34. Rocco

34

ROCCO

E ach slow, sharp beep from the heart monitor connected to Mae was like a small dagger piercing into my heart.

I was too late.

Too slow.

By the time Jian and I reached her home, the damage was done. Dino was an unconscious, bloody mess, discarded in the front garden like he was nothing other than a bag of garbage. Mae was unconscious in the kitchen, beaten and bloody. Zack was nowhere to be found.

My world had narrowed to a small, intense needlepoint of rage, and nothing else had mattered other than getting my best friend and the love of my life to the hospital. Then, every available man—including those who survived the assault on Mae's home—was placed on high alert to track down my son.

There'd been no ransom call. Vito had contacted the Pakhan , who offered to send his own men to help, but I refused. I wasn't sure I could hold back on any Russian man I saw .

These excruciating moments of waiting for someone to do something were the worst. I needed just the barest hint of movement, the slightest suggestion that someone had information on Zack. Then I would unleash hell .

"Sir?" A soft, female voice pulled me from my thoughts. My gaze snapped from Mae's unconscious face to the nurse peeking her head in through the door. "Your friend is awake."

Dino .

I reached his room in record time, leaving Jian outside Mae's room, and true to Dino's nature, he was fighting to get out of bed.

"Dino."

"Rocco!"

I rushed forward and gently placed one hand on his shoulder, easing him back down. "Be careful. You have to rest."

"I can't, I… what happened? Where is Mae? I couldn't get past—fuck, Rocco. I'm so fucking sorry."

"Stop." My concern for him and Mae made the apology almost impossible to process. "How are you?"

Dino sagged back into the pillows and groaned. He was covered in bandages, and his skin was so pale that it had a grey tint. Just looking at him was enough to drown myself in guilt.

"I'm fine."

"Dino," I warned sharply. "I am not in the mood for games."

"Broken arm," he muttered, holding up the crisp, white cast. "Broken ribs, internal bleeding and head trauma from having my face kicked around like a fucking football. So, all in all, I'm fine."

"You bastard." He wasn't fine. Not by a long shot. How did this happen? It was by some twisted stroke of luck that Dino was here and not with the eight other bodies in the morgue, and I wouldn't stop thanking whatever made that happen.

"How is Mae?" Dino croaked, suddenly dissolving into paper-thin coughs. "Is she alive? I tried, I swear I?—"

I clutched at his bruised hand. "She's alive. She's not awake yet. Doctor told me she has some bruised ribs, a hairline fracture on her jaw, and some abdominal bleeding, but she's okay."

"Fuck."

"Tell me what happened. Tell me everything ."

"They rolled up on us so fast," Dino began to explain. "I barely made it to the house. Men were dying, and I tried but I was outnumbered. Last I saw, some fucking giant of a man burst in the front door and—holy shit, is her mother okay?"

"Shaken but unharmed," I assured him. "Guess they didn't see any benefit to beating up an old woman."

"Fucking cunts," Dino growled. "I took two down with me, but then something hit me on the back of the head and everything went woozy. It was like my legs and arms weren't working."

"Did you hear any names?"

Dino shook his head. In truth, the only name that was important was whether or not the Pakhan's son had been involved in this or if he'd just sent his goons to do his dirty work.

"Alright. You rest, okay? I have men at your door. I need to get back to Mae."

"Okay." Dino nodded slowly. "I'm sorry, Boss."

"Don't."

Out in the hall, Dino's apology followed me back to Mae's room. I was angry, yes, but not at him. The state he was in, it was a miracle he was alive, and I knew he did everything in his power to protect Mae and Zack.

This was my failure.

Voices rose up from Mae's room, so I rushed inside and my heart exploded with relief to see Mae awake and clutching at Jian with tears sparkling in her eyes.

"Mae!"

"Rocco!" She sobbed, turning to face me. "What the hell? You were supposed to keep us safe, and they came into my house and they took him! They took Zack! They took my baby!"

"I know. I know!" I rushed to her bedside and grabbed her shoulders while both of her hands clawed at my shirt.

"We have to get him back, please. Please, we have to!"

"I swear on my life that I will do everything to get our son back, do you hear me? I swear it."

"Please," Mae begged, dissolving into more sobs. "Please get him back. He's too little for this. He's too little! He won't understand anything."

