“We need the money,” I called to Rafa. “Cover me.”
“You fucking crazy?”
“We need it, Rafa.” I dove back into the car and started reaching over the body of the thug.
The Russians opened fire like crazy. Bullets slammed all around me, filling up the car with debris and explosions. I reached over the body and grabbed the handle of the briefcase, barely getting my fingers on it.
Rafa returned fire and managed to hit one of the Russians in the stomach. He dropped to the ground, bleeding and screaming curses. The other two split up, one going to the front of the car, the other toward the back.
I had to fall back as the guy up front shot at me through the windshield.
I dropped and rolled toward the back, bringing my gun up.
Just then, I heard the roar of another SUV. It was our guys, circling back. They screeched to a halt not far away, and the Russian up front brought his gun around to fire at them.
But too slowly. He was covered in bullets in a second from the guys in that car. They spilled out, running toward us, taking shots at the Russian in the back.
But he took off. He didn’t bother trying to fight a losing battle. He simply turned and ran.
Some of our guys went after him.
I leaned up against the car.
“You okay, boss?” Rafa asked.
“I’m good. You?”
“Fine.”
I looked around at the twisted metal of the two smashed cars and the bodies of our two men. The two Russian guys were still alive. I walked around toward them.
I put my boot on the stomach wound of the one man. He screamed in pain. I put a bullet in his head.
I walked over to the other one.
“Think your guy can get away?” I asked him.
“Fuck you,” he said.
“Wrong answer.” I shot him in the skull.
“We could have used them alive, boss,” Rafa said.
“We’ll catch the guy on foot.” I walked over to the SUV, opened the door, and grabbed the briefcase from the floor. It was dented and covered in blood from thug who hadn’t bothered with a seat belt, but otherwise it was fine.
“What the fuck was that?” Rafa asked. “Why just one car?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe they were going after the money. Or maybe they didn’t know we’d be out in force like that.”
“Shit,” Rafa said. “Bastards.”
“They just made this war real,” I said. “Come on.”
I walked toward the other SUV. I pointed at two of my soldiers. “You two, go make sure that Russian guy gets hunted down.” They nodded and ran off to join the chase.
Rafa climbed into the driver’s seat of the now-empty SUV, and I got into the passenger side. We had four trained guys out hunting for that Russian; he wouldn’t last long.
Rafa pulled out, and the last SUV met up with us at a stoplight. We drove together back toward the compound.
My heart was fucking pounding. That had been an incredibly close one. We were lucky that last SUV came back to check on us, otherwise we might have been dead in the street.
But we’d made it, and with the money, half of what we needed to make good with Bao and his people. Hopefully Arturo would front the other half, but you never knew with that cheap bastard.
I felt fucking amped from all the adrenaline flowing through my body. It was almost as good as how I’d felt after fucking Kaley earlier that day.
But I couldn’t think about her. She was just a distraction. This war was real and getting more dangerous every day. I’d figure out what I wanted with Kaley soon enough.
But first, I had to get money and fund this damn violence.
19
Kaley
My head was buzzing as I walked through the hallways, Alexei in my arms. He was squirming more than usual but seemed content and happy to get a ride around the plush halls.
And I felt like I needed to be moving. After watching what had happened with Louisa, this war was becoming suddenly more real.
It was early the next day, and I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept well the night before, mostly because I was so worried about Vince and about my own family. I’d never wanted any of this to happen, never wanted a war between my family and the Italians.
I stopped walking and leaned up against the wall, looking down at Alexei.
“What do you think of your daddy, Alex?” I asked him. “Think he’s big and strong? You’ll be big and strong one day.”
He just kept squirming and looking around, and I smiled. Every day he seemed to get more and more interested in his surroundings, smiled more, laughed sometimes, and just seemed like he was learning. He was growing so fast, too. Every time I felt too stressed and worried, I needed to just think about Alex and remember why I was doing this.