Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
That was a good question.
On the one hand, this was likely the only way we would ever be able to get this close to one of the fuckers without holding a gun to their backs. On the other, I’d heard various people claim that the guys at the top of the Bratva were practically human lie detectors.
“If you think he’s smart and calm enough to pull it off, I think it’s worth the risk. But if there’s a chance that he’s too jumpy or a shitty liar, just end it now.”
Rico was nodding at that when I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I ignored it, figuring it was just one of my men sending me some update or another. Or maybe my sister wanting to know if I was going to be coming to family dinner that week or not.
It wasn’t until I was making my way out the back door when I finally reached for it. Then felt my heart lurch in my chest.
It was Elizabeth.
Asking for help in all caps.
And I’d fucking ignored her.
“Yo,” I called to Coal, “you’re with me,” I said as I shot off a text back.
Coal banged on the door twice, then took off at a run to follow me as Dav moved out to stand guard at the door, his brows pinched, but knowing better than to ask what was going on when shit was looking emergent.
“You gonna tell me what the fuck I’m getting myself into or nah?” Coal asked, climbing in my driver’s seat as I took the passenger, wanting to be able to text Elizabeth and get more details, to reassure her that I was on my way.
“Got a girl who Bratva enforcers keep trying to kill,” I told him, getting a nod. Nothing fazed the kid. “She’s hiding in the library after getting chased through the middle school.”
“Middle school?” he asked, shooting me a look.
“She’s a grown-ass woman,” I said, rolling my eyes. “She was there for a press conference or some shit, I guess. She works for Senator Westmoore.”
“That fuck,” Coal scoffed.
“He’s working with the Bratva,” I told him. “She’s been trying to get proof of that.”
“No wonder they want to take her out,” he said, weaving into the oncoming lane to cut around nearly standstill traffic, getting a chorus of horns, and making my fucking heart seize in my chest with how close he came to colliding with a damn city bus.
“The fuck you learn to drive like that?” I asked.
“Been around,” he said, shrugging, protective of his past.
I was used to that. Renzo, Rico, Cinna, Dav, and Saff were similar. In the Lombardi family, I was one of the very few who had a traditional family. Which was, I guess, what set us apart from most of the other Five Families who were mostly made up of blood relatives.
What should have been a ten-minute drive even pushing the speed limit ended up being under eight.
“What’s the plan?” Coal asked, climbing out with me.
“Are you packing?” I asked. In response, he lifted his shirt to show me a gun in a waist holster. Then his pant leg to show me one situated there as well. “Good. We need to sweep the whole building before I even think about bringing Elizabeth out,” I told him.
“Got it. Together or separate?”
“Separate, so no one can sneak past us. One floor at a time, bottom to top, then you do another sweep downward while I go get Elizabeth.”
With that, I got a nod, and we were moving down the side alley of the school that was locked down tight after the town hall was over.
“I got it,” Coal said, waving me out of the way as he reached in his back pocket for a lock pick kit.
“Should I be concerned you just carry that around with you?”
“Shit happens. I like to be prepared,” he said, making impressively short work of the lock before swinging it open for me as he reached to release his gun.
I had mine out already, so I moved in, taking the lead as we walked down the deserted halls. The doors to all the classrooms and the main office were locked. And there was no way a grown man could fit in one of the short, slim lockers.
We went into the gym, finding chairs still set up, and half the bleachers open. We went into the boys’ locker room. Then the girls’, which is when Coal tapped my shoulder, nodding over to the ground when I turned to look.
And there was Elizabeth’s purse. It was upturned, the contents scattered all over the ground.
I pointed toward it as I took a few steps back to keep an eye on the doorway as Coal quickly gathered all of Elizabeth’s shit into her purse—which was an impressive amount of stuff—before slinging it up on his shoulder, and wordlessly continuing the search of the first floor. Then the second. And, finally, the third.