Chapter 41

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Vincenzo

I didn't know who Aiden had gotten to work with him, but they weren't going down without a fight. Eden went in from the back, I went in from the front, and Zion entered from a sliding side door. We had all the exits covered.

There were two guys in the kitchen that Eden disposed of quickly, but not so silently. By the main door there was one large guy. He pushed me into the wall and when I say into, I was in the drywall.

Fortunately, his movements were slow, and I got a shot off and then another three.

"Fuck you." I sneered at the asshole who was now dead and rushed over to the living room, where Zion and Eden were going head-to-head with four others.

One had his back to me, so I clubbed him on the head. He slumped forward and the second he turned, I shot him right between the eyes.

"He's not on this floor," I said once the last guy dropped.

Eden nodded. "House is quiet."

"Something's up if these guys were all here." Zion checked his phone. "Aiden's car is in the driveway of Louisa's house still. He has to be here."

"Or is he in Louisa's house." I had to wonder if it was a little bait and switch and switch again.

We raced through the house—every level, even the basement—but there was nothing.

"Fuck!"

"Praeses, we'll find him." Zion squeezed my shoulder.

Once outside, we headed to Louisa's house. Through the windows there was nothing, but there were BILCO doors in the yard that weren't bolted shut.

"Here." Eden and Zion came over the same time two SUVs arrived, but I relaxed as soon as Axel jumped out. I waved them over, and now I had my exercitus.

"We time this. The four of us go through here; the others use the front and back doors."

They all nodded. It took a minute but once everyone was in position, we all entered at the same time.

A shot was fired in our direction and we hit the floor. "Careful where you fire," I ordered.

I looked up and saw something out of my nightmares. Three men tied to chairs, one, I believed was Rowan, clearly dead. Aiden's hands wrapped around Fred's throat, and the man I loved wasn't breathing.

"You motherfucker."

Aiden spun at the same time two others burst through the door, but I didn't pay attention to the mayhem surrounding me. Aiden didn't have his gun out, and I did.

In two seconds I shot his kneecaps off, and he collapsed to the ground. His gun fell out of his waistband, and I kicked it away and raised my pistol to his forehead.

"For the record, I never liked you, believed you, or trusted you."

"I don't give a fuck."

I leaned down and stepped on his ankle, making him hiss. "I wasn't done."

I gestured over to where Fred was. Axel was working on him, and in a moment I'd be right beside him.

"He did, though. You were all he thought he had in the world."

"He was weak."

I pressed the barrel of the gun to his head, and with my other foot I slammed on his wrist, relishing the sound of the crunch and his screams. "No, he's the strongest man I know. He knew he had to kill you but didn't want to do it. And that's okay, because you know why?"

He said nothing, just glared at me. But I wanted to hear him, so I pressed harder on his broken ankle, smiling when he screeched in anguish. Music to my ears.

"Because I actually do want to kill you."

He opened his mouth to speak but I squeezed the trigger.

"I have to get him off this, where are the keys?"

With brain matter on my shirt and blood dripping from my hair I turned to Finn, who was staring at Aiden's dead body.

"Where'd he keep the keys?"

"Back pocket, I think."

Unceremoniously I kicked him, rolled him over, and pulled out the keys.

Once Fred was freed, Eden went to release the others but nothing and no one else mattered but Fred.

"Is he breathing?"

"Pulse is really weak, Praeses."

I scooped him up in my arms and rushed out the cellar doors toward the car. Zion was on my heels and opened the door to the SUV.

"Get us to the hospital, fast."

Lex Talionis was on site and would deal with everything there. Right now Fred was all there was.

"Open your eyes, baby. Please."

His face was pale, and the bruising around his neck made me want to revive Aiden just to kill him again.

Axel came over to Fred and immediately made a tourniquet to stop the bleeding on his leg, but between the blood loss and strangulation, my Red wasn't looking so good.

"Three minutes," Zion announced.

"Red, you need to wake up. This isn't the end of your story, baby."

His lips—which were blue before I got into the car—now had a little color, and I was clinging to that lifeline for all it was worth.

Zion jerked the wheel and I was about to yell at him when I saw we were at the hospital. Thank God.

"You can't go in, sir," he said after he opened the back door.

"Like hell I can't."

"You're covered in Aiden, sir."

Fuck, I was. "Get him inside."

"I promise. There are clothes in the trunk."

I watched as he rushed into the hospital with my world in his hands.

"Please don't die on me."

I was able to reach the duffel from over the back seats. There was a towel, four bottles of water, clothes, shoes, a hairbrush, and a first-aid kit.

Without caring if I ruined the upholstery, I stripped off everything and poured water over my head, scrubbing as much as I could out of my hair. I washed my skin and bandaged the spot where a bullet had grazed me. Quickly, I dressed, and I was tying my hair into a ponytail as I ran into the hospital.

"My…" My what, what was Fred? "My life is here, my love."

The nurse smiled. "Name?"

"His name is Frederick Brennan."

Her happy expression fell. "He went that way with a very angry man."

Zion. "Thank you."

I rushed along the corridor and would have kept going if I hadn't seen Zion sitting on a set of chairs.

"Why aren't you with him?"

He looked up and sighed. "They took him through the doors. They don't let people follow into those areas."

I wasn't caring very much about protocol, but when I went to go yell at someone Zion grabbed my arm.

"Sir, please sit. We can't do any more than we already have."

I knew he was right, so I plopped down beside him.

"He can't die, Zion."

"Because you love him."

I turned my head, and my colonellus smiled.

"Yeah, I do."

He nodded. "He won't die. He's far too stubborn and bratty to die this way."

I chuckled, but it felt hollow. "I fear I'd follow behind him if he did. My heart would surely break."

He squeezed my shoulder. And we waited.