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B oyd

I gasp when I wake up.

My vision is blurry, but I can tell I’m in a room. There’s fluorescent light overhead. I try to sit up, and everything hurts, but mostly my skull. It feels like someone is pounding on the back of my eyeballs with a fucking hammer. I groan and feel a hand on mine.

Then my vision comes into focus, and I see pretty blue eyes, wet with tears and filled with concern.

“Boyd! Oh, thank goodness!” she whimpers, leaning down and hugging me.

“Sarah,” I rasp, still blinking away the fog. “Where the fuck am I?”

“Back at Salvalagio,” she answers, squeezing my hand so hard I actually feel the pressure. “The doctor just finished removing the shrapnel from your leg, but he left to check on the others. I’m supposed to let them know when you wake up.”

Sarah reluctantly lets go of my hand and runs to the door, flinging it open.

I force myself to sit up, looking at the bandages on my leg.

My suit has been mostly cut off me. There’s a mild ache where the darts hit, and there’s still tranquilizer in my system.

I can feel it. Makes everything too slow, even my thoughts.

I try to stand, but it’s impossible, so I slump back into the bed. This is the infirmary in the basement of Salvalagio. It’s where we always treat our guys. The Morandi family keeps a few doctors on call. Doctors that know not to say a fucking word about what they see or who they treat.

Sarah returns with Massimo, Dante, and Lea trailing behind her. Lea’s baby bump looks bigger. Seems to be getting bigger every single day.

“Did we get the fuckers?” I ask, looking at Massimo. “Come on, boss. Give me some good news.”

“We didn’t take any of them alive,” Massimo sighs. “The explosions brought the cops, so we had to clear out. But we got some information. We know who they are—or at least who is behind it.”

“Who?” I mutter. “Give me a name and I’ll finish this as soon as I can get out of bed.”

“It’s not that easy, Big Boyd,” Dante says. “You ever heard of Solitude?”

“Uh, Russian hacker group?” I grunt. “They do all the vigilante shit, right?”

“Apparently they do more than hack ,” Massimo snaps. “Those guys we ran into were mercenaries, hired by Solitude and their backers.”

“And we know their backers really well,” Dante adds. “The fucking Bratva.”

“What? But why? Are they copycats, or were they actually behind the other murders?” My head is pounding with new information and the tranquilizer. Feels like I’m in a damn fog. I ground myself by finding Sarah’s eyes. “And one of the families they hit worked with the Bratva.”

“We don’t have enough information yet to have the full picture,” Massimo says. “But considering how difficult it was to believe that one guy was responsible for all of this? I’m guessing the Bratva has been behind it from the beginning.”

“Makes it easy to move into a city and take over if you wipe out several families first,” Dante sighs. “Especially if you distract everyone with a story about a vigilante killer. I guess whatever dealings the Bratva had with the Moreno family weren’t enough to protect them.”

“Which means the ones we took care of after that happened wasn’t all of them,” I mutter, shaking my head. “Fuck, I’m sick of these assholes.”

“Me too,” Massimo says angrily. “Really fucking sick of them. But we’ve got bigger problems if they’re working with Solitude and have hired a bunch of mercenaries.”

“What do you think?” I ask, looking at Sarah. “I’m sure you’ve done an entire series on the latest developments while I was knocked out.”

“Are you crazy?” Sarah shakes her head. “I couldn’t leave you! I’ve been worried sick!”

“I had to drag her out of the room when the doctor was working on you,” Lea adds. “Kicking and screaming, I might add.”

Sarah sits on the edge of my bed and takes my hand again, squeezing it hard. I can see the worry on her face. The concern in her eyes. She really does care about me.

“We’ll leave you two alone,” Massimo says. “There’s nothing you can do until you recover, and we’re still licking our wounds. We’re hunting the right people now, but they know how to cover their tracks.”

“Just don’t do anything without me,” I say firmly. “I’ll get my ass out of this bed when the time comes, even if I have to roll myself out of here in a wheelchair.”

“You are not doing that,” Sarah says, her tone firmer than mine.

Massimo, Dante, and Lea leave the room. I sigh and look at Sarah. She’s on the verge of crying again. She wipes her eyes, trying to fight off the tears. I wince and squeeze her leg, trying to offer a little reassurance.

“I’m not going to die,” I assure her. “Just got hit by a few darts.”

“Yeah, I was worried about bullets. You never mentioned grenades .” Sarah motions to the wounds on my leg.

“Wasn’t expecting grenades,” I grunt, grimacing with pain as I try to move my leg. “Just like we weren’t expecting there to be an army of those fuckers.”

“Definitely a surprise. The Mafia Prince Killer isn’t some elusive sociopath, hell-bent on taking out the children of crime bosses and sending them to prison. Just a power play by Solitude and the Bratva.” Sarah rubs my hand, and I trace the tips of her fingers.

“You should do your podcast,” I say. “Massimo or Dante can tell you what you can talk about. I’m sure a lot of this will make the news. Get your exclusive before it’s too late.”

“I don’t give a damn about my podcast, Boyd,” she says. “Not when you’re hurt, along with half the Morandi family.”

“How many casualties? Did you hear anything?” I am hesitant to know the answer, but I need to.

“About a dozen,” Sarah replies apprehensively. “Eddie Bellamy and most of his guys died in the fire, along with the guys the Morandi family couldn’t get out.”

“Fuck.” I close my eyes and wince. “We shouldn’t have lost anyone tonight. Hope we took out more of their guys than we lost.”

“Hard to say. The cops are still sorting through everything. I overheard Massimo talking about it. Said he’s keeping most of it quiet, but there are a lot of cops involved that aren’t on his payroll,” she says. “He said it’s a huge fucking mess.”

