Nate
It was close to midnight when we arrived at the zoo owner’s property. The man lived on an elaborate estate deep in the trees outside of Atlanta. The place was fenced all around with an electronic gate at the front. Not that that would stop us. We were going in to find Tony and nothing would keep us out.
We found Tony’s Ferrari hidden deep in the trees about a half mile down the road. We parked near his car, hiding our vehicles near his. Then we snuck down the road and to the property. We all gathered around while we waited for Tracker to center himself and try to get a feel for where Tony was at. After several moments, he opened his eyes.
“He’s not here. He was, but now he’s gone.”
“Son-of-a-bitch!” Luke snarled. “Where is he?”
A mixture of frustration and worry seeped into me. Where was he?
“He’s in a moving vehicle,” Tracker announced. “A van, I think. He was surrounded by men with guns.”
“The Spartans,” Jacob said, drawing everyone’s gazes. “They had me in the back of a van.”
“Me, too,” I added.
The Spartans had Tony. Goddammit!
“They’re fucking with us,” Noah murmured. “Leading us on a wild goose chase so we won’t get to him in time.”
My heart squeezed. I couldn’t let Tony die.
“Is he still alive?” Ryan asked me, his gaze filled with concern.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I can still feel him, but he’s extremely weak. He’s zoned out mentally, but I can still feel his physical pain. I don’t think he has much longer.”
Alissa let out a soft gasp, her hand squeezing mine in comfort. “We have to find him,” she whispered. “We have to.”
Jacob and I locked stares. “If he’s in the back of the Spartans’ van, then they are probably taking him to the warehouse in Augusta,” I said. The bastards had led us all the way here to Atlanta, and now we had to go all the way back into Augusta. How would we ever find Tony in time?
Jacob nodded his agreement. “Yeah.” He let out a small shudder. “Fuck, I hate that place.”
Sympathy and understanding tugged at me. Jacob had been forced to fight in the octagon there a few months ago. He’d been forced to kill over fifty men and had almost died himself. I didn’t blame him for hating that place. Horrific memories of that warehouse would probably haunt him forever.
Everyone looked at me. “What do you want to do?” Noah asked quietly.
“Let’s go get him.” A newfound determination swept through me. “I’m not letting him die.”
We all hurried back to our vehicles and hit the road, racing as fast as we dared back toward Eatonton. I would break more than the speed limit if had to. Tony’s life depended on it.
Alissa and I were both silent for the first fifteen or twenty minutes, each lost in our own thoughts.
Then my phone rang.
Alissa’s gaze darted to mine.
I snatched my phone out of the center console and glanced at the caller I.D. “It’s your old number,” I murmured.
Her eyes went big. “It’s Romeo. It has to be. He still has my phone.”
I didn’t want to answer it, but Tony’s life depended on us finding him in time. I answered through the Bluetooth control.
“Yeah.”
Romeo snickered. “Hello, Nate. Bet your wondering why I’m calling, huh. I got your buddy, that big Mexican bastard. He’s fucked up pretty bad, so I don’t know if he’s going to live for much longer. I know you want him. And you’ve got something I want. So let’s do an exchange. You give me Alissa. And I’ll give you your buddy.”
Fuck. I jerked my gaze to Alissa’s. Her eyes were wide with fear, but then slowly filled with determination. She nodded at me, then whispered, “Do it.”
What? No way in hell could I hand her over to the Spartans. The last time they’d gotten a hold of her, they’d beaten the shit out of her. I wouldn’t allow her to be subjected to that again.
But if I didn’t agree to Romeo’s deal, Tony would die.
He’d given me an impossible decision.
Tony or Alissa. How the hell could I choose?
“You still there, Nate?” Romeo’s voice came over the car speakers again. “Do you agree to the exchange?”
I swallowed hard. How could I possibly make this decision? One or the other of them would die.
Fuck that. Fuck Romeo. He wasn’t going to take away my best friend or Alissa. I wouldn’t let him.
“How do I know you won’t kill him as soon as I get there?”
Romeo chuckled. “You don’t. But if you want him to live, you’d better come get him before he dies.”
Alissa’s gaze locked on mine. “We agree,” she said loudly so that Romeo could hear her. “We’ll do the deal. You let Tony go and you can have me.”
“No!” I hissed out, glaring at her. “You can’t.”
“I can and I will.” She held my gaze. “I’m doing this for you. And for Tony.” She raised her voice again so that Romeo could hear her. “You hear that Romeo? We agree.”
