Page 27 of Broken

I hoped that she was right, but I still couldn’t just sit and wait without knowing the truth. “He would’ve told me if he planned to do that. Surely he wouldn’t just...”

“He’s a lone wolf.He might’ve forgotten that you were watching him.”

I doubted that. Tobias was making the necessary calls as I paced up and down the room. If I didn’t have any information soon, I was going to go mad.

“I’m sorry we didn’t find anything sooner, but Walter is elusive,” Vix said. “He might not even be with the Spiders right now.”

“I don’t give a shit about Walter right now.” I ran myhand over my forehead. “I only want to know if Theo’s okay. If the Spiders have done something to him, I swear I’m going to...”

“Chiara!” Tobias said, and I looked across the room at him. “We might know where Theo is... if he’s actually been captured and not in league with those guys.”

I ignored the last part of his sentence. Of course Theo had been captured. He wouldn’t be working withthe Spiders. That was just impossible. “And? Can you take me there? Are you going to send someone with me too?”

“Whoa, wait,” Vix said. “You’re not going anywhere. Walter’s looking for you, and the Spiders might be too. If you go anywhere near there, you could get yourself killed.”

“Coming here was a risk too and here I am.” I spread my arms. “Just tell me where he is. Please.”

“TheSpiders have an interrogation room for prisoners. Mick can’t hack into anything in that area since most cameras have been removed or are well protected, but we know where they usually keep the prisoners. It’s impossible to locate Theo in such a short time, but we can start there,” Tobias said. “I’m going to send a small group of men there to look for him. They’ll have to be very careful becauseI don’t want to go to war with the Spiders for no good reason.”

“Okay. I’m going with them,” I said.

“Chiara, please think about it.” Vix’s eyes softened. “I know you want to get to Theo as soon as possible and make sure that he’s okay, but it’s better if you let the Cobras take care of that.”

“No.” Even though I trusted Vix and Tobias with my life, I wasn’t sure I could place Theo’slife in the Cobras’ hands. He was still an enemy to them, and I didn’t want them to make a mistake on purpose or capture him themselves. I was sure they’d want to question him about the Rosa Nera and its members. If I got to him first, though, then I could ensure something like that didn’t happen.

“Vix is right,” Tobias said. “You shouldn’t risk your life for that guy, especially since we’regoing in blind. He might not even be there.”

“I don’t care. I’m going with you or I’ll follow you. Your choice. But I’m going to be there.” I gave them a hard look so they’d know I was being serious and wouldn’t budge on this.

“Alright. If you insist...” Tobias sighed, and Vix pursed her lips together.

“I do.”Hold on, Theo, I’m coming for you.

TOBIAS SENT FIVE OF his men with me, and I hadn’t met any of them before, so I couldn’t tell if they were trustworthy or not. Still, it was better to have some backup than none at all. Since we couldn’t afford to be seen entering the Spiders’ area, we’d parked a few blocks away and had to go on foot.

We’d used quieter streets and alleys, and Tobias’ tech guy, Mick, had been theone to pick the route. Apparently, he’d compiled all the intel the Cobras had on the Spiders and he’d been able to sort through it all to find exactly what we needed. The house we were looking for was not too far away now, but we had to be very careful about how we approached it.

We separated as we made our way deeper into the Spiders’ territory, since a group of people as large as ours woulddraw too much attention around here, and we couldn’t know where the Spiders had their spies posted. A few people passed us by on the street, and even though they didn’t look particularly threatening, everyone seemed suspicious to me right now. Our weapons were hidden under our jackets, and I’d tied my hair up in a bun and put a baseball cap on my head so it would be harder to recognize me. DidTheo know I was coming for him? I hoped he did, even though he might be wishing I wasn’t.

The guy who was with me nodded toward the open door of one of the buildings that looked abandoned. I wasn’t too inclined to go into a dark hallway first, so I let the dark-haired guy go in front of me. He’d hidden his cobra tattoo, like the others had done.

When my eyes adjusted to the darkness,I could see a light at the end of the hallway. My foot collided with something and I cringed, but I didn’t have time to check what it was. Once we emerged into the backyard, the Cobra guy motioned for me to crouch behind one of trees that was surrounded by tall grass and bushes.

“This is it,” he whispered, pointing at the house—actually, it looked more like a garage—that was right acrossfrom us. A guy with a huge cobweb and spider tattoo that covered his neck and arms was guarding the door, and he was armed.

“Get ready,” the Cobra guy whispered. “We’re all going to attack at the same time from different sides.”

I nodded and pulled out my gun, lifting it up.

I took a deep breath, and when the guy signaled for me to move, I came out from around the tree and fired atour enemy. He spotted me, but he was too slow, and the Cobra guy got him. I raced forward, my heart rate spiking up as I approached the door. After kicking it open, I pressed myself against the wall as shots echoed everywhere.

The Cobra guy started through the door, but then he stopped, his body jerking back. When he fell to the ground, I could see his empty eyes staring at the sky. The shotsceased, at least in this hallway, so I risked peeking through the door. A man was standing at the end of the hallway, and I fired at him before he could see me.

I couldn’t let the rest of the Cobras get to Theo first, so I gathered my courage and rushed inside, ready to shoot anyone who got in my way. A bullet whizzed so close to my face that my heart stopped beating for a moment, but I duckeddown and pulled the trigger a couple of times. When I was sure the coast was clear, I went inside. There was a small window with bars looking into what had to be an interrogation room.

I peeked through it, and terror and relief flashed through me at the same time. Theo was tied up to a chair and a Spider guy was pointing his gun at him. But before anyone could do anything, Theo hopped upfrom the chair and kicked the gun out of his attacker’s hand. I tore my gaze away from the window and rushed to find the door.

When I finally reached the doorway, I saw Theo standing over the guy who was moaning on the floor. Theo’s dark eyes flashed dangerously as he picked up the gun the guy had dropped and fired at his head. Then he aimed the gun at me, his gaze still filled with fury,and for a second, I thought he was going to pull the trigger, but then his shoulders relaxed and he lowered the gun.