"I know. I know." I cupped her damp face, unable to tear my gaze away from her swimming eyes. "Mae, I need to know. The man who attacked you, had you ever seen him before?"

Mae shook her head violently. "No. Never."

"Did you hear any names? People or places?"

Again, she shook her head, and her fingers turned into knives as they dug into my forearm. "Bring him back to me, please ."

I stayed with her for an hour, letting her sob out her pain into my shirt while I apologized until I was hoarse. Jian carried the same grim expression I felt in my heart when he left the room, only to eventually return and request my presence in the hall .

Leaving Mae was difficult, but Zack was my priority.

"What have you got?" I demanded, following Jian as he walked away from Mae's room to get us a little privacy.

"It's definitely the son. Krill. I have two confirmed reports of him leaving the town not long after the attack, and we're tracking several vehicles on the motorway, but something about that doesn't sit right with me," Jian said.

"What do you mean?"

"This fucker is smart. I don't think he would take such an obvious route. I have men on them, but I think we need to?—"

Jian didn't get a chance to answer as a hail of gunfire scattered through the air and thudded into the wall an inch from where we stood. Jian threw himself into me, knocking the two of us out of the way as waves of screams flooded the hallway. Nurses and doctors dove for cover, patients in other rooms screamed in fright, and then I saw him.

Krill.

He was a tank of a man. Tall, with muscles bulging in all directions, and he was headed straight for Mae's room.

I scrambled up but was immediately dragged back to the ground by Jian. Just in time, too, as one of the men flanking Krill, with half his face a bleeding, open burn wound, opened fire with a submachine gun and narrowly missed me as I hit the floor. Tearing my own gun from its holster, I rolled onto my side and fired off several rounds. They hit the submachine gunner in the chest and he crumpled. I scrambled up and sprinted toward Mae's room just as she was dragged out, kicking and screaming, by Krill.

I raised my gun, and he hauled Mae against him like some kind of meat shield. Blood dotted her arms from where wires and needles had been ripped out, and her eyes were wide with terror. They struck out like clear pinpoints amid the bruising on her face.

"Krill."

"Rocco." Krill grinned a toothy smile, but there wasn't a single drop of warmth. "I am glad you can be here for this."

"Why?" I snapped. "Is she really worth that much?"

"You would do anything for this woman, yes?" Krill shook Mae like she was some kind of ragdoll. White-hot rage poured through my body like drops of molten lava. Every muscle tensed so quickly that my back snapped straight, and I lifted my weapon, aiming right between Krill's eyes.

"Yes."

"I am doing the same," Krill growled. "I wanted to see you before the end. To look into your eyes and see the pain there when you realize I am going to kill the two things you love the most. So you will know a fraction of the pain you caused when you killed my girlfriend's brother."

"Maybe you should have picked a better girlfriend," I snarled. Every time I got an angle, he moved Mae to protect himself, and I couldn't risk hurting her.

I couldn't.

"I am disappointed," Krill said. "I expected more from you."

"Oh, I'm just getting started," I spat. "I'm going to kill you slowly. For every second you've had your hands on my girl, I'm going to spend an hour bleeding you?—"

Suddenly, the man on the floor, who I believed to be dead, dragged himself forward and aimed the submachine gun right at my chest.

His finger curled. The gun fired .

Jian was in front of me before I could even blink. He threw me back toward the wall with a cry and shielded me with his own body, then he sagged against me with a cry and we both crashed to the floor.

"Jian!" Mae screamed before her cries became muffled by a giant hand over her face.

I couldn't move, pinned by Jian's dead weight, and Krill's retreating laughter bounced off the walls.

I swung my arm over Jian and fired thrice into the face of the gunner, then my weapon slipped from my fingers and I grabbed Jian's collar.

There was blood rapidly pooling around us, pouring from two bullet holes in Jian's back.

"Jian? Jian!" I rolled him over, and what was left of my heart shattered into dust. His eyes were closed. Crimson dotted his lips, and not a single breath passed him by.

"No, no, no, no!"

For a moment, I was consumed by fear.

Dino was injured. Zack was lost. Mae was gone, and Jian was…

The fear burned like static in my chest for a few hot seconds, preventing me from breathing or thinking.

And then there was nothing but cold silence.

I was going to kill Krill.

I was going to save Mae or die trying.