I haven’t stopped pacing since we arrived at the estate an hour ago. I can’t, because if I do, the reality that my entire world is missing might sink in, and I’ll have no control over my own actions if that happens. I’ll burn this entire city to the ground if it means getting Snow back.
Every person we trust sits in Storm’s office, and despite it being a combination of Russo and Saint James men, it isn’t enough to make any impact if we have to go to war to get our women back.
I should have let Storm send Snow to another country, at least she would have been safe there. If I allow myself to dwell on the decisions that brought us to this moment, I’ll lose my fucking mind, and right now that could mean the difference between my woman living and dying.
“The trackers?” Storm asks Everett for the tenth time in the last twenty minutes.
Out of all of us, Everett is the calmest. I’m not sure if it’s because he knows he’s the only one who can find them if we have to lean on technology, or if his fear has numbed him to the point of being placated. “Like I told you the last time you asked, I will tell you the moment I get the sniff of a signal,” he mutters, typing something on the laptop in front of him.
Storm glares at his best friend but leans back in his chair without a word. Tension radiates off him, his jaw so tight it ticks under the pressure.
“We can’t just sit on our hands and wait for the trackers to turn back on. We should be out on the streets. We should be tearing this city apart,” Rayne growls. He’s been quiet since we all arrived, silently holding Emerson in his lap. Snow and Wynter being missing it too close to when Angelo took her, he needs to remind himself she’s safe, even if his sisters are both in danger.
“Spreading out across the city with limited numbers would only make us easier to pick off,” I remind him. We’ve been over this. If I thought it would make a difference, I would be going door to door and tearing anyone who gets in my way apart. But it wouldn’t help. If anything, it would hinder us, and that’s a fact Tommy reminded us of when we were suiting up for battle.
I never thought he would be the levelheaded one, but these situations either bring out the best, or the worst in a person.
“I don’t fucking care. We’re too far away from the city. We should have met at the penthouse,” Rayne grumbles.
“There’s no guarantee they’re in the city,” Storm says.
“They could be anywhere,” I mumble and barely swallow down the bile that rises as the words slip from my lips. It’s been two hours. Two hours since we lost connection with them. Two hours since their trackers registered. Two hours since the possibility of losing my entire life began to seep in.
“Surely there’s something else we could be doing,” Rayne mutters.
“There isn’t,” Storm snaps. “We’ve looked under every rock, we’ve leaned on every single contact we all have, and we have no fucking idea who we’re up against, let alone where the hell they would take Wynter and Snow. Believe me, if there was anything I thought would help us find them, we would be out there doing it right now. But there isn’t, so we have to wait for the trackers to—”
“They’re back,” Everett yells, scooping up the laptop and heading for the door.
“Where are they?” I ask, falling into stride beside him, touching the guns tucked into my waistband. I’m itching for a kill, craving the bloodshed. I need to make someone pay for the pain they’ve caused my woman.
“The church.”
I stop dead in my tracks. “As in the church they attacked on our wedding day?”
Everett doesn’t respond, instead he nods without looking back. The man is on a mission to bring his fiancé home, and he’s going to do it with or without our help.
I turn back to the group of men standing behind me, including the men who became my brothers the day I married Snow and release a breath. “Let’s bring them home.”
A few minutes later, we’re speeding down the driveway in a convoy. We’re taking everyone we trust with us. The businesses and other assets can be guarded by those who may betray us, but we’re not willing to risk the lives of Snow and Wynter.
Rayne’s in the driver’s seat, pushing the large black SUV to its limits as he swerves from the driveway to the road and puts his foot down. Storm is beside him, typing furiously on his phone with his brows furrowed. Everett is next to me in the back seat flicking through camera angles to try to get a picture of what we’re going into. If we can avoid going in blind, we have the best chance of bringing them home, but we’ll go in regardless. We’ll risk everything to bring them home.
“Everett?” Storm turns in his seat just as Rayne pulls onto the highway and pushes the speed to the limit.
There isn’t a cop in this city brave enough to pull a Saint James over for speeding, especially considering the amount of money they donate to the department each year.
“There are a few cars around, but nothing seems out of place.”
“Are you sure the footage is live? They could have a loop running,” Storm says.
