Chapter Twenty-Five

Renzo

If there was one thing I could say about my cousin, it was that he was a fucking idiot.

Which worked in my favor.

It was why, even if he’d been cunning enough to take me out before I could figure out his plans, he would never be able to keep the title of boss. Someone else would see how short-sighted he was, how ill-equipped he was to engage in multi-step thinking.

Then they’d take his ass out.

One of Michael’s rackets was boosting and stripping cars.

It took all of five seconds of thought to know that was where he would have to take Lore.

To his garage.

His apartment wasn’t possible, given all the neighbors. And his only other business had nowhere to bring an unwilling woman. Let alone to lure and try to kill me.

Rico had taken Elian to the hospital as the rest of us rallied, making Cage rush over with a fully-loaded SUV.

Weapons, penetrating tools, the whole fucking shebang.

Adrenaline surged through my veins, gasoline waiting for a match.

And as Cage knocked the door in, then Dav and Cinna secured the scene, and I walked in to find Lore there, I almost thought the fire would never start.

She was there.

She was alive.

Her face was scratched and bruised.

But minor, minor fucking damage.

Unacceptable, sure, and they’d pay, but not enough to set me off.

Until, of course, my gaze slipped downward, looking for any other injuries.

And I saw her kneeling there on the filthy fucking floor… in her panties.

Match.

Strike.

Flame.

I was a motherfucking inferno as I charged at the fuckhead who had my woman’s pants on his shoulder. Like he had a right to have them there. After ripping them off her body while panic flooded her system.

Had he touched her?

Hurt her?

While she cried out for me?

And I came too fucking late?

I was aware of Cinna moving in, dragging Michael out of the way as Dav kept his gun poised on the man.

I imagined Cage would have the cuffs out, locking Michael down, holding onto him for me.

Because it was going to be a while as I grabbed one of the hands raised up at me, trying to fend me off, acting all fucking innocent.

Grab.

Twist.

The crackling sound of multiple bones breaking had the blood whooshing through my ears, almost drowning out the sweet fucking sound of the asshole’s screams.

“You thought you could put your hands on my woman?” I growled as my fist slammed into his jaw with enough force to send him flying, trying to scramble up on his knees and one good arm.

Only to fall back over again as my foot collided with his center.

Once, knocking his wind out.

Twice, hearing the crack of ribs breaking.

The third time, well, let’s just say that the man would never be using his dick on another woman again. Neither consensually or otherwise.

Not that I was going to let him breathe anyway.

But he had that pain coming.

I dropped down on top of him, my fists swinging, colliding, the impact ricocheting up my arms, making my shoulders, and jaw hurt.

But that only seemed to feed more fuel to the fire as I grabbed both sides of his head, slamming down on the floor once, twice, watching his eyes go unfocused.

No.

Nope.

Not that easy.

I wanted him to fucking suffer.

Like he planned to do to Lore.

Reaching back, I grabbed her pants that had fallen off his shoulder, wrapping them around his throat, and squeezing, watching his eyes widen with panic, bulge as he lost his breath, as his lungs burned, as he realized he was dying.

It was a brutal fucking way to go.

A good two and a half to three minutes of consciousness, your lungs screaming, your head going fuzzy, panic flooding your entire body.

Then another minute of unconsciousness before you finally fucking died.

I must have been sitting there for longer, though, as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“He’s dead, man,” Dav said, voice patient, understanding. He had his own demons. He knew what it was like when they took over.

I yanked the pants off of him as I moved to stand, realizing I was panting for breath, my heartbeat hammering with the adrenaline still flooding my system.

“Go on. Beat the shit out of me,” Michael said, glaring at me from his kneeled position, standing between Cage and Cinna. “Kill me, even. But there’s more just like me.”

“Yeah?” I asked, reaching into my waistband for my gun. “I’ll track down and put a bullet in all their heads too,” I said, pressing the muzzle to his forehead. “Say hi to my old man in hell,” I said, squeezing the trigger, and watching the blood and brain matter scatter as he weaved for a moment before falling, dead before he hit the ground.

Only then did I seem to be able to think clearly again.

