Page 22

22

SEAN

“The boat was attacked as soon as the containers were taken off it,” Dominic says, his tone pinched.

I spring out of bed, looking down at Ellie. She’s still in my shirt and sprawled across the bed, looking more like an angel than the bane of my existence she always has been.

Though I don’t know how the hell Dominic and Kara let her come to the bar alone the other night when they were supposed to be watching her, a small part of me is glad she did.

Something about that night brought us closer, and she’s been in my bed, sleeping soundly every night since. Except for tonight. Tonight, her sisters convinced her that going out and drinking would be a good idea, even after the incident with Dominic. As she ran out the door earlier, they shouted something about her needing to unwind.

By the time they brought her back, she was barely standing and Skyla said Ellie tried to throw a bar stool at a man who called her a whore.

I’ll have to track him down later and kill him for saying shit about my wife.

That’s not a problem for tonight though.

I sigh and rake a hand through my hair. “How bad was the attack? Is it Noah or is it some smaller arms dealer thinking that now is the time he wants to die?”

“Noah.”

The last thing I want to do right now is go running off in the night.

“I’m on my way.”

“Backup is coming too. I don’t think this is over yet and some of the other men have seen Noah’s men still lingering around the edges of the marina, but they’re not pressing forward again yet.”

“Handle it until I get there.”

“Will do.”

I end the call and toss the phone on the chaise at the foot of the bed. The plush and tufted white monstrosity of a piece of furniture was put there at Ellie’s insistence so she could spend time reading when she wakes up in the middle of the night.

The damn thing is a magnet for stubbed toes and muttered curses.

Ellie mumbles in her sleep, a small trail of drool running from the corner of her mouth and onto the pillow she has mashed under her head, cocooned with one arm.

Though I want to go and let her sleep, I know I’m playing with fire if I do. Dominic sent me a message just before he called, telling me about the gun held to him.

I’m not going to put anyone else through Ellie’s temper tonight.

After grabbing some clothes and hurrying to get dressed, I nudge her shoulder. “Ellie, you need to wake up.”

She mumbles and rolls onto her back, throwing the pillow at me. “Time for sleep. Vagina is out of commission for the night.”

I snort and peel back the blankets. “As tempting as that is right now, we have other things we need to deal with, which means you need to get out of bed and get dressed.”

“Nope. Sleep. No more not drinking at bars tonight. Skyla tried to poison me. Bed.” She hauls the blankets back up her body and rolls to the side. “Sleep, Sean.”

“There’s been an attack at one of my boats and I don’t know how bad it is yet, so I need to go out there.”

She yawns and sits up, staring at me through half-opened eyes as she clutches the sheet to her chest. “What?”

“There’s been an attack at the marina and Noah’s behind it. I have to go there now, and I figured since you already marched your way into a bar the other night, you would march yourself into a crime scene if I leave you behind.”

Ellie gets out of bed and heads straight for the pile of clothes she moved to the chair instead of putting away. She rummages through it, pulling out the ribbed black leggings that make me hard the moment she puts them on.

I glance away from her ass. “And regardless, with everything that happened with Rebecca, I’m not going to be letting you out anytime soon.”

“You’re going to have to let me go out and live my life at some point.”

“Later.” My gaze drops to the curve of her butt in those damn leggings again before I look away,

Now isn’t the time to be thinking about tossing her over my shoulder and listening to her come for me over and over again.

She hauls on a hoodie and tosses her hair up into a high ponytail before holding out her hand.

My eyebrows pull together as I look down at it. “What?”

“Gun?”

For a moment, I consider not giving her one.

Even though I know she’s more than capable of handling one—and she’s proven that to me—the idea of handing her one feels a lot like admitting that I can’t keep her safe.

Still, it’s better for her to be prepared, so I head to the closet and open the gun safe, pulling out a handgun for her.

She checks it over before tucking it into the back of her waistband. “Let’s go.”

Her strides for the door make it seem like she is a woman completely in charge. As she heads down the stairs, her head is held high, and there’s defiance shining in her eyes when she reaches the bottom and looks back at me.

I catch up with her, leading the way into the garage and selecting the keys for the armored car sitting in the corner. I’m not going to be taking any risks when it comes to her safety this time.

The last thing I need in the middle of a war with the Rinaldos is a fight with Aiden.

I park the car at the end of the pier, turning to Ellie. “I don’t know what we’re going to be walking into and I want you to stay with me at all times. I don’t need to worry about you with Noah’s men still lurking around.”

She gets out of the car, rounding the hood and waiting for me.

As I get out, lights shine beside the glossy black boat that would have been carrying my shipment of weapons. The lights cast harsh shadows across the bodies and the blood covering the cement.

Ellie’s wide eyes turn to me, a hand going to her mouth. “This is a bloodbath.”

My jaw ticks as I stride toward the scene, glancing around at the men still rushing around, keeping guard over the boat. Two of them nod to me as we pass through the barricade they have formed, drawing closer to the mess.

Crimson stains the cement, vacant eyes staring straight ahead.

My stomach turns as I crouch down beside the first person, pressing my fingers to the side of his throat.

Jared’s gone.

He was only in his early twenties, but he already had a wife and three kids he was raising with a fourth on the way. He was a good kid, even if he was a little too outspoken at times.

A lump forms in my throat as Dominic approaches, his brown leather boots stained with blood.

He clears his throat. “It’s bad, boss. Final count is two dozen dead and another fifteen injured.”

Ellie shifts beside me, moving to the side of a man who groans. She assesses him quickly, taking stock of his injuries and running her hands over his body, whispering something to him.

I stand and wipe the blood from my fingers on my pants. “How many of his men are dead?”

“Twenty.”

I take a deep breath, squeezing my eyes shut.