“It’s not a loop. Not unless their tech guy is smart enough to have all the cameras running on the exact same loop, which I doubt.”
“They have been two steps ahead of us in everything else they’ve done,” I remind him, staring out the window as lights pass in a blur.
Everett growls under his breath. “They’re not a loop,” he forces out through gritted teeth.
“I’m just saying—”
“Shut up,” he snaps, bringing the laptop closer to his face. “There’s movement. Someone just arrived. A woman, I think.”
“You think?” Rayne asks, not tearing his eyes from the road for even a moment.
“The cameras in the area haven’t been updated since the nineties, but by the size of them I feel relatively comfortable assuming it’s a she.”
“Anyone else with her?” Storm asks.
“Just some bodyguards from what I can tell.”
“So the person who has been coming for us, who has been taking shipments and killing dealers, is a woman?” I ask. It sounds bad to ask, but with how ruthless the moves have been, I never would have expected a member of the fairer sex to be the evil mastermind behind it all.
“So it would seem,” Everett mumbles under his breath as he flicks through the cameras again, trying to get a visual of what’s happening inside the church.
We’re too far away. Even with Rayne speeding and swerving through traffic, we’re too far from the church, and the longer it takes to get to them, the more chance that something could happen to them.
I’ve never been afraid of losing anything. When I was a child, I wasn’t afraid of losing my cousin and only friend. I was never afraid of losing my father and uncles. And I’ve never even considered being scared of losing the power that comes with my name. But I’m fucking petrified of losing Snow. Because a life without my Snowflake isn’t something I’ve ever wanted to consider, and I’m not about the start now.
A few minutes pass and I watch Rayne dodge through traffic, never so much as hovering his foot above the brake. The car is dead silent apart from Everett tapping on the keys of his laptop and Storm’s fingers on his phone as he coordinates the mission.
We’re getting closer. Not close enough, but closer. Traffic is good for this time of night, which has meant we’ve been able to make better time than I thought we would. We’re probably only a few minutes out, but every piece of time I’m away from Snow makes my chest constrict painfully.
“She’s leaving,” Everett tells us.
“Snow and Wynter?” I ask.
He shakes his head, swapping views to get the best image of our mystery woman. The frame is blurred, but she appears to be well dressed, and she walks with the confidence of someone who has been doing this for a long time. Whoever she is, she isn’t new to the scene. She’s been doing it for a while.
“Is that smoke?” Storm asks, leaning forward to get a better view of the sky.
I follow his gaze and dread settles over me. It’s the church. It has to be.
Everett swears under his breath, confirming what I already know. “We need to follow her.”
“No, we need to get my sisters the fuck out of a burning building. Who gives a fuck about her?” Storm hisses.
“We will tomorrow,” Everett snaps. “I’ve checked the streets, they haven’t left anyone in the church. There’s no one waiting for us.”
“Are you sure?” Storm asks.
“I would not be suggesting this if I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, Storm. My fiancé and unborn child are in a burning fucking building. If I thought there was any chance this was a trap, I would want every single man who works for us to be here. That’s how sure I am.”
Storm nods and taps something out on his phone. “I’m sending all the other cars after them. Everett, I know you want to get to Wynter, but I need you to guide them. Rayne, stay in the car, the moment we get Wynter and Snow out, I want to be moving. Elijah and I will go in.”
“Do you think you running into a burning building is a good idea?” Rayne raises an eyebrow. “Then you and your succession plan are both in there.”
“I don’t give a fuck about succession plans right now, Rayne. All I care about is getting our sisters to safety.”
The car skids to a stop and I’m sprinting across the street before I’m conscious of my own movements. I reach for the door, some of the panic that has raged through my veins since the moment we realized they were being followed settles, but as my fingers wrap around the handle a large explosion rumbles beneath my feet. I glance over my shoulder and meet Storm’s frantic eyes, and don’t waste another second before tugging at the doors. My stomach sinks when they don’t budge, they’re locked.
“Around the back!” Storm shouts, taking off without another word.
I sprint after him, the force of my feet hitting the pavement holds me back from the edge of blinding panic. I’ve never known fear like this. My everything is in this burning church, and I don’t want to live a life where she’s not the center of it.
