“I’ll listen.” I continue to watch my brother as he drags the lifeless body toward a head-high bush. “But only when your instructions involve getting my friends to safety. Don’t pretend you know what’s best for me.”
He growls, his anger a low vibration as we pass the gates. I chance a glance through the back window, trying to gain another glimpse of Sebastian.
“Eyes to the front,” Luca commands. “Keep playing your role.”
This time I obey, slumping into the seat as the car curves around the long drive to pull up in front of the overbearing mansion. I try not to let foreboding consume me, but that house has a soul. A dark one. It beckons to me, whispering promises of torture.
“Deck just took down another target.” Hunter presses a hand to his hidden earpiece. “He seems to think these guys are easy prey.”
I unfasten my belt to scoot forward. “Tell him not to become complacent. Some of them are brutal.”
“Hear that, Deck? Your sister said not to get cocky.” Hunter glances over his shoulder at me. “Would you normally be eager to get up close and personal like that? Or should you be keeping your distance?”
I can’t help it. I’m anxious. Completely and utterly unsettled.
The engine is cut as I slide back. Seatbelts are unfastened. The men climb outside. Then Luca is at my door, pulling it wide to wait for me to join them.
I don’t know how they do it—mask the adrenaline, play it cool.
I can’t keep focus. I’m not the heartless automaton I thought I could be. I pictured myself coming here, entirely determined and lethal. Instead, I’m pretending not to desperately fight off paranoia as it slays me with a million possible pitfalls to our plan.
“Get moving, shorty.” Luca keeps his expression impassive, not giving me a hint to his emotions. “We’ve got eyes on us from the front door.”
I don’t look. Don’t nod.
“Ready?” His gaze bores into me, intense and filled with concern.
I give a subtle incline of my head and follow his lead toward the house. I stiffen when his gentle grip glides over the crook of my elbow, but it’s too late to warn him of his mistake. Two guards exit the front of the mansion—Argus and Otis—both of them looking down at where Luca holds my arm.
“You shouldn’t be touching her.” Argus places the butt of his rifle on the ground, his pinched brows pulled tight.
“I know.” Luca tugs me forward. “But she’s a feisty little thing and I didn’t want her attempting to run again.”
“She tried to escape?”
“Tried. Failed. Got punished.” Luca stops us before them and releases his gentle grip to run a taunting hand through my hair. “Didn’t you, pretty Penny?”
I shudder.
His touch is kind… but those words… that name.
The provocation from his lips shakes me to my core.
I jerk my head away. “Merely keeping you on your toes, asshole.”
He drops his hand from my hair to reclaim my arm. “You learned your lesson though, didn’t you? And if you attempt that stupidity again, nothing will save you.”
I suck in a breath at how real his threat sounds. How sickening. Then his finger gently strokes the inside of my arm, the delicate brush in contrast to his vicious words.
He’s trying to comfort me. Attempting to ease his flawless act with a reaffirming touch.
I appreciate it. I appreciate him.
I don’t want to. God, how I don’t want to, but I do.
“So, let’s get this party started.” Hunter claps his hands together. “Point us in the direction of the women. I’m ready to see what all the fuss is about.”
Otis starts for the mansion doors when a grunt of muted sound disturbs the night air from the yard. It’s a noise of death that isn’t entirely discreet.
Argus must hear it too because he stiffens, his focus shifting to the darkness over my shoulder. “What was that?” He raises his wrist, preparing to speak into his comms device.
Holy shit.
I break out in a cold sweat, certain our attack is about to be discovered.
“I heard it, too.” Luca turns toward the yard, stepping closer to me, increasing the brush of his finger. “Want us to check it out?”
I stop breathing.
One wrong move…
One suspicious word…
One instruction into that communication device and my sisters are dead.
“No.” Argus inches toward the driveway, his lips pressed to the mouthpiece in his palm. “Can we get—”
Luca lunges, landing a left hook to Argus’s cheek, his other hand gripping the rifle. He yanks the weapon forward, sending the guard stumbling while Hunter lashes out at Otis, pummeling with one fist then the other.
I scramble backward, stepping out of the way as my protectors attack with brutal efficiency. The guards don’t have a chance to retaliate. They drop. From knees, to palms, to stomachs.
It’s such beautiful savagery.
That is, until the sound of gunfire erupts from inside and my brief sense of optimism vanishes in a punishing heartbeat.
11
Luca
I slam the guard down on the cement as gunfire explodes inside. The screams of women follow.
Penny’s friends are in trouble.
I shoot Hunt a glance, his ferocity meeting mine for a brief second before he lands a vicious kick to the guard laying before him, his boot making a direct jaw hit. Otis falls limp. Out like a light.
I’m not as kind. I drop to my knees, grab my blubbering enemy around the head, and break his neck with a swift jerk of my hands.
“Where is she?” Decker speaks into my earpiece. “Where’s Penny?”
I scramble to my feet, snatch the rifle along the way to point it toward the sound of approaching steps.
It’s Deck, his eyes filled with fury as he yanks two pistols from the back of his waistband. “Where the fuck is she?”
I drop the rifle, catch the weapon he lobs at me, then turn to find her. “She’s…” I keep turning, not seeing her anywhere.
“Fuck. She must have slipped by me.” Hunt snatches the second thrown pistol and makes for the mansion doors. “I’ll get her.”
“No.” Decker rushes in front of him. “There’s still one more guard outside. You take care of it. I’m going after my sister.” He doesn’t pause for confirmation as he shoves his way past Hunter to disappear inside.
“I’m going with him.” I follow, stopping beside Hunt to hand over the car key. “Put Otis in the trunk. We’ll need him later.”
I maneuver inside the mansion, turning down the hall to the right as Decker runs in a crouch along the left.
I pass doorways, giving each room a cursory glance, my gun aimed and ready as I panic over finding Penny. She can’t have gone far. She was right there. By my fucking side one minute and gone the next.
I don’t stop my search until shouts carry from around the corner of the hall. I slow, quietening my steps as I lean close to the wall and chance a glance around the edge.
There’s a guard a few yards away, his rifle pointed toward an open doorway, his aim low. “Get up, bitch.”