“Yeah,” I mutter. “It is.”

The adrenaline spike from waking up is wearing off. I’ve still got too much tranquilizer in my system to stay awake for long. I’m hurt, but I’m alive. Better than it could be, although I’m not sure Sarah will believe that. She’s still scared.

“I’m going to be okay,” I say, trying to reassure her. “I promise. Darts and shrapnel aren’t going to keep me down.”

“I know you’re fine now,” she whines, unable to stop the tears that stream down her face. “But this isn’t over, and I know you’re going to be right back in the middle of everything as soon as you’re able. What if it’s bullets next time, instead of darts?”

“We’ll know what we’re getting into next time,” I insist. “We’ll know there’s a bunch of them and prepare accordingly. We thought we were going after one guy tonight. We won’t make that mistake again.”

“And next time, they’ll be ready for you.” Sarah wipes her eyes. “They’ll be expecting you.”

“This is what I do, Sarah.” I shake my head, hating seeing the pain on her face. “You know that.”

“Doesn’t make me feel any better about it.” Sarah leans forward and kisses my cheek. “But you need rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“Then I’ll make damn sure I do,” I sigh, leaning my head against the pillow. Then I mutter something, the words coming out of my mouth before I even realize what I’m saying. “I love you, Sarah.”

“I love you, too,” she whispers, and that’s the last thing I hear before I pass out again.

I’m out for almost a day before I wake up again. I spend another one in the infirmary, having the wounds on my leg treated. Once the doctor is sure I don’t have to worry about an infection, I get cleared to leave, but my mobility is still rather limited.

“Looks like that wheelchair might necessary after all,” Sarah says with a grimace.

“No,” I grunt, taking a puff of my vape before I push myself up and grit my teeth to suppress my reaction to the pain. “I’m walking out of here.”

“Fine, but I’m driving,” Sarah says, grabbing my keys from the table.

“Probably for the best,” I admit, putting my hand on the wall for support.

I’ve gotten constant updates since I was able to get my bearings.

The Morandi family is turning over every rock we can find to get information about Solitude and their connection to the Bratva.

Massimo even brought Sarah and Lea’s friend Cadence in, to see if she could help, since she’s a lot more familiar with hackers than our guys are.

But there’s nothing. We didn’t get to see the wall, but a message was there, still visible in the wreckage of Bellamy’s house.

My work isn’t over yet. Too many sinners. This time, it’s three of a kind.

It wasn’t just one victim. The fuckers killed all three of Bellamy’s sons before we got there.

But even if they hadn’t, the fire would have done it.

Eddie Bellamy’s entire operation is gutted, and he’s dead.

Massimo sent some of our guys to keep order until the territory is sorted out, but it’s more chaos in Las Vegas. The city is definitely on edge now.

“You still haven’t done a podcast?” I ask, glancing over at Sarah as I limp down the hallway, using the wall for support.

“I haven’t even left Salvalagio since you got hurt,” she says. “I told you. I don’t give a damn about my podcast right now.”

“Well, I do,” I rumble. “Because it’s important to you. Even if you don’t have the exclusive like last time, I’m sure there’s plenty we can share that will give you an edge over the other podcasters.”

“Maybe,” she says. “But I’m more concerned about getting you home and making sure you’re okay.”

“I’ll live,” I groan. “That’s good enough.”

We’re silent the rest of the way to the SUV.

Mainly because I’m in too much pain to keep talking.

I’m glad it isn’t a long trip to my condo.

It’s hard to get into the SUV. The position isn’t comfortable, no matter how much I twist my frame.

Every bump makes me groan. A bigger one nearly makes me yell, but I can see how worried Sarah is, so I suppress my reaction.

Once we make it to the Waldorf Astoria, Sarah gives as much assistance as she can, but I still have to drag my fucked-up leg part of the way. By the time we get to my condo, I’ve never been happier to see my couch. I pull myself toward it, a few louder groans slipping out.

“The doctor gave me some pills to help with your pain,” Sarah says, putting her purse down and opening it.

“Let me see,” I grunt as I painfully lower myself to the couch. Sarah shows me the bag and I nod. “Yeah, a couple of those and a glass of scotch. That’ll take the edge off.”

Sarah puts the pills in my hand and fixes a glass of scotch, which she brings over.

I shouldn’t mix these pills with alcohol, but I’m sure it won’t kill me to do it once, so I toss them in my mouth and drown them with every drop in the glass.

Sarah refills it and I gesture for her to put it on the table as I stretch out on the couch and find a position that is comfortable.

“If you think you’re going to fall asleep, you should move to the bed,” Sarah suggests.

“Nah, I’m good right here,” I say, shaking my head. “But there’s one thing that would make it better.”

“Anything,” she replies.

“Having the woman I love in my arms,” I say, motioning to her.

“I don’t know.” Sarah looks hesitant when she approaches. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“As long as you don’t kick my leg, I’ll be fine,” I say, pulling her close to me on the couch.

Sarah still looks hesitant, but she finally relents and sinks into my arms. I’ve missed this. More than I’d ever admit to anyone except her.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d remember saying you loved me,” Sarah whispers once she’s nestled against my chest.

“I remember it,” I murmur. “I also remember you saying the same thing.”

“Because it’s true,” she admits. “If I didn’t know it before, getting that call from Lea certainly did it. When she said you were hurt… I’ve never been more scared.”

“Takes more than darts and grenades to get rid of me,” I rumble.

“I hope so,” she sighs. “Because I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

That goes both ways. I’ve fallen and I’ve fallen hard. This beautiful woman in my arms is everything to me.

But things aren’t going to get any easier from here.

As soon as we find these fuckers, the Morandi family is going to war.