CHAPTER THIRTY

brAXTON

I stand at the doorway of the warehouse and watch the buses drive into the compound. One has already been loaded with the women after the nurses checked them once released from the cells.

Their names have been recorded where possible. Some of them are not even capable of communicating, they're in so much distress.

Amy was on the first bus and while it was hard to let her go, Mack held his hand on my shoulder, giving me strength, reminding me this process was important. That the right people with the right skills would be taking care of her tonight.

I have to trust that.

"Fuck, this never gets easier," Nathan says, shaking his head beside me.

"Don't know how you guys do it," I say. "I almost lost my shit and my life after I saw them."

But I did lose the woman I loved—should not have loved.

My eyes drift across the now lit-up yard and I wonder where Gianna is.

Decker joins us, sliding his gun into his holster, breathing heavily, and announces, "Frank Baldassare is dead."

My brows shoot up. "Dead?"

"Not breathing. Lights out," he clarifies unnecessarily.

I spin around to look inside the warehouse.

"Where's Dante?" I ask.

I'm just catching up after being downstairs with Amy and the women.

"Gone," Connor says as he jogs over, puffing. "We tracked him for about a mile, but he either has a fucking great hiding place or he's faster than two Marines and one Navy SEAL."

Fucking hell.

"They'll have an escape route planned out of here." Nathan says, and Decker agrees with him.

These guys know what they're talking about.

I glance around again. Where the hell is Gianna?

If she got caught in the gunfire and was killed, I need to know.

Federal agents are zipping up black body bags. I already know one of them is Salvatore. I saw him go down.

"Frank was taken down along with three of his soldiers out back," Connor tells me. "Scott is pissed the guy is dead, but it is what it is."

I shrug.

I'm not sorry.

But I'm surprised when I find myself mildly happy to hear Gianna's brother is not dead. He didn't shoot me. He could have. The least I can do is to be pleased he's alive.

"Let's look around, see if we can find a tunnel. You might be right about the escape route," Nathan says, taking Decker with him, and the two men walk down the side of the building.

"They'll be long gone," Connor mutters, then yells out. "Take photos and loop in the agents if you find something. We need to keep the feds informed."

Decker does the thumbs up without turning.

"So, no witnesses?" I ask, glancing behind me.

"None." Connor shakes his head. "But we just took out the head of the Baldassare mafia. That's a win."

"And a new one now steps up." I say, in regard to Gianna's brother.

Did Dante take Gianna with him? There's no way she can move that fast.

Wait. No. She wasn't with Dante.

"Yeah, fuck. That's the sad reality." Connor curses.

I feel a panic building and take a few steps outside in the now fully lit-up compound and then keep walking.

And walking.

Where the hell is she?

"Brax?" Mack asks as he walks toward me. "You okay? You look like you're about to faint or something."

"Gianna." I grunt, following my nose and heading toward the Baldassare vehicles.

"Hey," Mack calls out and I turn. "She's gone. I've looked everywhere."

I stare at him for a moment.

I don't accept that.

I can't.

I need to see her. I need to say I'm sorry and that...I need her to know. I need Gianna to know that I am not responsible for those women. That I am sorry, even though I can't be, that I betrayed her.

That I'm sorry her father had to die.

I'm sorry she was born into this fucked-up world.

That if I could love her, I would.

That I do love her.

A type of madness consumes me, and I spin around and around while Mack stares at me, concerned. I march over to the gray Bugatti parked in the lot, my eyes darting everywhere.

"Gianna!" I yell.

"Brax!" Mack calls out to me, but I ignore him. "Fucking hell."

"Gia! Gianna!" I scream.

I rip open the door to Frank's Lincoln and lean in. "Gia. Gia!"

She has to be here.

There is no way Dante took her. She's not that fast.

Unless they're hiding.

"Gianna. Come out. I can help you. Come out!" I yell, in case she is hiding somewhere in the compound.

I know everyone is watching me. The feds. The women being loaded onto the buses. The Dark Kings.

I don't care.

Slamming the door of the Lincoln when I don't find her, I move to the Bugatti and find one door slightly ajar.

Shit.

I run around the other side and pull it open.

My heart slams into my chest.

"Gianna!" I crumple to the floor as I find her unconscious with blood on her forehead.

Oh god.

Please don't be dead.

"Gia, fuck. Nurse! I need a paramedic over here!" I scream and Mack skids to a stop behind me. I take her pulse and audibly let out a moan when I feel it softly—really fucking softly—beating.

"Let me in," the paramedic says, nudging me out of the way and as she waves her hand out, yelling for a stretcher.

Gianna opens her eyes.

"Brax," she whimpers.

"Gianna." I keep my eyes locked with hers as they get her onto the stretcher, then I take her hand.

She shakes her head sadly as tears leak from her eyes, then closes them.

Locking me out.

She knows I betrayed her.

There was no love, only pain in those pretty green eyes which once looked at me like I was the moon, the stars, and her sun.