Page 34 of Lane (East Dremest Mafia #5)

RAIDEN

Lane couldn’t sit or stand still. He paced, waiting for Alton to come home.

Jordan had no plans on paying Ulrich, but they still had to meet with him.

Ulrich didn’t know he wouldn’t be getting a dime from them.

Jordan insisted they meet in person. This could go very badly for either side, but Jordan wasn’t one to hide from the people after him.

Hide his family, yes. Hide himself, never.

To meet with Ulrich, Jordan wanted everyone home.

That meant Hartley, Vail, and Ava. That meant Alton.

He’d even gotten word out to Dexen and the others by sending a guard to Untouchable to pass along the message without using any form of technology.

No one was to be unguarded today. Ulrich didn’t do things by the book, as was made apparent yesterday when he had someone shoot at us.

We knew it was him because Jordan contacted him shortly after with a lot of threats and a promise of death if Ulrich injured anyone under his protection.

“He should be here by now,” Lane said.

The clock read three. Ava would be arriving any minute, and so would Alton.

This was the time that was established when everyone had to be home and locked in.

Hell, even Greer was gathering those he cared about into the home he used to share with his brother.

They called it the fortress for a reason.

The place was large and easily defendable.

Not to mention the many security measures in place.

No one was happy about the interruption to their day. We’d already heard about it from Alton. He took his job seriously and didn’t like having to cancel afternoon patients.

“Call Barry,” Lane said.

I sighed and picked up the phone. I wasn’t as worried as Lane was, not yet. Alton had time to arrive home.

Barry answered on the first ring. “Yeah?”

“Tap into the security feed at Alton’s practice. He should have been here.”

“One sec.”

Alton refused to let us trace him by his phone.

He wanted us to trust him and not check up on him.

We weren’t doing it so we could follow him.

We needed him safe. He did, however, change out his security monitoring to give Barry and his team access to monitor his practice.

We didn’t get to trace his phone, but we were able to use his existing surveillance equipment and install more to keep him covered.

“Shit. Go, Ray! Go to the practice! Sheldon’s down and I can’t see Alton.”

I jumped from the couch. “Move, Lane!”

We both ran to the door, grabbing our guns as we did so.

The elevator would take too long, so we started down the stairs, jumping when we got near the bottom of each floor.

We were a few floors down when one of the doors slammed open, and Rory joined us.

Barry must have called him. Hartley was already here, so that freed his guard up.

As soon as we got to the garage, the SUV was waiting thanks to another guard, and I got behind the wheel with Rory beside me and Lane in the back.

I didn’t hesitate to tear out of the garage into oncoming traffic.

Tires squealed as drivers hit their brakes to avoid crashing into us.

Luckily, we made it out without a scratch.

When one of the guards was down, we went to extract them. This was worse though. We didn’t know where Alton was.

Rory’s phone rang. He put it on speaker. “Yeah?”

“Ulrich took Alton,” Barry said. “I went back through the footage and caught him entering the practice. He looked to be Alton’s last patient.”

“He knew that could happen,” I bit out. He’d been warned Ulrich could pretend to be a patient. He could wear a disguise but knowing him, he probably walked right in like he was anyone else.

“He hurt Sheldon. There was a lot of blood. I called in and said I was from the security company. The other doctors are tending to him. He’s going to the hospital by ambulance. You need to find Alton.”

“Drop me off at the ER,” Rory said. “I’ll say I’m Sheldon’s brother and heard he was hurt. They’ll let me in one way or another. We can’t leave him alone.”

I nodded and kept driving through the city toward East Dremest Hospital.

“Xaiden Dremest’s partner, Corbin, is on shift in the ER,” Barry said. “He’ll get you in. I’ve already reached out to Xaiden.”

“How?” Rory asked. “I thought everyone was to be home.”

“According to Xaiden, who yelled at me through the phone, Corbin wanted to be in the ER in case one of us needed help.”

They talked a bit longer while I navigated the streets, going through yellow lights and one red, not giving a fuck about being pulled over.

“We’re here,” Rory said and hung up. He was out the door as soon as I pulled up to the ER.

“Where to?” I asked Lane. He already had his phone pressed to his ear.

He hung up. “Back to the building. Jordan wants to talk to us. Ulrich is refusing to meet before the predetermined time. It gives us an hour to form a different plan, one we didn’t think to do ahead of time.

He also changed the location. Goddammit!

” he roared and punched the back of the front passenger seat.

If I could have, if we had the time, I would have pulled over and gathered Lane into my arms. As it was, we had to return to the building.

Leaving like we did gave us less time. It was necessary to take Rory to the hospital and attempt to find Alton.

I should have known better. Ulrich had him tucked away until we would meet.

We’d had the other location scoped out. We knew what we were getting into in terms of where we could station men. Ulrich must have had this planned all along. It was easier for him to have the advantage if we were surprised along the way.

Glancing in the rearview mirror once Lane sat back in the seat, I saw tears running down his cheeks. I couldn’t do a damn thing about it from where I was. It tore my heart into pieces.

