Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“I… okay,” she agreed, her brows pinched.
“And then I need you to get in the tub, and stay as low as you can.”
“What about you?” she asked, voice tight.
“I’m fine. I need to check the house and make some calls. Please. Go. Now,” I added with a little bit of a bark in my voice because she seemed a little stunned.
Then she was doing as I demanded, getting on all fours and crawling toward the bathroom, trailing the sheet with her as she went.
When I was sure she was safe, I yanked my slacks up my legs again, then flew out of my bedroom, making my way through the house.
My phone was where I left it on the kitchen counter, and I reached for it even as I kept moving through the house, looking for anyone who might have stayed behind to make sure the job was done.
“Yeah?” Luca asked, sounding distracted.
“Drive-by at my house,” I said, looking out the front door.
“What?” he hissed.
“Drive-by. Fucking glass and bullets everywhere.”
“Are you hit?” he asked, voice tight.
“No.”
“We’re on our way,” he said.
“Luca,” I called before he could hang up.
“Yeah?”
“Savannah is here,” I told him.
There was a short pause.
“Is she hurt?” he asked.
“No. She’s… hiding in the bathtub. A little stunned.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “We will figure it all out.”
With that, he hung up.
There was no one on the street, no mysterious cars parked anywhere. And I didn’t hear any sirens, like my neighbors had called the cops.
Pulling my phone up again, I dialed Dante.
If my brothers were going to hear about it, I wanted it to come from me.
“This better be good. I’m about to close the deal with this gorgeous thing,” he said, and I felt guilty for ruining his good time too.
“There was a drive-by at my house,” I told him.
“What?” he barked, and I could hear the chair scratch across the floor as he stood.
“I’m fine. Savannah is fine. But Luca is assembling guys to get here. I wanted the information to come from me. Can you tell Santo? And August, if anyone is in touch with him right now.”
“Yes. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. If that,” he added.
That handled, I moved outside, doing a tour around my house.
No one was hiding in the bushes.
It was clear.
And not five minutes after I moved back up onto my front porch, careful not to step my bare feet on any of the glass scattered about, the cars started pulling in the drive, parking on the street.
Luca was the first to make his way to me.
“You good?” he asked, grabbing my shoulder.
“Yeah. No one’s hurt,” I said.
“Is your security system up and running?” he asked.
“Yeah. If they didn’t take out the cameras, yeah,” I agreed, leading him and the family into the house, then to the feed of the cameras.
They were working. And they didn’t get taken out until the last moment.
But they didn’t catch much.
A black car.
Nondescript.
No plates.
Even the manufacturer branding was removed.
Heavy tint on the windows, so you didn’t see much, save for the muzzle flash as the bullets sailed out from that direction.
“Fuckers,” Lucky hissed as we watched it through a second time.
“I’ll say it,” Santo said, making everyone look in his direction. “Drive-bys. That’s… gang shit. Organized crime, they don’t do that. Not anymore. So it’s not another Family. It’s not the Irish or the Bratva. Who’ve we fucked with that has gang affiliations? Or, more specifically, who has Nino fucked with that has gang affiliations?”
That was the question of the day.
And nothing and no one came immediately to mind.
“I haven’t had a big job in a while,” I reminded them. I’d been working kind of half-pace since I’d bought my house. I wanted to devote time to that, so I’d been doing jobs with some of the other guys, but not running my own ones for a long time.
“But you do seem to be the only target,” Dante reasoned.
“Yeah, seem to be,” I agreed.
To that, Luca let out a sigh.
“Okay. We need to go over every job you’ve ever done. Then figure out who any of those people might have connections to street gangs. Or would be willing to work with them.”
Because most higher-up organizations didn’t outsource.
And we definitely didn’t outsource to rookies.
“Drive-bys are so messy,” Lucky said. “Who would be this reckless? In a neighborhood like this?”
“Reckless,” Dino repeated. “Or just don’t care about collateral damage.”
“We need to get you somewhere safe,” Luca decided.
I wanted to disagree.
But if someone was willing to do a drive-by, what was to stop them from infiltrating my house? Shooting me in my sleep?
I did have to leave.
“Savannah.”
I didn’t realize I’d even breathed out her name until Luca was nodding at me.
“Yeah. I think she needs to go with you at this point too,” he agreed.
Shit.
Not only were we going to need to have that talk I’d been dreading, but now I was going to force her to go to a safe house with me until shit got sorted out.