Nico “Dagger” Gage
I was furious and heartbroken all at the same time. We hadbarelybeen seven minutes behind Maya. Between organizing the crew, the five-minute drive and then deciding the plan of attack, barely seven minutes had passed from the time Maya had called Marcos and our arrival to save her.
It hadn’t mattered though. She was gone.
We searched it all again, but it was pointless.
Our guys started shouting outside, and I ran out the door, only to come up short beside Marcos. Six heavily armored SUVs had pulled up, and men clad in suits were climbing out of the vehicles.
The Seratelli crime family.
I stalked toward my cousin, Leonardo Seratelli, the head of the family and business. Our Don. “You’re late.”
Leonardo’s head whipped toward me. He buttoned his suit jacket and clenched his jaw. “We got here as soon as we could.” Leonardo was the same age as me, at forty years old. He had a full head of black hair that was coiffed back away from his handsome face. He was tall and broad shouldered with tanned olive skin and the same blue eyes that I had. “I’ve brought you thirty men.”
I couldn’t even feel gratitude for the fact that my cousin had dropped everything and brought me a small army of trained killers. It hadn’t mattered. “She’s gone,” I muttered. “We got here too late. We found Luke, but she had already traded herself to free him. Hillcrest had already moved out, taking her with him.”
Leonardo clenched his jaw and grabbed me by the shoulder. He pulled me in so our foreheads were touching, and we were staring into each other’s eyes. Leo’s gaze was hard as he met mine. “I promise you, cousin. We will do everything we can to get your woman back.”
Tears welled in my gaze at the intense promise from Leo. I nodded. “Yeah.”
Leo nodded as well. He squeezed my shoulder before letting go and turning away, immediately barking orders to his crew. “Spread out. Canvas the neighborhood. Knock on doors. Find out if anyone saw anything. You tell them Leonardo Seratelli is looking for Dax Hillcrest!”
The weight of Leonardo’s words barely registered. My cousin was declaring open war on Hillcrest on behalf of me and the Devil’s Psychos. It was monumental, and I should be more grateful. But I couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that Maya was gone—again.
“Thank you,” I murmured in a daze. I wasn’t sure if Leo even heard me as he was already on the phone a few feet away.
Marcos walked over and pulled me into a hug. “I need you to stay strong, brother.” Marcos hand wrapped around the back of my neck, holding me tight, grounding me.
“I just got her back,” I breathed.
“I know, brother. I know.” Marcos’s voice was tight, emotion choking his throat.
“We’ll get her back, if it’s the last thing we do.”
Jason “Stone” Langford
Angerragedinsideme,blocking out most of the pain that radiated from my gunshot wounds. I was pissed that I wasn’t out there helping search for Maya, that I had to play babysitter to her son. Guilt coursed through me the second I thought that, though. Luke was the most important thing to Maya, and she would want one of us watching him and keeping him safe.
My injuries shouldn’t be taken lightly either. It was the first day I was even conscious, let alone up and about. I really needed to go lie down.
Luke was a nervous wreck, though. He kept pacing the living room, tears rolling down his face. I at least at the sense to clean the cuts on Luke’s face and hand the kid an ice pack to help with swelling. We would need to teach him how to fight as soon as possible. He needed to know how to defend himself.
Elaine Henderson had also been beside herself since I hobbled into the house with a crying Luke. I had to break the news to Maya’s mom that she’d been kidnapped by the very man that had been stalking her for the last ten years. “She never should have come back here,” Elaine muttered to herself.
I ground my teeth, clenching my jaw to keep from snapping at the woman. She’d been nothing short of horrible to Maya most of her life. Even when Maya dropped everything, put her own life at risk to come back here and take care of her injured parents after a car accident almost killed them, Elaine had still treated Maya like a servant.
“I should call Jenna,” Elaine said.
“Not yet,” I snapped. “Let’s hold off on notifying anyone yet. I don’t need another hysterical woman to deal with.”
Elaine turned to me with a death glare. “You will not sit in my house and disrespect me.”
“I’m not trying to be disrespectful. I’m just saying, let’s hold off before you call her. There’s nothing she can do from up in Chicago, and she’s just going to rush right down here and put herself in danger. Hillcrest would love nothing more than to grab another Henderson sister. Especially if he could use Jenna against Maya.”
Elaine’s face paled as her eyes widened in shock.Yeah, she still doesn’t want anything to happen to her precious Jenna,I thought.
“When is my dad coming home?” Luke asked.
