Page 9

9

CASPIAN

I ’d been to the Tommaso estate a dozen times, but never with the blatant intention of killing someone.

Anticipation and rage boiled underneath my skin, festering with each step we took toward the compound. We’d spent another day going over the plan, knowing that Chiara could be at risk. But now, Max’s time had come, and it would end at my hands, just like I promised him.

“Confirm your positions,” Obi said into my earpiece.

I was still healing from my busted knee and shoulder, but there was no way in fucking hell I would have sat this out—and thankfully, none of the Shadows tried to fight me on it. I think they knew if both Leona and I had to stay behind, one of us was going to revolt.

Obi had checked in with me before we left to make sure I could hold up my end of the plan, and after I confirmed I could, he nodded, and let it go. It was incredibly difficult to tell what that man was thinking behind those careful eyes, and whether he trusted that I could handle this, but I wasn’t about to fuck this up. I wouldn’t let Leona—or them—down.

“Confirmed,” I replied quietly as I stood outside the gate, armed to the fucking teeth. I’d give the Shadows one thing: they did not fuck around in the weapons department.

“Confirmed,” Wynn repeated in my ear, followed shortly by Ryuji’s confirmation, as well.

We positioned ourselves around the compound, all with strategic entrance points. We’d taken three separate armored cars to get here and had surrounded the estate in staggered arrival times. At 3:00 a.m., it was dead quiet, with only Tommaso’s standard patrols protecting the grounds and only one person manning the gatehouse. I’d not seen soldiers of the Vero family, now reporting to Max, on the grounds. If he was still here—and that was still an if— he appeared to be separated from the main forces of his army.

Ciel still hadn’t been able to get inside the estate’s camera system, but he’d been watching. Leona was waiting with him in the recon van parked blocks away.

I gripped my gun tighter in waiting for Obi’s signal and shifted my weight from foot to foot. We’d gone through the plan dozens of times, using both my knowledge of the estate, and what Ciel could find online. Leona had filled in the blanks. We were finally going to finish this. I took a deep, steadying breath to calm my nerves like I had done before every mission since Max’s father first started taking us out into the field.

It was just another day at work, and this time, I had a team of the best fucking killers on the planet behind me.

Memories of Max and I doing shit exactly like this flashed before my eyes. Max nodding, signaling our infiltration of a safe house where a small-time gambling boss had holed up after he thought he could steal from the Vero Family. Max clapping me on my back, grinning, and cracking a joke, after I’d taken the man out. My knee throbbed so sharply for a moment I almost gasped.

“Shit,” I breathed, pushing away the past. All that stood in front of me now was the future—one with Leona.

At least I wasn’t the only person keeping her safe anymore. Despite how tense things between the six of us had been, I never once had questioned the Shadows’ abilities. Even if Leona was still pissed at me for agreeing to make her sit this one out, it was worth it to know she was too far away for Max to get his hands on her. She was listening in and watching with Ciel, but she was safe.

We could handle this.

Obi’s voice sounded in my ear. “I’ve breached the first door. South side of the estate accessed. Two targets eliminated.”

Two guys killed. Were they Tommaso’s? Or Max’s?

Either way, it didn’t matter. If a target was in our way, they were to be eradicated to keep our approach under the radar.

“I see you,” Ryuji confirmed. As the most skilled with ranged weapons, he was in charge of sniper support. “Drop now, Obi.”

I couldn’t see what was happening on that side of the estate, but I heard Obi’s whoosh of breath and subsequent grunt.

“Target eliminated,” Ryuji said.

The fucker had skills.

Still didn’t like him.

“Caspian, we’re passing the first checkpoint. Take the gatehouse now,” Obi commanded.

“Stand by,” I murmured. I tucked my guns into my shoulder holsters. As planned, I jumped up to reach the top of the brick wall surrounding the grounds before hauling myself over. My shoulder screamed in pain, but I carefully dropped to the other side, quickly drawing my guns, and moving through the shadows to the gatehouse.

The guard sat watching the four monitors displaying security footage, head resting on one hand while he scrolled his phone with the other. If he looked up, he’d see Obi creeping through the south side of the estate.

I aimed and fired. The bullet tore through the back of his head before coming out the other side and shattering one of the computers, splattering blood everywhere.

“Target eliminated.” I grabbed the guard’s corpse and yanked him out of the chair. His lifeless body thunked to the ground. I glanced at what remained of his face, but I didn’t recognize him. “Ciel, tell me what you need.”