Lore.

I whipped around, finding the space she’d been occupying empty.

“She ran into the office,” Cinna explained, nodding her chin toward it.

Smart girl.

Taking herself somewhere safe.

Knowing I’d come for her after.

“Might wanna get that crazy look off your face first,” Cinna suggested, giving me a pointed look.

Right.

Right.

She didn’t need my tension.

She needed soft.

Who knew what the fuck she’d been through?

I stood there for a second, taking a few slow, deep breaths, trying to find calm. Then I checked myself for blood before taking her pants with me toward the office, knocking on the door.

Hearing nothing, my heart seized.

“Lore?” I called.

No response.

I rushed inside.

And it was then I heard it.

A frantic sort of humming coming from under the desk.

I moved toward it, kneeling down to find her squished under it, curled into herself, hands pressed to her ears, her eyes squeezed shut.

“Mouse,” I said, reaching out to touch her knee, covered in a grayish dirt from the filthy floor.

You’d have thought I’d burned her, the way she jerked away so hard she rammed her head on the underside of the desk, her leg flying out, nearly catching me in the crotch. But I was quick enough to grab it.

“Easy, baby, easy,” I said, voice low, soothing. “It’s me,” I added, watching as the panic cleared from her eyes.

The tears replaced it almost instantly as she scrambled onto all fours, then launched herself at me, arms squeezing so tight they shook.

“It’s okay. It’s over,” I murmured, running my hands up and down her back for a bit, then wrapping her up, and squeezing tight. “You’re okay,” I told her, pressing a kiss to the side of her face. “I’m here.”

She calmed down more quickly than I’d expected, clinging to me for an extra moment before pulling back.

“I knew you would come,” she said as I wiped the tears off of her cheeks.

“Of course I did.”

“Elian…”

“At the hospital,” I told her, hoping that Rico had a good update for me once we got out of here.

“He tried to save me.”

“Of course he did. Are you hurt?” I asked, framing her face, looking at the damage up close.

“I did most of this to myself, I guess,” she said, touching the bruise forming on her face. “This, though,” she said, reaching up toward the side of her head, making my hand follow. There, under her hair, was an egg. He’d struck her on the head. “It’s okay,” she murmured, making me realize I’d snarled at finding proof of that fucker putting his hands on her.

“Mouse, I gotta ask,” I said, taking a deep breath, watching her blue eyes for the truth. “Your pants are off…”

“No,” she said, quickly. Too quickly? “No,” she said again, voice stronger. “He tried to. Michael stopped him.” Well, at least that bastard had a modicum of decency. “He said they would take turns when you showed up,” she added, voice wobbling.

Suddenly, I wished I had made Michael hurt before I’d ended him.

“Renzo, I think there are more of them,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“The driver asked about a guy named Coal…”

“I have Coal. That’s how I knew who it was.”

“But Michael was texting almost nonstop while I was here. I was about to get his phone,” she added. “When there was the bang outside, he dropped it. I was going to grab it and go in here to call Nico.”

“Nico?” I asked, the name like a punch to the gut. Her brother. Not me.

“I don’t have your number memorized yet,” she said, easing the impact of her other statement.

“Got a lifetime to memorize it,” I said, pressing her back until her ass was on the ground, then bunching up the leg of her pants, and sliding it up, then doing the same with the other. “Come on, mouse. Let’s go home,” I said, standing, and reaching down to help her up, then yanking her pants up over her ass. “I’m gonna need one thing from you, though,” I said, looking out of the office door.

“Okay.”

“I’m gonna need you to keep your eyes closed until I say you can open them,” I said, lacing my fingers through hers.

“Oh, okay. Yeah,” she said with a nod, knowing why I was asking. And not looking the least bit horrified by it.

There was steel under all that soft and sweet.

With that, she squeezed her eyes shut, and let me lead her through the room.

“Make sure you grab the phones,” I told Cinna, getting a nod from her. “You, with me,” I said to Cage, who fell into step behind Lore as we moved into the garage. “Okay, you can open,” I said, but felt her pull to a stop. “What is it?” I asked, finding her gaze on the car crashed into the garage door.

