Chapter Thirty-Three
Dmitri
The street was dark, and I was sure there were people hiding in the shadows, protecting the warehouse. There was no way Baldoni thought Iwouldn’tcome. He had to expect me to find this place.
But, hopefully, he would expect it to take longer.
We parked three blocks away, and I was impatient as we moved in on the warehouse. We stuck close to the buildings, hoping to go unnoticed until we got close.
So far, it had worked, and the warehouse was directly ahead. It looked abandoned, except for Sarah’s car parked in front of it. I took that as a good sign. They hadn’t had time to move it yet, so she couldn’t have been here for long.
We were still a block away when the sound of a gunshot rang out, followed almost immediately by a scream that had to come from Sarah.
“Fuck,” I muttered, and took off at a run toward the warehouse.
To hell with being careful. I couldn’t do it, not after that.
Maxim, Lev, and Nikolay were right at my side as we rushed to the warehouse. We were almost there when the metal door opened, and three men came out, guns drawn. The two to step out first were high-ranking members of the Italian mafia. The next man was the one I hoped to see the most.
Luca Baldoni was right there, and we were still in shadow. He hadn’t seen us yet.
All of the bullshit I’d been through in the past couple of months rushed through my mind, and I felt like it all led me to this moment.
My gun was in my hand before I even had the conscious thought to pull it. I pointed directly at Baldoni’s head. but I was still too far away. I’d have to get closer to take him out.
As soon as I moved out of the shadows, I recognized one of Baldon’s men, Angelo Mascoli , suddenly he pivoted toward me with his gun raised. But Maxim was expecting that and fired at him first. Angelo took a bullet to the shoulder in almost the same place I was shot last week. There was something poetic about that.
His other capo, Enzo, was way too slow to react. He didn’t even get his gun raised before Lev took him down with a shot to the kneecap.
We wanted them alive.
Baldoni reached for his gun but was too late, and I watched with no small amount of satisfaction as he was knocked backward off his feet, the back of his head blown open.
The asshole was gone.
Maxim and Lev rushed forward at that point. Maxim finished off Angelo, but Lev just kicked Enzo’s gun away. He was good at thinking practically in situations like this. Having someone to interrogate would be helpful later.
“Dmitri.”
Nikolay’s voice came from beside me, and it was strained. Turning to him, I saw that his hand was pressed to his side, blood seeping out over his fingers. I reached for him, but the door of the warehouse slammed open again and men pouredout. I moved my body in front of Nikolay as gunfire rang out in the night.
Maxim was closest to the door, and cold fear snaked into my heart when a man pointed his gun at my brother, but Lev took the asshole out before he could pull the trigger. Another shot whizzed in my direction, this time grazing my outer thigh. I gritted my teeth at the pain and ignored it as I fired over and over again until the men were all dead.
I had no idea if that was all the men Baldoni had on site, but I wouldn’t wait another minute to lay eyes on Sarah. I needed to know she was okay.
Gun held out in front of me, I shoved my way into the warehouse with my gun held out in front of me with both hands. It was a large, mostly open space. My eyes scanned over a box truck, tables full of cash, and Gina’s body on the floor. Then I focused on Sarah. She was tied to a chair, and some little pissant was crouched behind it, holding a gun to her head as he used her as a human shield.
At that moment, my eyes met hers, and my focus became laser sharp. Despite the dismay that came from seeing her in that position, I felt strangely calm and determined. There was simply only one way this could all turn out. I couldn’t even comprehend anything other than her walking out of here alive.
So, I was going to make it happen.
“Get out of here, man!” I didn’t recognize the man, which meant he was probably low on the totem pole. “I mean it. I’ll kill her.”
No, he wouldn’t. If he did that, there would be nothing to keep me from destroying him.
My eyes shifted to Saraah’s. She looked scared, and there was a bruise forming on her cheek, but there was also relief in her eyes at the sight of me. In that moment, I felt like we were silently communicating. Maybe it was a part of the connection we shared, but I somehow knew what was about to happen.
Tightening my hold on my gun, I focused on the man behind her, making sure my aim was true. Sarah took a deep breath, and I watched as she suddenly threw her weight to the side, away from the gun at her temple. Her chair tipped over, and I fired a shot before it even crashed to the floor.