“Find some sort of access point,” the hacker said in my ear. I found the central computer tower under the desk. “Plug the drive I gave you into the system.”

“You’re in.” I inserted the drive, trying to avoid the pooling blood from the guard. Within a few seconds, the feeds in front of me flickered, then went dark. “Damn, that was fast.”

“Access confirmed,” Ciel said. “I don’t have full control yet, but I can at least see. Obi, careful around that corner. More targets ahead.”

“Wynn?” Obi asked.

“I’ve got it,” Wynn replied. A few more seconds of silence. “Targets eliminated.”

I whistled under my breath as I kneaded my shoulder. Painful shocks rippled from my deltoid down to my fingertips. Thank fuck Max had never actually hired them to track us down, or else Leona and I would definitely be dead.

“Do you see him?” Leona murmured. I pictured her sitting next to Ciel in his van, right where I left her, biting her lip, and frowning at his multiple screens.

“Looking,” Ciel replied. “Flip through the feeds and see what you can find.”

The sounds of both their keyboards clicked in the background of the comms.

“Wynn, have you cleared the main entrance?” Obi asked.

“Affirmative. Caspian, you’re clear,” the Shadow responded.

“Got it.” That was my cue. I left the body of the guard on the floor and snuck out of the gatehouse to make for the front door.

Using the lush foliage of the front yard, I masked my approach. My breaths came heavy and difficult. Fuck, I was getting out of shape. I needed to get back to the gym. My body was already struggling to keep up.

A guard stood right by the front door with an Uzi in his hands, and I sucked in a breath when I realized I recognized him. Giulio. One of Don Luciano’s men. He was well-liked among the made men, always cracking a joke, and lightening up the tense situations we often found ourselves in. I’d played plenty of poker games with him.

My jaw clenched. I’d have to kill him.

I stepped forward, but a branch cracked under my feet. His head whirled in my direction, and we locked eyes. He froze, his raised eyebrows indicating that he both saw and recognized me.

I lifted my guns, but he gulped, and then turned away.

I frowned. He definitely saw me. What was he doing?

Another heartbeat later and he slowly yet purposefully stepped away from the front door, back down the cobblestone path that led through the front yard.

Was he letting me in?

Going to sound the alarm?

He reached the end of the path and paused without turning around, hands still unmoving on that Uzi. Ever so slightly, he glanced in my direction and jerked his head. A signal.

Shit. I didn’t want to kill him.

“Ciel,” I whispered. “There’s a guard by the front entrance. Keep an eye on him.”

“Noted,” he replied.

“Is that Giulio?” Leona asked. She knew a lot of the guys stationed at the Vero estate. She would chat with them whenever she had the chance, always asking them questions about their girlfriends or moms. They had loved her.

“Yes,” I answered. If he made any other move to call in intruders or run away, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. But for now, I’d keep going. “There are Vero men here. That gives us potentially double the on-site targets. Be prepared.”

The rest of the guys acknowledged through the comms.

I crept the remaining distance to the front door. The moment I pushed it open, an alarm screeched through the house.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I growled, ducking inside, and slamming the door shut behind me. I slipped inside the dining room connected to the main hallway before anyone came running. “Fuck me.”

“Shit, hang on,” Ciel said. The alarm blared so loudly I thought my eardrums might fucking burst. A second later, the sound cut off.

“How the fuck did that happen?” I hissed.

“I took down every security system I could see,” Ciel said tightly. “It must be run through backup power or something. It’s nowhere.”

“What is done is done,” Obi said. “Adapt. The alarm has sounded. Be on alert. We need to find Volpe and wrap this up. Ciel, did you intercept any outgoing communications to law enforcement?”

“I’m not sure,” the hacker responded. “I can’t see the signal for this alarm, so it’s probably hardwired, but those systems usually take a few seconds before they transmit a signal out of the house. Let’s just hope I cut it off in time.”

“I don’t see any movement,” Ryuji murmured from his vantage point.

“Caspian, we’ve reached checkpoint two,” Obi said. “Let’s proceed with the plan and be prepared to engage with more targets. They’re likely headed to your location.”

I double-checked my weapons. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d faced multiple opponents by myself.

Let’s fucking do this.

Moving through the bottom floor, I methodically cleared each room and hallway. Twice I had to shoot first, ask questions later. Stepping over the bodies, I continued my path through the bottom floor, with still no sign of Don Vincenzo, Chiara, or Max.

