at the mention of their wives and children. My men don't even know they exist, but these fuckers can go ahead and assume that I'm just like Mathias. Their opinions don't matter to me at all.

"Please don't hurt them," Owen whimpers. "We were only doing what we were told."

"Ok, let's stick with that theme." I press the gun into Brad's back. "Do as you're told and get in the fucking car." I give him a little shove as they both walk out the door and climb into the car without incident. I sit in the backseat beside them, Enzo drives and Drew rides shotgun. I slide my phone out of my pocket to text Travis.

Me: We're bringing two back. Have the syringes ready..

His response comes through immediately.

Travis: On it, boss.

Lorenzo drives us to the back of the property, about half a mile behind the house. Travis and another one of our guards are waiting for us. As soon as Owen and Brad step out of the car, they're both injected and knocked unconscious.

"Take them to the basement. I want them chained and waiting for me when I get back," I order. "This needs to stay fucking quiet. Travis and Brody, you're the only ones I want down there. Nobody else. Am I clear?"

"Yes, boss." Travis nods, grabbing one of Owen's arms to drag him inside. There's an old sawmill on the back of our property, so nobody would suspect a thing when they see the old wooden building. Underneath, we had the basement reinforced with solid steel floors and walls.

"Let's see if the ladies want to be here for this." Enzo says, coming to stand beside me.

"I'll call Rae and see if the sitter is free." Drew takes a few steps away from us and pulls his phone from his pocket. Since he's no longer a police officer, for obvious reasons, he's one of the guys we always call when we handle shit like this. I don't think there's a single part of him that enjoys what we do, but the love he has for Rae makes it easy to turn a blind eye and help out.

"Luna will want to be here, I just texted Alaric to see if he'll bring them." I tell Enzo, just as my phone pings. "They're on the way now. Luna wants to be here, but Aurora wants to wait at home."

"Rae is dropping Avery off with Kai and Sadie." Drew smiles, sliding his phone back in his pocket. "She'll be here in about twenty."

"Let's go get changed while we wait, I'm not ruining another fucking suit." I climb back in the car and wait for Zo and Drew to climb in before driving to the house.

Thirty minutes later, Drew, Enzo, Luna and I are outside the sawmill waiting for Rae. When her Jeep pulls up, a huge smile crosses Drew's face and he opens the door for her, holding her hand while she climbs down.

"Sorry it took so long." She kisses his cheek, "Sadie wasn't home yet, but Kai said he can handle Avery on his own for as long as it takes."

"It's not his first time watching her, beautiful. She'll be just fine."

"I know." She grabs his hand and walks beside us. "Let's do this."

When we get to the basement, Owen and Brad are chained to the wall, just like I asked. Opening one of the cupboards, I pull out a pair of rusty tin snips. As I approach Owen, his eyes start opening. "Perfect timing!" Showing him the rusty metal, I place one of his fingers between the blades. "Why did you go to the restaurant that day?"

"I told you, we were only doing what we were told!" He screams, his face already bright red.

"Who told you to go there?" Rae asks as she steps beside me.

"Look, I'm sorry that I touched you." He pants, trying to get his finger out of the tin snips. "We were supposed to grab the brunette, but I fucked up."

Rae throws her head back in laughter. "We already know that part, dipshit." Wrapping her small hand around mine, she smiles at me and squeezes the handle, dropping his pointer finger to the floor.

"FUCK!" He shouts, writhing in pain. "Dom. The guy's name is Dom. That's all he ever told us."

Looking over my shoulder, my eyes lock with Luna's. Tears build in her eyes, but she quickly wipes them away and grabs pliers from the table, pushing me to the side so she's directly in front of Owen.

"Why the brunette?" She seethes. "Talk fast. I'm not a patient person, and I'm sure these little pliers are plenty big enough to grab your tiny dick."

"We don't know." He rushes out, trying to pull away from her, but there's nowhere for him to go, his chains only have about two inches of leeway. "He said, in order to get what he wants, we were supposed to grab the brunette and someone else would get the kid."

"What's the kid's name?" Luna's voice cracks as she asks and her hands start shaking.

"Don't say anything else, you moron." Brad spits. I turn to look at him, but Luna punches him in the face. "We're dead either way, so just get it over with."

"WHAT IS THE KIDS FUCKING NAME?" She screams in his face. Lorenzo grabs her, pulling her back against his chest, but she spins in his arms, punching him too before charging Owen this time. "I'm only asking one more fucking time. What is the kid's name?"

A knock on the basement door startles us all. As Drew walks to the steps, the door opens. From this angle, nobody can see anything but a pair of arms reaching inside, setting a laptop down on the top step, then slamming the door closed. Drew runs up the stairs, returning a moment later with the laptop in his hands. "What the fuck?" He growls, spinning the laptop so we can all see the image on the screen.

"NOOOOOO!" Luna screams before passing out. Enzo catches her right before she hits the hard floor.