Chapter Twenty-Four
Sergio
"Make sure Nico stays with them until I get back and get him to make sure the alarms are on." Dominic paces as he speaks into his phone. "Si, now get your ass here." He ends the call and jams the phone in his pocket.
"Boss, I need to go and find her." I sound pissed because I am. We're wasting time and thinking about what could be happening to my woman is driving me out of my mind. I hear Theo groan and turn to see him sitting on the sofa.
"Fucken assholes," he spits out while rubbing the side of his head.
"The bullet grazed the side of your head, I stitched you up. You'll be fine but you'll probably have a headache for a while." Doc packs up his bag.
I slam a bottle of pain tablets down on the table in front of him along with a glass of water.
"Talk." I fold my arms across my chest. I know I'm being an asshole right now but I need the information.
"Fuck, Sergio, give him a second," Dominic growls.
"We don't have a fucking second!" I shout out in frustration. I feel the weight of Dom's hand come down on my shoulder and he gives it a squeeze. Uncrossing my arms, I run a hand through my hair, trying to calm down.
"I need my laptop." Theo slams his glass down on the table after taking a couple of pills.
"It's smashed to fucking pieces," I inform him.
"I have a spare in the car."
Thank fuck. I race out to his car and thank fuck it's unlocked. I reach inside and push the button to release the boot, grab the laptop and head back inside to where Theo is now waiting at the kitchen table. I place it down and wait for what feels like forever for him to start it up. He taps the keyboard and when he swings it toward us, there's another picture of Bruno J on the screen. This one is different though, there's a woman with him.
"When I was searching through everything last night this picture popped up. Her name is Karen." He points to the picture of the brown-haired woman.
"I dug a little deeper and it turns out she's indebted to Bruno J. She lives in Stockton. She also has a place in Sydney but my bet is they are in Stockton at the moment and that's where Kirsty is."
"Let's go," Dominic orders at the same time Antonio races through the door. He looks different and it takes me a few seconds to realize his arm is no longer in a sling.
"What's up with that?" I point at his arm.
"Fuck, I was over it, I don't need it."
I nod before we race to one of the cars out front and jump in. I hope to Christ we get to my woman in time.
***
We crawl down the street until we come to an old run-down house, fuck, it's barely standing and calling it a house is a bit of a stretch. It's taken us twenty-five minutes to get here and my stomach is churning, thinking what they could be doing to my girl. I don't blame Antonio, there was no faster way to get here. There's only one bridge which leads into Stockton and it's busy as shit because the road over runs through an industrial area.
We pull to a stop a couple of doors up and Antonio switches off the engine. "How are we going to do this, Boss?" He checks his guns and I pull mine out again, ready to get this shit over and done with.
"Sergio and I will go through the front door, you cover the back and catch anyone who tries to escape. It's time we ended this shit, here and now."
"What the fuck are we hanging around for?" I growl before stepping out of the car.
Dominic grabs my arm. "Sergio, calm down and get your shit together or instead of getting your woman, you'll leave the house in a body bag."
"Clear heads," Antonio says as he joins us.
I know what they say is true but I'm struggling to control myself. I need my woman back in my arms, to know she's safe. I nod at the pair of them even though I'm churning with worry.
We make quick work of crossing the front yard to the front of the house and Antonio keeps to the shadows as he creeps around back.
I peek through the torn curtains at the front window and see two men talking. I look back to Dom and hold up two fingers. When I look back, I see another person come from downstairs and head towards the back. I turn back to Dom and indicate one more. He nods his understanding.
We creep to the front door and Dominic gives a signal before smashing in the front door. The old wood offers no resistance and it splinters on impact before what's left crashes against a wall. We barge in and start shooting.
BANG!
BANG!
The odor of nitroglycerin, sawdust, and graphite swirls in the air and bullet shells drop to the floor with a metallic ping.
The two men in the front room drop to the floor. Dead. I swing around and point my gun toward the other man who has swung towards us. It's fucking Bruno J. His hand moves to the back waistband of his pants but before he can reach for a gun, Antonio explodes through the back door and pushes his gun to Bruno J's head.
"Nice and easy." Antonio's tone is menacing.
Bruno J moves his hand slowly and drops his gun to the floor. Antonio kicks it away.
I cross the floor and get up in the asshole's face. "Where the fuck is she?"
"Fuck you," he spits.
I aim my gun to his leg and shoot out his kneecap. He drops to the floor screaming in pain.
"Where is she?"
"Fucken piece of shit, I own her not you!"
This asshole has a death wish. I aim my gun at his other knee but before I can shoot he gets to his feet and raises his arm. Antonio grabs it and shoots him through the palm. He falls back to the floor screaming in pain and I watch as blood pools around him.
"One more time you piece of shit, where the fuck is she?"
"Downstairs!" he screams when Antonio jams his foot on the hand which was shot.
I take off at a dead run and take the stairs two at a time until I reach the bottom. I notice what looks like cellar doors and wonder why everything down here has been sound proofed. I dash to the only closed door, flip all the locks and slam the door open.
Pride wells within me when I see her in a fighting stance, ready to take me on. The woman in the picture with Bruno J is lying on the floor, blood surrounds her. I do a double take, fuck, is that a high heel shoe sticking out of her eye? I shake my head and move into the room slowly, giving Sugar time to see it's me.
"Sugar, baby," I whisper.
I watch as her face crumples and she runs straight into my open arms.
"You came," she sobs into my neck.
"Always, Tesoro mio." I wrap my arms tight around her and feel her flinch. I pull back and when I look, I see fresh bruises appearing over her stomach. Fucken piece of shit.
"I'm so sorry, Sugar."
"I'm fine now you're here." She leans in and kisses me.
"Come on, let's get you home."
She wraps her arms around me and holds on as I carry her back upstairs. When we enter the kitchen, I see Antonio and Dominic have tied Bruno J to a chair. Dominic is standing in front of him with a knife. Kirsty wriggles against me and when I look into her eyes, she's pleading with me.
"What is it, Sugar?"
"There's something I need to do."
I slide her down my body until her feet touch the floor and remember she is in a ripped shirt with only her bra and panties on. I slip my shirt off, remove the torn one from her and replace it with mine. Slowly she turns and takes a few steps towards Bruno J.
"Little pie," he gasps.
The nickname grates down my spine. "What the fuck you call her?" Dominic pushes the knife to his throat.
"You don't fucking speak to her!" Antonio grabs a handful of hair and rips his head back.
Kirsty crosses to the drawers and is rummaging in them. I wondering what she's doing until she turns with something shiny in her hands. She pushes back her shoulders and steps in front of Bruno J, I watch as his eyes widen and when I glance at her hands, I see the ice pick she is holding.
She leans forward and I growl when she speaks to him. She is too fucking close to the piece of shit. I look at Antonio when he chuckles and then hear Bruno J scream out like a little bitch.
Kirsty stabs the asshole in the balls with the ice pick and it has us all wincing. She lifts her arm and repeatedly stabs at his sac, he screams in agony. She spits in his face, drops the ice pick and turns back to me. I open my arms and she moves into them.
I knew she needed to do what she did, but fuck I hated my woman being so close to him.
"Sergio, take Kirsty to the car while we finish him off."
"Si, Boss."
I lift Kirsty into my arms and as I turn to leave, I stiffen at Bruno J's words.
"Paulie is still com…," he coughs. "….coming for you."
The words hang in the air as Dominic slices his throat.
"We need to get back, I found something Theo is going to want to know," Dominic says.
"What fucking now?" Antonio asks.
I don't hear anymore as I cradle my girl close to my chest and head for the car.