“Ground floor clear,” I told the others as I reached the stairs.

“Third floor clear,” Wynn echoed a few moments after.

That left the basement and the second floor.

“Movement on the second floor,” Ryuji said. “Can’t get a clear visual, but I see shadows on the walls.”

The stairs plunged into darkness. I paused my ascent.

“Power is out,” Ciel confirmed in my ear. “Not me. Someone else cut it. I’m working at restoring it.”

“My visual is gone,” Ryuji grumbled.

“Caspian, Wynn and I are headed to the second-story. Proceed with caution. We’ll rendezvous and finish with the basement if the second floor is clear.”

“Copy,” I replied quietly. I started back up the stairs again. The moonlight trickling in through the large windows illuminated my steps as I made it to the landing.

My eyes, adjusting to the darkness, caught on the loft where Leona and Chiara used to hang out and do homework after school. How many hours had I sat here, watching them both, and praying that one day she’d look up and see me in front of her? Countless.

The soft click of a door opening had my head snapping toward the hallway. If I hadn’t paused, I wouldn’t have heard it.

Don Vincenzo’s head popped out. Any movement, any sound, and he’d hear me.

“Cas found Tommaso,” Ciel’s voice said in my ear, notifying them for me. Thank fuck, Ciel still had access to the camera systems, even with the main power out. “Second floor, central study.”

I stepped forward, lifting my guns. My knee burned from going up so many stairs and my shoulder ached from raising my guns for so long, but I gritted my teeth against the pain.

“Be careful, Cas,” Leona’s voice whispered.

She deserved vengeance. She deserved for this to be over. But I couldn’t just kill Vincenzo without knowing where Max was or what he was doing here.

“Come,” Vincenzo said. He pulled the door open and stepped through. I waited, gun trained on the door. Chiara stepped out behind her father. Dressed in a thin tank top and shorts, she clutched her phone against her chest, fear in her eyes as she watched her father’s back.

“Chiara is there,” Leona blurted through the comms. “Nobody hurt her.”

I held my breath as one last figure stepped through the door behind them. Max. There he fucking was. Ten feet away from me. Hands gripping his own guns, he stepped through the door with a slight limp to his step, falling between Chiara and Don Tommaso as the three turned the opposite direction from me.

“It’s Max,” Leona breathed.

“Headed south, toward Obi and Wynn,” Ciel added. “There are targets between you. Stay alert.”

Rage filled me, my grip on my weapons deadly.

“Caspian, wait to engage until we catch up with you,” Obi warned.

I barely heard him. I cocked the hammer of my gun, ready to blast a bullet through the back of his head, but Max turned, gun pointed directly at my chest.

“Cas,” he said, eyes locking with mine across Chiara’s shoulder. Her body blocked my shot.

“Max,” I growled, anger twisting my voice. My fingers ached where they curled around the triggers of my guns, the fingernails only half-grown back.

Max stared down the barrel of my guns, completely passive. That fucking face. He used to laugh with me. Bastard.

“I thought the Shadows might come.” He looked around. Vincenzo’s face went hard behind him. They didn’t know that Obi and Wynn were headed for their backs. “But I don’t see them anywhere.”

I said nothing. Chiara still stood in front of him and Tommaso stood next to him. With even a simple move of their bodies, he could put them at risk. I couldn’t fuck this up by making the decision that screamed in my blood.

“I don’t have a visual,” Ryuji said into my earpiece. “Get him moving down the hallway. There should be a window in thirty feet.”

I stepped forward, and Max mirrored my step, only backward. The more I could herd them down this hallway, the more I could get them within Ryuji’s line of sight, and then it would be all over.

“Cas?” Chiara whimpered, voice small. “Where’s Leona?”

I glanced at her. The naturally boisterous and confident young woman cowered in fear. She stepped backward, but Max shifted to keep her between us. Fucking coward.

“Far away from here.”

Max chuckled, a hollow sound that grated in my ears. He kept his movements precisely controlled, backing away with a purpose, despite that limp. But what he didn’t know was he was moving closer and closer to his death. “Now that I wasn’t expecting. I’m pleased, though, to hear she survived the blast.”

“Stay calm, Caspian,” Obi warned in my ear. “We’re clearing each room to be safe, but we’re almost there.”