“Perfect!” Romeo let out an eerie-sounding giggle that made me want to reach through the phone and choke him. “Meet us at the Spartan warehouse in Augusta. Once you hand over Alissa, you can have your buddy. You’ve got one hour.”
“Two!” I growled out. “I’m too far away to be there in one hour.” I wanted to hit something. Hard. Tony’s life was in the balance, and I had to hand over Alissa if I wanted to save him. The impossibility of this situation was tearing me up inside. How could I possibly agree to do this?
“Two, then. You better hurry up!” Romeo cackled before the line went dead.
“Fuck! I hate that bastard!” We should have killed him that first night at Riverwalk Augusta. Instead, we’d let him walk away. And now he had Tony. My hatred for Romeo just kept swelling and swirling into a murderous intent. I had to kill him. He wouldn’t get away with this.
I turned to glare at Alissa. “What were you thinking? You can’t do this. He’ll kill you.”
She held my gaze without flinching. “When I first met you, I was weak and broken. A coward. But you helped me find my strength. One thing I’ve learned these past weeks is that I’m a lot tougher than I thought. I can endure horrible things and still recover from them. You taught me that. Tony showed me how to heal. He selflessly let me use him as a punching bag to deal with my demons.” Her voice cracked. “If nothing else, I owe Tony for what he did for me.” Alissa looked deeply into my eyes, the determination in her gaze causing a small flicker of hope to flare inside me. “I will give myself up so that you can get Tony out of there.” She paused, her gaze hardening. “And then I’m going to do something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. I’m going to kill Romeo.”
I sighed, my heart pinching. “I can’t let you do that. Killing isn’t something to be taken lightly.”
She lifted her chin, her gaze never wavering from mine. “Did I ever tell you what Romeo did?”
I inhaled sharply. “No.” I didn’t want to know what he’d done to her. It would only make me hate him more.
“I’m talking about the night three years ago. Did I tell you what Romeo did?” She raised her voice, her eyes taking on a deadly glint I’d never witnessed from her before. For a moment, my heart stopped.
Don’t tell me. Please don’t tell me.
“He watched.” Her voice turned cold. “He saw me being attacked and raped, but instead of rushing in to save me, he just stood there and watched them abuse me. He got some kind of sick pleasure out of seeing those men destroy me. And when I asked him why he would do such a terrible thing, he said it was because I had rebuffed him so many times. He said it was because I thought I was too good for him, so he figured he’d just watch me get ‘what I deserved’. Since I wouldn’t go out with him, he decided I deserved to be raped. So he just stood back and watched it happen.”
Jesus. I reached across the car and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly in mine. I couldn’t imagine anyone just standing back and watching a woman being raped. What kind of person did that?
“You have good reason to want him dead,” I admitted quietly. “But that doesn’t mean you have to be the one to kill him. Let me do it for you.”
She shook her head. “Your goal is to get Tony out of there and make sure he survives. My goal is to kill Romeo and get my revenge. Don’t try to stop me, Nate. This is something I have to do. For Tony. For you. But mostly, for myself.”
I sighed. Alissa was a hell of a strong woman. She was incredibly tough. She’d been through one traumatic thing after another, and yet, she’d bounced back and still managed to retain some decency and goodness. And I loved her. So damn much. My chest swelled. Finally, the words came to my lips, eager to be spoken, anxious to be heard. I could no longer hold them back.
“I love you,” I whispered, all my emotions pouring out with those three words. “And I should have told you sooner, but I was afraid I would lose you. I’m even more afraid I will lose you now. But you deserve to know. I love you, Alissa. And I can’t lose you, dammit. Losing you would kill me as much as losing Tony.”
Her eyes filled with fresh tears. “I love you, too. You won’t lose me. I promise.”
I swallowed hard. “I won’t stop you or tell you what to do. You’re your own person. If you want to kill Romeo, be my guest. But I have to warn you, killing isn’t easy. No matter how much you might hate someone, taking their life will not come easy. When you come face-to-face with that decision, it won’t be an easy one to make.”
She looked into my eyes. “I understand. But that’s still my goal. Kill Romeo and end this thing between him and me once and for all. He deserves to die for what he did to you, for what he’s doing to Tony right now, and for what he did to me.”
Alissa was obviously bound and determined to do this. There was nothing I could say or do to stop her.
A deep sense of dread settled into my gut.
Would it ultimately come down to me having to lose either Tony or Alissa in order to save the other?