Page 23 of Single Mom’s Mafia Daddies (The Forbidden Reverse Harem Collection #22)

ALESSIO

“ R eady?” Renzo pitched his voice into a whisper so quiet it almost disappeared into the night.

I eyed the church. The tall spire pierced the sky and blotted out the half-moon. I tracked it down to a ramshackle roof. Singles flapped in the wind, several of them sliding off as I watched. They crashed and shattered on the ground.

Renzo hunkered down in a crouch, his weight on his non-injured leg. The night vision goggles made his face appear misshapen, but I’d become accustomed to the look after all our years traveling together. “There are heat signatures underground. I count five.”

No way to know who they belonged to. I shifted the gun belt around my waist, a nervous tic as I reassured myself my weapons were easy to reach, and tapped his shoulder twice in our signal to lead the way.

We rushed from the alley to the side door locked with a heavy chain and padlock.

Renzo had already scanned it for lasers or other traps and found it clean.

It worried us both enough to sit back an extra fifteen minutes and discuss the implications.

Either the Verduccis were sloppy, this wasn’t their hideout, or they anticipated I’d come for them and left me a way in that led straight to a trap.

Renzo and I agreed on the last option, but with no other way of gaining entry, we risked it.

It had taken a direct order to get Renzo to agree, but I knew once we broke the lock and were inside, I’d find what I needed.

Renzo watched my back no matter the situation, leaving me with nothing to worry about except getting us both out alive.

Musty air burrowed into my nose when Renzo snapped the chain and opened the door. He motioned for me to stay behind him and crept into the black crypt. I pulled my night vision goggles down and followed Renzo down an empty but cramped corridor.

He raised his hand in a closed fist then pointed to the left at a closed door.

I tapped his shoulder once and moved past him.

“Keep watch.” The door had a keypad lock similar to what we used.

It would take too long to break through, so I motioned for Renzo to join me.

We continued down the hallway, turning left when we reached the corner, and slipping through an unlocked door.

“Definitely a trap,” Renzo hissed in my ear.

“Then let’s make it worthwhile.” A soft light filtered through the upper half of the glass door. I crept over to it and peered through. “There’s your five men.” I didn’t recognize any of them.

Renzo grunted and removed his goggles. “What’s the plan?”

“See what you can find.” We were in an office of some sort.

The desk and chair were almost exact replicas of mine, and a snarl raised my lip.

Luca. Only he was ridiculous enough to try and copy my style as his own.

Vincenzo couldn’t care less about shit like that.

Though how he knew how I styled my office was a more worrisome problem.

“Here.” Renzo nudged me toward a filing cabinet.

“I saw Lila’s name. You read. I’ll keep watch.

” It was the reason I’d brought him, but it sent shards of glass through me to realize he thought of himself as a lesser part of our operation.

No time to argue about that. I grabbed the files and scanned them in rapid succession.

Most were business receipts similar to what anyone would find if they looked at my books.

One stood out, and I held it closer to the light.

“Luca signed this one. It’s a request for an extraction point near the harbor. ”

Renzo turned to stone in a blink. When his mouth moved, the heat of his anger raised the temperature ten degrees. “That’s my code. That rat bastard taught them my code.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means they’ve been watching Lila a lot longer than we thought.

Extraction point means they’ve had eyes on her for six months.

Harbor is a code word for taking hostages as leverage…

or killing them if it’s better leverage.

” He snatched the paper from my hand and scanned it. “Are there more of these?”

“I don’t know.” I handed him the small sheaf of papers. “You check these. I’ll look for more. Are you sure it doesn’t mean that Luca has set up an escape route using a boat at the harbor?”

“Positive.” He flipped through the papers in rapid succession. “The wording is too perfect. Shit.” He sucked a hard breath through gritted teeth. “My men are compromised. We can’t trust any of them until this is over.”

“We’ll worry about that later.” I checked the desk again and discovered a hidden chasm behind a drawer.

Photos spilled out and covered the floor.

Goosebumps prickled my skin. Photos of me with Lila back in college stared up at me.

How long had they known? Were they biding their time until I returned?

The lights turned on, the sudden brightness blinding me. I dove sideways behind the desk, the pistol in my hand before my shoulder crashed into the cold concrete.

Luca strolled in, his cold, calculating gaze landing on me.

He clicked his tongue with a tsk ing sound.

“Poor, poor Alessio. Look at you.” He pointed a Ruger at my head.

“I told Vincenzo you’d come. You wouldn’t be able to resist. Even when you knew it was a trap.

Even when you knew we’d take everything from you.

It’s almost sad how predictable you’ve become. ”

Predictable? Hardly. I grinned around gritted teeth and fired a shot at his chest.