“Do not get yourself killed, Cas,” the love of my life commanded in my ear.

“Before you pull that trigger, son,” Don Vincenzo began, a gun appearing in his hands, “I think we should have a discussion, like men. Like the bosses we all are.”

“Fuck,” Leona whispered. “Cas, please be safe.”

Two guns were now pointed at my body. My arms were on fire, but I couldn’t give up now. I wanted to shoot Max in the face and be done with it, but I had to keep stalling until I could guarantee they stood no chance. Leona would never forgive me if Chiara ended up collateral damage.

“Vincenzo, I’m only going to give you one chance to separate yourself from this figlio di puttana ,” I spit. “Get your daughter and get out of here. Leave Max to me, and the Shadows will have no quarrel with you.”

He frowned but said nothing.

“If you don’t move,” I added. “You’re a dead man.”

“Vincenzo and I have come to an arrangement,” Max said as he continued to step backward. Only a little more, and he’d be exposed through the opening of that window. Ryuji better be fucking watching.

“Oh, yeah?” I scoffed. “An alliance between cowards?”

If that were the case, then we’d have every excuse to take them both out. Leona could take sweeping control of two empires tonight. I almost wished Vincenzo would do something stupid.

Max smirked. “Precisely.”

Chiara’s eyes flicked around. She shifted backward, closer to her father, with fearful eyes.

“I’m not surprised. It’s funny how scum attracts scum.” My lips curled. “Vincenzo, I wish you were a better man.”

“You’re a boy who understands nothing of how criminal Families truly operate,” he growled. His hand darted out to grab Chiara and yank her behind him, but there were still two guns pointed at me and only mine pointed at Max. I had to wait. “You have no blood, no family name. Luciano was a fool to promote you so high.”

“Luciano was a fool for a thousand fucking reasons.” They were so close. Only a few more steps.

“Ryuji,” Ciel said, “they’re feet away. Stand by for a clean shot.”

That dead look passed across Max’s face again. “Do you want to know how this alliance has been secured?”

I didn’t give a fuck, but if it kept him talking, I’d ask. “How?”

“Is she listening?” Max asked, glancing around like he was looking for a ghost. Now positioned behind her father, Chiara tensed. Her face shuttered.

“What?” Leona hissed.

“An alliance has been secured through an engagement,” Don Vincenzo said. “Between my daughter and Maximiliano.”

I sucked in a breath, eyes wide as my focus flew from Chiara to Max. She angled herself away, toward the window only a few steps behind them, fingers tight around her phone. Max stared straight at me.

“A fucking engagement ?” I asked.

Leona said nothing in the comms.

“Breathe, baby girl,” Ciel said, voice laced with concern. “Breathe.”

My heart went cold at Ciel’s tone. It killed me that I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t say or do anything besides stare at Max, totally bewildered.

“Leona, we will end this here. Be patient,” Obi responded. “Caspian, we’re thirty seconds away. Ryuji, if you have a shot, take it.”

“Do you understand now, son?” Vincenzo said, pity in his voice. “What happens if you kill him? The full force of my army and his will come down on you.”

They took another step backward, now in full view of the window.

They acted so quickly I could barely register. Max’s arm shifted on his gun, something he did when he was aiming. I didn’t hesitate. I lifted my weapon to fire at him just as Chiara screamed.

She darted forward, knocking into Vincenzo at the same time the window shattered.

I squeezed the triggers on both my guns, but pain laced down my arms. My shoulder flared white-hot. My aim went wide, blowing a hole in the wall to the right of Max’s head.

Vincenzo collapsed, blood gushing from his throat.

Max didn’t hesitate. He grabbed Chiara’s wrist and ducked into the door opposite the window. I caught a strange emotion on Chiara’s face—a smile?— as they both disappeared inside.

“Cas!” Leona practically shouted in the earpiece. “Guys?”

“My bullet hit Tommaso,” Ryuji said. “He’s dead.”

The Don laid at my feet, eyes wide in surprise.

Obi and Wynn came rushing down the corner.

“Nice timing,” I murmured to both of them. My brain was still trying to process what had happened. My body was in so much fucking pain, but I couldn’t let them see it—because then they’d know that if my bullets hadn’t gone wide, Max would be dead.

He was alive because of me.

I never should have hesitated. I should have killed him when he first walked into the hallway.

Obi looked at the door. “They’re inside there?”

I nodded.