Right now, I need to see who is still living, and then I can worry about finding out what happened here and why the men who were here with the shipment—nearly four dozen of them—weren’t enough to protect it.

Ellie looks at me as she moves on to the next man. “I need all the wounded brought out here as long as they’re able to move without getting more injured. Ones who can’t walk on their own need to be brought out on stretchers. I assume there are those with the first aid center on the ship.”

Dominic presses his lips together, annoyance flashing in his eyes. “There should be.”

“Is there a problem?” I step closer to him, blocking his view of Ellie.

“No,” Dominic says, his tone sharp as he looks at me. “But don’t you think it’s better that I stay and help keep the area secure instead of doing the work of the soldiers?”

I cross my arms, cocking an eyebrow. “No. Now, go do as she said and find men to help you. Noah isn’t going to attack again tonight.”

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“I can be. He wants to make a show of my death and play games prior to it. Killing me here tonight isn’t going to be good enough for him. Not that I need to explain myself to you.”

He takes a step back, his head dipping. “Yes, sir.”

With a spin on his heel, he takes off toward some of the others standing near the side of the boat and they board, slowly bringing out the injured men. Others help the people outside move closer to Ellie.

She comes back to me and takes the gun out of her waistband, handing it over. “Here.”

“I thought you wanted this?” I tuck the gun into the other side of the shoulder holster.

“I know you’re going to shoot anyone who even looks at me the wrong way.” She gives me a small smile and pulls her hoodie over her head before returning to the man she was just checking over.

He groans as she lifts up his head and tucks her hoodie beneath it, leaving her in nothing but a navy-blue sports bra.

She takes his hand and gives it a hard squeeze as one of the men—George—appears beside her with a first aid kit. “This is going to hurt like hell, but it’ll be over soon, okay?”

Ellie reaches into the kit and grabs alcohol wipes, cleaning off her hands before hauling out a box of gloves. She snaps them on before pulling his shirt up.

He nods, gritting his teeth as she pulls a pair of tweezers out of the kit and starts digging for the bullet. Hisses of pain fill the air, permeating through the moaning of those around him as Ellie pats his hip.

“It’s going to be okay, Charlie. You just need to stay still for me.” Ellie leans closer to the wound, glancing at George with a stern expression on her face. “I need you to shine a flashlight so I can see.”

He pulls out a flashlight from the kit and flicks it on, holding it close to the wound as she hums her approval.

There’s something about watching her take control of the situation that makes me want to reconsider throwing her over my shoulder again. She looks in her element as she pulls the bullet out.

George puts the flashlight in his mouth, reaching into the kit for a stitching kit.

I stride over to her, holding out my hand for the flashlight. George looks down at me before handing over the flashlight.

Ellie glances at me as she threads the needle. “George. I need you to go get me more needles and thread. There should be another kit in the car with some supplies in it. And then I need you to call transport vehicles here because some of the men are going to have to go to the clinic.”

He nods and scampers off while she stitches Charlie up.

Ellie takes a deep breath. “Alright, Charlie, you’re going to have an ugly scar, but at least it should help you get the ladies.”

He scoffs and squeezes his eyes shut as she shoves the needle through his skin. “Yeah. My girlfriend is going to love the battle scar.”

Laughing, Ellie works quickly, placing one of the neatest rows of stitches I’ve ever seen before tying it off and clipping the string.

The more I watch her work, the more I think that pulling her away from her job wasn’t the right decision to make.

It’s clear that she loves what she does.

And I’m the one robbing her of that by making it too hard to work. Too many people watching over her in the clinic means that she can’t do her job.

Maybe it’s time that I ease off the security detail in the building so she can go back to work.

Ellie glances to the other men lying on the ground as George comes back. “This is going to take a while. You have two men who need to be taken to the clinic now. Four more are going to need to go there too, but I need to get them stable enough to move. The rest, I should be able to deal with here.”

I nod and get to my feet, handing the flashlight back to Geroge as the transport vans come screeching onto the pier. “I’m going to speak with Dominic and find out what all happened here.”

She looks surprised by my willingness to leave her alone. “Alright. Well, I’ll be here.”

Turning to George, I pull myself to my full height, glaring at him until he looks at the ground. “If anything happens to her, it’s going to be your head I come for first.”

He swallows hard and nods, shifting closer to Ellie. “Yes, sir.”

Satisfied, I spin on my heel and head for Dominic as he helps load a man onto one of the transport vans.

I clear my throat, standing behind him. “What the hell happened here, Dominic? You were supposed to oversee this shipment. Nothing was supposed to go wrong and there wasn’t so much as a rumor spreading about the attack.”

Dominic steps to the side, away from the others who might be listening. “It was an ambush. We saw movement, but they were dressed as dock workers. Watched them for nearly an hour before the ship came in.”

“And then what?” I jerk my chin in the direction of the ship. “Because most of the dead men are the ones who were on board and bringing the guns in.”

“I don’t know.” Dominic sighs, raking his hand through his hair. “One moment, we were off-loading the containers and the next there were men storming the boat. They had been waiting for a moment when everyone was busy, and then they struck.”

I glance around, looking for the containers of weapons, but they aren’t here.

Fuck.

“Please tell me that when the attack happened, a team got the guns out of here,” I say, my tone cold as I cross my arms.

Dominic takes a ragged breath. “They’re gone. Noah’s men took them.”

“For fuck’s sake.”

Noah’s men just became more deadly.

One thing is clear.

This attack was only about the weapons. The casualties were a bonus for him.

Sooner or later, he’s going to be coming for us, and with the theft of the guns, it’s looking like I should hedge my bets on sooner.

There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s gearing up for something big that I don’t know how to protect my people from.

If he could do this in a single night, there’s no telling what he’s capable of once he launches a full-scale attack.