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“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.
But there was no one.
I imagined her attacker doubled back to the gym, thinking she might have slipped out with the crowd. Then had gotten himself locked out as well.
I pointed to the library and Coal nodded, moving on to do another sweep while I collected Elizabeth.
When she rose up from the desk, she was white as a sheet, her eyes saucers, and her entire body was shaking as I pulled her against me.
“It’s okay,” I assured her, my lips against her hair. And if I went ahead and pressed them to her head, so the fuck what? “But I have to get you out of here, okay?” I said, getting a frantic nod from her as she slowly untangled herself from me.
I felt the separation like a pang in my chest. But there was no time to focus on that when there could be a fucking Bratva enforcer out to get her still.
“I got your purse,” I told her, getting a nod from her. “I need you to stay behind me, okay?” I asked, reaching again for my gun, watching her stiffen, but she did what I asked, moving behind me.
Reaching back, I wrapped an arm around her, keeping her close as we made our way down the hall, the stairs, and then out onto the lower level.
Coal was waiting right near the main entrance, then led us toward the side where we’d broken in.
“Back the car up onto the sidewalk,” I instructed as we both looked out the door, scanning the streets and rooftops.
With that, he ran off, getting in the car, and doing what I instructed.
“I’m going to pull open the back door, you fly in and go flat on your stomach. Stay low until I say otherwise.”