“Hostage situation?” he asked, double-checking his guns, and glancing at Tommaso’s corpse.

I paused, inhaling and exhaling. “I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean, Cas?” Leona asked, voice strained. God, I knew that voice. She was inches from falling apart. We needed to finish this. “She was terrified! Of course, she’s a hostage! We have to save her!”

I swallowed, trying to replay the events. If I didn’t think Chiara was so scared, if I hadn’t known her for years, I might have said she intentionally pushed Vincenzo forward, into the path of Ryuji’s bullet. And then that smile? Was that actually what I saw?

“We need to follow,” Wynn said, eyeing the door. “Obi?”

Obi nodded. “Ciel, any cameras inside that room?”

“Negative, you’re flying blind,” he replied.

Obi glanced behind him at the shattered window. “Ryuji, reposition to see if you can get a view of the west side of the house. Caspian, Wynn, we will breach the door. Once we’re inside, fan out, and take Volpe down.”

Sweat dripped down my temple. I didn’t think my knee could take it. “I’ll protect Chiara.”

Obi’s eyes flicked to my legs, then back up to my eyes. His expression told me he knew. Fuck, that guy didn’t miss anything. “Good. Wynn, take your position.”

The two of them kicked the double doors in, then ducked and rolled inside. I followed directly after, scanning the room for any sign of them—only to find it empty.

It was a bedroom, likely Vincenzo’s master. A huge four-poster bed sat against the wall. Moonlight shone through a massive set of bay windows. Bookshelves, a desk, a sitting area, rich fabric curtains, and ridiculously ostentatious paintings covered the walls.

It looked like a bedroom out of a fucking medieval castle.

But no sign of Max or Chiara.

“They can’t have disappeared,” Wynn murmured, poking his head inside the en suite bathroom, gun raised.

“Panic room?” Obi asked. The two of us locked eyes and jointly explored the walk-in closet, but again, nothing. “Ciel, do you have any ideas from the floor plan files you have?”

His keyboard clicked in the background.

“Passageways,” Leona whispered. “Chiara told me once this house has passageways.”

Obi and my gaze slid to the massive painting hanging across from the bed. It was almost too large.

I jerked my head at it, and he nodded. Then he whistled quietly, Wynn’s head snapping in his direction. The three of us stepped across the room. Wynn grabbed the painting while Obi and I readied our guns. With a yank, the painting swung open, as if on hinges.

“Fuck,” I hissed. There it fucking was. A massive metal door.

I stomped forward, ignoring the screaming in my leg, and yanked on the handle. Of course, it didn’t budge.

“Did you find it?” Ciel asked in our ears.

“Yes,” Obi replied. The man ran his hand over the metal beside me. I still, fruitlessly, yanked on the handle.

I raised my gun, but Obi’s hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Don’t shoot it.”

“We can break the lock! We can follow!”

Obi shook his head. “It will ricochet. We must choose wisely.”

“ Fuck , wisely!” I shouted as I slammed my fist on the door. We were so fucking close . If my aim hadn’t gone wide, he would be dead. And now he was going to slip through our fingers again? Absolutely fucking not .

“Cas,” Max’s voice came from the other side of the metal door. I snarled, slamming my fist on the door again. Pain screamed up my arm. “You can’t break this door down without the proper tools, and you have no idea where these passages lead. We’ll be gone before you get a chance to follow.”

“Why are you doing this, Max?” I shouted. Another bead of sweat dripped down my temple. I inhaled slowly. “Why?”

He didn’t answer. Damn him. Damn this whole thing to fucking hell.

“Chiara,” I called instead. If we couldn’t follow, she at least needed to know we were coming. “We’ll find you, okay? Don’t lose hope.”

“I’ll be fine, Cas,” she responded, voice stronger than I expected. “Just stay with Leona.”

“Max!” I pounded on the door. “I’m coming for you. We all are. This isn’t over.”

Both Obi and Wynn stood beside me, fuming, just as I was. Leona and Ciel were silent in our earpieces, but I knew they could hear everything.

All six of us were coming for him.

“Not even close to over, brother,” he replied. “I own the Tommasos now. Tell Leona this is just the beginning.”

And then they were gone, only silence on the other side. I slammed my fist against the door, but he was right. This was steel, molded into the stone walls on either side. We needed welding gear or some fucking shit like that to get through it.

Obi placed his hand on my shoulder again.

God- fucking -damnit.

This was my fault.