Diego
As we prepare to advance, the rhythmic thud of rotor blades from a chopper overhead breaks through the night's silence. I raise my eyes to the sky, squinting against the glare of its searchlights as it hovers above the warehouse.
What the hell?
"Is that the fucking police?" Leo hisses.
"No. It can't be."
"Not starting the party without me, are you, Diego?" Viktor's voice echoes in my ear, laden with his Russian accent.
Skillfully, four figures clad in tactical gear descend from the chopper's open door. Each one lands on the roof of the warehouse with practiced ease, their boots hitting the concrete with muted thuds.
Damn. Obviously, Viktor is an ally worth having.
Now that he isn't after my wife.
Once Viktor is on the roof, a swarm of men emerge from the building with their guns drawn. I watch as Viktor draws his arm back, and hurls something towards them. The object hits the ground with a dull thud before erupting into a blinding explosion, engulfing the assailants in a searing wave of heat and light.
Camila flinches into me, and as I hold her, I quickly check to make sure my damn eyebrows haven't been singed off.
"Was that a damn grenade?" Danny asks in shock.
"For fuck's safe, Viktor, no more grenades! I don't need my men blown up or risk the chance of Vanessa getting hurt!" I bark.
Viktor snorts. "You begged for help, you don't get to dictate how I do it."
Begged? He fucking wishes.
"Diego, are you okay?" Leo's concerned voice crackles through the earpiece.
"Yeah, I'm going in now." Despite my ears still ringing from the explosion, I lead the way through the hole in the fence, Danny and Camila close behind. Gunfire reverberates around us as more men rush out to greet us.
"Capture Nathan and Celeste. Everyone else dies!" I shout, maybe too loudly.
Stealthily, we slip through the backdoor of the building, and I plant bullets in the two men rushing towards us. As we move further inside, there are rows of racks filled with boxes that stretch from one end of the interior to the other. It will be easy for our enemies to hide since this is their playground. But we'll find every motherfucker in here and they will perish.
Danny and Camila cover my back as we move through the warehouse, firing mercilessly at any unfamiliar face that dares to cross our path. Whether they're directly involved in my wife's kidnapping or not, my thirst for revenge fuels every step taken, every fatal shot fired.
Despite the chaos surrounding us, we check each of the rooms lined against the back wall of the warehouse. However, they're all empty. My mind races back to the surveillance feed where I witnessed her torture. Vanessa was being held in a basement, but the warehouse seems devoid of any obvious entrances to one.
"There must be a trapdoor or something around here," I mutter under my breath, scanning the surrounding area for any sign of hidden access.
They're hiding around here somewhere.
And I could be running out of time to find her.
"Camila, go with Danny and find Vanessa's sister," I command firmly. "Danny, protect my sister."
I don't need to add that I'll put a fucking bullet in his brain if something happens to her.
He already knows.
"Diego, where are you going alone? That isn't safe," Camila asks, worry lacing her voice.
"To find my wife."
Before she can protest further, Danny grabs her hand and pulls her away, leaving me to search for the door alone. I pull out another pistol, both of them in my hands as I carefully step over the dead bodies littering the floor. Thankfully, I see none of my men.
"Nathan. Celeste. Where the fuck are you?" I roar over the gunfire.
"Time to stop running, and hand over my wife!" My anger palpates the air like a thunderous storm. "Surrender now, and I might not even torture you. Just blast a single bullet through both of your damn skulls."
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a figure peek out from behind a stack of crates. I squeeze the trigger twice, sending the bullets tearing through a nearby cardboard box. His body drops to the ground with a heavy thud.
A few moments later, I find what I assume is Nathan's office. Because they had to abandon the house, there's a pillow and blanket in a sofa chair in the corner of the room. I'm guessing they both slept here as they took shifts hurting my wife.
I drop to my knees, pulling the plush rug from the floor.
Thank fuck!
I throw open the trapdoor, revealing a set of concrete steps leading down into a dim lighted hallway below. Every one of my instincts screams that this could be the trap but fuck it. I'm so close to Vanessa that I can practically smell her...taste her on the tip of my tongue.
As I descend into the depths of the hidden passage, the stench of blood slaps me in the face. I pray to all the damn gods that it isn't Vanessa's.
Navigating through the corridor, I pass a series of rooms, each one empty but holding the presence of death. Dread coils in the pit of my stomach, but I push forward, driven by the desperate need to find Vanessa, whether dead or alive.
Finally, I reach the end of the hallway and come upon a steel door. Swallowing my nerve, I grasp the handle and pull it open.
Lying in a pool of his own blood, my half-brother's lifeless body sprawls on the floor. His genitals are practically blown off, and there's a bullet wound right in the center of his forehead along with multiple in his chest. His dead, empty eyes stare back at me, a look of horror on his forever-frozen face.
My chest tightens, panic surging through me. I should be glad that the backstabbing motherfucker is dead, but who could have done this? And where is Vanessa?
"Nathan's dead and I can't find Vanessa. Sal, is she in that SUV?"
My mind races with possibilities. Was Nathan killed by another enemy of his, and did they take my wife? But as I await Sal's response, there's nothing but silence, adding to the growing dread that feels like a fucking boulder in my gut.
"Sal? Sal?" I repeat urgently, but still, no reply comes.
Fuck.
Frustration and fear intertwine as I try to contact the other men who were supposed to be with him, but they also don't respond.
That's not a good sign.
"Viktor's men are handling the rest of the dudes outside. I'll go search for him," Leo declares, but I can hear the worry in his voice too.
"Diego?" I spin around, my heart racing with relief as I see her standing there in the hallway. I hope I'm not just hallucinating from the lack of sleep, and she's really in front of me. She's wearing nothing but a black suit jacket, blood staining it. I can't tell if it's hers or not, but all that matters is that she's alive.
She didn't leave me.
Nathan didn't take her away from me permanently.
My relief quickly turns to confusion as my feisty mama points a gun at me, the grey flames in her eyes blazing with hatred.