“I did that,” she admitted. “I locked myself in. Which pissed them off,” she said with a ghost of a smile on her lips. Proud of herself. As she should be. “And the driver was close enough that I thought the fob might let me turn it back on. So I did… and did that.”

“That’s what happened to your face?” I asked. “The airbag?”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “Think I might have a little whiplash from it,” she admitted, reaching up to rub the back of her neck.

“We’re gonna take care of you,” I assured her, pulling her close to press a quick kiss to her lips. “Fucking proud of you, mouse,” I said, watching the pleasure spread across her face. “Now, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Cage drove us home in silence, lucking out on a parking spot near the apartment, and followed us up to take Elian’s space outside of the door. But this time, I had men stationed outside of the building as well. No one was getting in here again.

There was a lot of fucking work to do.

Bodies to dispose of.

Leads to track down.

Other men to take out for their disloyalty.

But right now, none of that was as important as taking Lore upstairs, turning on the shower, stripping us both, then climbing in, and cleaning off the grime that was all over her from being on the ground in that building.

She clung to me for a long time, just needing to borrow some strength.

“Renzo?”

“Yeah?”

“What are you going to tell my family about this?” she asked, angling her head back, giving me a brow raise.

“The truth,” I said, shrugging.

First, because it was her family. They deserved to know what happened.

Second, they were allies now, and depending on how big this coup went, I might want some backup.

“But not tonight,” I said as I pulled her out of the shower, drying her off.

“Not tonight,” she agreed, following me to bed, and curling up on my chest.

I waited for her to sink into me before asking her about her head, about any dizziness or nausea or anything that might suggest I had to get her to see someone.

But aside from a headache, she said she was fine.

Fucking miracle, given the situation.

If I’d been any later… if I hadn’t shown up with Dav and Cinna strapped to the hilt…

It could have been so much worse.

This was twice I’d failed to protect my woman in the short time we’d been together.

And it was going to be the motherfucking last.

I held her while she drifted off to sleep.

Then slid out from under her, heading downstairs, and getting to work on making sure it never fucking happened again.

“Lore? Is everything alright?” Nico’s voice met my ear as I used her phone to find his number and call.

“It’s Renzo,” I said, hearing the tension like static on the line. “Get your brothers and come to my place,” I said, rattling off my address. “I need someone to protect Lore while I make sure she never needs it again,” I said.

“Again?” he asked, voice tight, and I could already hear the movement as he left wherever he was, the city sounds coming up in the background.

“Someone wasn’t happy about our alliance. Tried to stage a coup. One of my men is shot. Lore was hit over the head and taken. I got her back,” I rushed to say. “And believe me, the fuck who tried to do worse to her was praying for death by the time it came.”

Nico made a growling noise in his throat. “Is she okay?”

“She’s got an egg. And some scratches and bruises, maybe some whiplash, from an airbag hitting her in the face. Other than that, she’s okay. Sleeping. She’ll be happy to see you guys here when she wakes up.”

It might distract her from my absence.

“We’ll be there in… forty minutes. Tops.”

Then they were, filing into the apartment, faces grim, stinking up the place with their combination of anger and concern.

“You guys packing, or you need to borrow?” I asked.

Nico moved his jacket to the side, showing a gun in a shoulder holster.

“We’re covered.”

“Lorenzo,” Cesare, her brother I’d almost had killed said, speaking of the Capo dei Capi, “wants to know if you want men to help you question the rest of your crew.”

“Don’t have an answer on that yet,” I admitted. “Was focused on getting Lore home and settled,” I added. “Haven’t been able to suss out anything else yet. But I will let him know, if need be.”

We exchanged numbers, and I made my way to the door.

Then hesitated.

For once, not wanting to get out there.

Wanting more than anything to just go back upstairs with my wife.

“Take care of our girl,” I said, looking at all of them, then focusing on Nico.

“We will. Handle this shit.”

With that, I went out and did exactly that.

Knowing full well that when it was finally all done, I could go home to my woman.

I couldn’t fucking think of anything better.