“We’re going to find him,” I said, trying to stay calm. One of us had to keep it together or this would be an epic fucking disaster. “He’ll be okay.”

“We can’t lose anyone else, Ray. I fucking can’t. Al didn’t have anything to do with this. Ulrich wanted Jordan and me. He wanted the money. Now Sheldon could be… And Al might be…”

“No, you’re not going to talk like that. Corbin will take care of Sheldon. Alton will be fine. What good is he to Ulrich dead? There’s no reason to kill him.” If I said the words firmly enough, I would believe them too.

We parked in the garage of Jordan’s building and rode the elevator to his floor. The moment we exited it, Vail was there to embrace us.

“I’m so sorry. You’ll find him and everything will be all right.”

We both hugged him, but my eyes were on Jordan, who stood behind Vail. Jordan’s hair wasn’t neatly combed like it usually was. His dress shirt had the top few buttons undone, and his tie was gone. He wasn’t handling this any better than we were.

The moment Vail released us, my brother filled my line of sight and drew me close with his hand on the back of my neck. “We’ll get him back. I fucking promise you, we’ll bring him home.”

That was when emotion slammed into me to the point I could hardly breathe. Not when Lane unleashed his anguish in the SUV. Not when Vail hugged us. It was my brother who almost brought me to my knees. Reghan wouldn’t ever let me fall though.

“I can’t…” I whispered and fisted his shirt at his back.

“You won’t.” Reghan didn’t need me to finish my sentence. He understood where I was going.

I can’t lose him.

I can’t bury him.

I can’t say goodbye.

I won’t.

The same words would have floated viciously through my head if it had been Lane. The truth was, we weren’t whole without Alton. We needed him with us, where he belonged.

Jordan cleared his throat, bringing my attention to him. He swam in front of me through the tears that had built in my eyes. I quickly blinked them away as Reghan stepped to my side, steadying me with his hand on my bicep.

Lane was there with his arm around my waist to walk with me to the table. We took seats next to one another while Jordan leaned his knuckles on the table.

“I’m going to start this by saying, Sheldon is being taken into surgery.

He wasn’t shot. That would have been too loud.

Ulrich stabbed him repeatedly. If the other doctors hadn’t delivered first aid…

” His eyes met ours. “If you hadn’t asked Barry to check the footage…

Let’s just say, I don’t want to think about how the outcome would have been different.

As it is, he’s not even close to being out of the woods.

Rory will keep us updated once Sheldon is out of surgery. ”

Jordan took a deep, steadying breath before continuing, “As for Ulrich and the fucking bullshit he pulled, I know you’re upset about Alton being taken.

So am I. However, I don’t want you to worry or be fearful.

That will work against you. I need you fucking angry.

I need you ready to kill this motherfucker to get back the man you love and the one who’s been there for me whenever I needed him. ”

He took a seat. “I’m going to wire Ulrich half the money to get Alton back when we meet.

Once Alton’s with us, we kill Ulrich. I honestly don’t give a shit about the money at this point.

I want this piece of shit dead. I want his blood coating my goddamn hands.

I want my face to be the last fucking thing he sees because, how fucking dare he take who’s ours. ”

I expected Lane to put up a fight, to tell Jordan he wanted to be the one to kill him, but Lane wasn’t angry. He was scared. We both were. Alton was our world, and we’d do anything for him.

“I don’t want you to keep paying me,” Lane said. “I’ll cover the cost. I don’t care if I have to work for you for the rest of my life.”

“Have you lost your goddamn mind?” Jordan growled.

“It’s a lot of money, yes, but nothing I can’t easily part with.

You’re my family, Lane. You, Raiden, Reghan, everyone in this fucking building.

You’re mine. Alton too. The moment he agreed to work for me, he became one of us.

He might not be the same or do what we do, but he’s been mine for years and I’ll be damned if I lose him.

You and Raiden are his partners, but we’re all fucking family.

Get that through your head. I protect mine.

This asshole messed with the wrong people. ”

I had no idea how to reply. Jordan wasn’t one to speak his feelings. To call us his family meant more than I could voice, not only me, but everyone who heard Jordan’s words.

Vail and Hartley sat on the couch, their arms around each other as they watched the man they loved threaten murder, while also being somewhat sweet with his words.

Barrett held my brother’s hand on the table as they looked at each other, communicating without words.

Vincent and Oleander sat near each other.

Oleander’s eyes were red. Sheldon was his best friend, a brother not by blood but one nonetheless.

They’d been through a lot together. It had to be destroying him that he couldn’t be there.

Oleander would want revenge for what happened to Sheldon.

Lane pushed his chair back and stood. He sat on my lap, his legs hanging off the side, not caring about the others in the room. “Hold me,” he whispered as he tucked his face against my neck.

I did. I reveled in his warmth and his beating heart. We weren’t sure what we were going to walk into. Anything could happen. I hoped we made it home safe, all of us.

Here, sitting in Jordan’s dining area, we let our hearts bleed and our eyes leak. We let ourselves be vulnerable because there was no one else in the world who’d have our backs like the ones in this room did.