Bow Down(200)

Minutes slipped past. I kept glancing at my watch, nervousness running through me. Everyone was gone, and soon it was just Rafa and me.

He checked his watch. “Ready?”

I nodded. It was almost showtime “I’m ready.”

We began to walk toward the building where the other bosses had already gathered.

“I need to tell you something,” I blurted out, not sure why.

“What?”

“First, I need to know something. Is this real? Or is it because I might be pregnant?”

He stopped and stared at me. “What are you talking about?”

“You and me. Is it real or not?”

He nodded. “It’s real.”

“Louisa Barone is the leader of the Spiders.”

He looked surprised. “What?”

“That’s what I was holding back from you. I met with her out in the forest, and she told me everything. She’s the leader of the Spiders.”

“That’s . . .” he trailed off. “Oh fuck. We need to go.”

“What?”

“Come on.” He took me by the hand.

“Wait. What’s happening?”

“Arturo plans on killing the Spiders. I need to stop him.”

“Shit.”

“Come on.”

We ran into the building, my heart hammering in my chest.

I didn’t know if I had made the right call, but I did know one thing: Whatever this was between us, it was real. I felt it as much as he did.

It was real.





32





Rafa





I pulled Cassidy along behind me as we raced into the echoing, open building.

Arturo’s plan was straightforward: wait until the Spiders showed, and then kill them all. He didn’t care if he was betraying them; he just wanted them dead and gone. That was the only thing on his mind.

But Louisa Barone changed things. I had known Cassidy was holding back, and now I understood why. Louisa was beautiful and impressive, and I could see how Cassidy would want to protect her secrets.

But Arturo had to know. He wouldn’t go through with this attack if he knew the real identity of the Spiders.

This was part of what it meant to grow up. I had to trust Cassidy and accept her choices. My role was to protect her no matter what she chose, and to support her if she failed.

That was what I would do. That was all I could do.

This was real, and I knew what it was.

We entered the open warehouse floor. Ahead, the bosses stood in loose groups surrounded by armed men. I knew they were also in the rafters and all along the catwalk, though I couldn’t see them.

We headed straight toward Arturo and his boys. But just as we got there, another soldier ran up to Arturo and them ahead of us.

“Boss, they’re here.”

Everyone got very, very still.

“Where?” Arturo asked.

“They’re coming in from the far entrance.”

“Who?”

“Three people wearing black body armor. The Spiders.”

“Three?”

“Just three, sir.”

“Scout the area. There must be more.”

“Yes, sir.”

Arturo turned back to his men and began to confer nervously. I stopped in my tracks and looked at Cassidy, my eyes wide.

It was too late for us to stop it, and maybe there wasn’t even anything to stop. The Spiders were up to something.

We stared as the three figures began to come closer. People shifted, and the general tone of the place became nervous. Vince came up and stood next to us, silently staring with his arms crossed.

As the figures got closer, I saw that they were dressed in all-black combat outfits with gas masks in the front.

“Standard Spider outfits,” I murmured.

“They look terrifying.”

“I suspect that’s part of the point. They’re functional, too.”

The three figures stopped about twenty yards away from Arturo. They were unarmed as far as I could tell. The one in the middle was the tallest, though none of them were very tall, maybe my height at best.

I was beyond positive that the middle person was Louisa, and the other two were also women. I couldn’t prove it, but I knew.

The person on the right stepped forward.

“We’re here to discuss terms,” she called out.

Definitely a woman’s voice.

“Are you the leader of the Spiders?” Arturo responded.

“I am not. She is.” The woman gestured at the figure in the center.

Arturo addressed her. “Give me a reason not to kill you three.”

“You don’t want to do that,” the woman who spoken responded. The other two women didn’t move. “We may be unarmed, but our people aren’t.”

“There’s nobody else here. Don’t bluff. We have this whole warehouse surrounded.”

“Of course you do,” the woman said. “But so do we.”