He leaped and spun, his body a blur of motion.

No one should have been able to move that fast, but there was a reason everyone knew Luca as “The Ghost.” The ethereal glow on his skin made him appear otherworldly.

According to all my information, he’d never been shot, stabbed, or injured in any way during any encounter with rival syndicates.

It was a terrifying thought, and one I tucked away to consider later.

Survival mattered more than figuring out how I’d missed an almost point-blank range.

“How’s that for predictable?” I rolled to my feet and aimed again, firing off two more shots.

“You’re as boring as ever.” Luca yawned and returned fire.

I dove behind a filing cabinet, aiming around it to provide Renzo with cover fire as he ducked into the corner and shot into the hallway. Shouts of pain and surprise crashed over me.

“They’re trying to close us in.” Renzo gritted his teeth and rushed the door. Bodies collided with a sickening thud.

“How’s the new family?” Luca taunted me in a sing-song voice. “That is one prime woman you decided to abandon.” He laughed and fired a shot at the same time. “Turn yourself over to us, and we might consider letting the boy live.”

“And the woman?” They knew about Lila. I had no intention of giving in to Luca Verducci, but I might get him to tell me something I didn’t already know.

“Don’t worry,” Luca taunted. “We’ll take good care of her.”

“You’re not going to live long enough to do anything.” I blasted the wall behind Luca with a spray of gunfire.

His unhinged laugh rattled out. “That’s where you’re wrong. I can’t be killed.”

“We have to go.” Renzo reappeared in the doorway. “There are more coming. More than we can handle.”

A bullet ripped through the air beside my ear and slammed into the wall. Wood splintered and sprayed into my face. I threw up both arms to shield myself.

“Let’s go.” Renzo grabbed my shoulder and threw me into the hallway.

Running steps pounded our way. “Bastard thought he could hold us until they came. Cocky son of a bitch.” He dragged me to my feet and pushed me ahead of him. “If he had more sense, we wouldn’t be alive.”

I disagreed. Luca was known for his intelligence, and his ability to play the long game despite his supposed impatience. “Psychological warfare,” I muttered while stumbling toward the door.

Renzo hauled me back. “Not that way. He’ll have people waiting for us.

We have to do what he doesn’t expect. I’ll psychological warfare his ass right into a grave.

” He nudged me toward another door. “This way.” With a crack of his fist, he shattered the glass and unlocked the door from the inside.

Glass shredded his shirt and the skin underneath, but he gave it no more attention than a bug bite. “Go, Alessio.”

I did as he ordered, giving myself over to his experience.

We tucked in close to the wall and ran. The corridor widened so we were able to go side by side.

I’d run alongside Renzo often enough to match his stride, each of us watching the other’s blind spots.

Renzo threw himself at the next door, blowing it off its hinges and unleashing us into the cathedral.

Dust and cobwebs covered the wooden pews. Broken stained-glass windows littered the ground, the colored glass sending sprays of color across Renzo’s body when he ran over them.

Luca’s men followed us, their steps too loud in the sacred space.

Renzo turned and fired over his shoulder while continuing to run. “Get to the car. Don’t wait for me.”

I grabbed the strap of his bulletproof vest and hauled him to my face. “Stop trying to martyr yourself. We’re both getting out of here. Lila would never forgive me if I got you killed.”

Saying her name seemed to give him a new burst of energy. Or perhaps it gave us both a deeper reason to live.

Renzo paused as we reached the double doors leading from the cathedral into the city, holding up his hand for me to wait.

“If I was Luca, I’d have men stationed at every exit.

Maybe even snipers on the roofs.” He spun his finger around in a circle.

“There’s nothing out there to duck behind until we reach the car. ”

“Run fast. Don’t go in a straight line. Split up so they have to divide their attention,” I repeated his orders from a previous raid back to him.

He slapped my back hard enough to rock me forward. “Let’s go.”

We burst out through the doors as the men behind us entered the cathedral.

Renzo darted right, and I went left. Guns fired, the ricochet of bullets sending stone fragments showering over me.

I changed course, then changed again, never going the same way or repeating a pattern.

I’d parked a block away, behind an old steel warehouse.

If I could get there, we’d be safe. Nothing short of that rocket launcher they’d flaunted earlier would destroy my car.

I put on a burst of speed when the car came into view. Renzo appeared on the far side of the warehouse. His lips peeled back from his teeth in a victorious smile, and he dove into the passenger seat.

The driver’s side door opened, and I threw myself into the car, slamming the door behind me. They’d find us soon, but I took a single second to grip the wheel and stare at the cathedral spire in the rearview mirror.

“They’ve crossed a line, Renzo. They’re not walking away from this.”