Page 8 of Broken Princess

“I can’t believe he did that to her…” he whispers, hiding his eyes on Nico's shoulder.

I cough to announce my presence, causing Nico’s eyes to lift to mine. “How is she?”

“Doc Em called from the car. Aurora’s stable, but she’ll be back in a few hours with more medication plus any supplies she can grab from the hospital. The knife appears to have missed everything vital, which is a fucking miracle, but she needs to monitor for any complications that might arise from the stab wound.”

Nico nods and continues, “How do we play this, Zo? We need to check in with Max, and soon.” His hands absently stroke Benny’s lower back, still holding him.

I huff out a breath and run my hands over my face. It’s been a long fucking night. “He can’t know she’s still alive and he sure as fuck can’t know that we have her. By saving her, we’ve defied a direct order, and if De Luca finds out, we’re as good as dead,” I say, thinking out loud. “We need to get hold of her father. Fuck, we need to identify whoever we just incinerated and figure out what the fuck is going on. We all know there’s no way Mateo approved a hit on his daughter. Which means Max may make a move against The Syndicate, or the De Lucas are staging a coup and somehow, we’ve ended up in the middle of a clusterfuck of epic proportions.”

Benny blows out a breath as he considers the implications. “Holy shit, this is big.” Then he turns to me and says, “My money is on a coup. But why, in the name of fuck, would he choose us to get rid of her body? He knows our history with the Bianchis.”

“That’s what I was wondering. But if she hadn’t opened her eyes, I wouldn’t have known it was her. He did everything he could to make her unrecognisable,” I respond.

“And we are the best. He needed us to make this go away,” Nico chimes in.

“Maybe,” I muse, volleying my head from side to side as I consider Nico’s words. “As far as we’re supposed to know, this was a typical clean-up.”

“Us holding up in a safe house isn’t typical,” Nico retorts.

“Well, we have no fucking choice if we’re going to keep Aurora safe,” I snap.

“Easy, boss. What I meant was we have to cover our asses. Someone is going to notice our absence. Assuming we’re not already under surveillance,” Nico explains.

“Shit, you’re right.” He takes a moment to think before continuing. “I need to get Sin to rustle us up some cover jobs. In the meantime, one of you needs to pick up Doc Em. Make sure she’s not being watched and get her here without leading anyone to us.”

“I’ll go,” Nico says. “Text her now. Let her know I’ll be picking her up in three hours.” He turns and heads back to his room, reaching out and grabbing Benny by the hand, he pulls him with him. “We need a shower,” is all he says, and they’re gone.

I lean over the counter and grab one of the abandoned beers. Using the side of the counter to pop the top, I bring it to my lips and take a long, thirst-quenching gulp. Fuck, I needed that. Well, I’d rather have a whiskey, but I can’t right now.

I take out my phone, text Doc Em, and then place the call I’ve been avoiding. In a terse tone, he answers, “Is it done?”

“Yes, Mr. De Luca,” I confirm and then wait to see how he’s going to play this. The silence stretches out until it reaches a painfully awkward level.

“You’re not on-call anymore. I won’t be needing you for anything else,” he says and ends the call in a clipped tone.

If we’re lucky, or as good as we think we are, he believes we have disposed of both bodies. But I need to wake Sin up. If we’re going to cover our asses, he needs to identify the male body. But I also need him to hack Max’s communication systems, track down Mateo, and start doing what he does oh so well, gathering any intel we can exploit. There’s a fucking shitstorm coming, and we need to be prepared.

I down the last dregs of beer and head back to the garage to grab the rest of the gear I brought back with me. Clothes for, well, everyone. We have tactical gear here and enough casual gear for brief stays, but we’ll be here for the foreseeable future. Lugging the various gym bags I packed, I leave them in the hall. I grab the bag of stuff for Aurora and head back downstairs.

This time, as I approach the door, I hear singing. Low soulful notes that I know can only be Sin. He doesn’t sing often, and only when he thinks no one is listening. I creep back to the base of the staircase and stomp loudly enough to announce my presence. The melody stops, and I enter the room. Sin is already leaning back and stretching out his shoulders as I enter. He looks exhausted, his face drawn and eyes bloodshot.

“I got everything you asked for,” I start as I drop the bag on the floor at the foot of the bed. “Talk to me, Sin. What don’t I know?”

He’s looking down at her hand. Sin isn’t a talker, but his silence is disconcerting. I wait patiently as he finds his words.

“I helped Doc Em, when she was… patching her up.” He takes a steadying breath before he continues. “I’ve never seen anything like it, Zo.” He can’t look at me. “This wasn’t attempted murder. It was torture. Doc Em says it’s like she’s in a self-induced coma. She’s catatonic or some shit.”

“You need a break, Sin.”

“Why do I get a break? She didn’t get a break for however long it took him to do this to her,” he lashes out, waving his arms frantically before letting them fall to his sides in defeat.

I surge forward, grabbing his neck with one hand and yanking him towards me, pressing his forehead to mine. “Open your eyes and look at me right fucking now, Sin,” I hiss, emotion clogging my throat. “We need you to work your magic. Find out what the fuck is going on. Mateo and his most trusted capos are MIA. I have a faceless dead guy I need you to identify, and I need you to hack anyone you can on the De Luca side to find out why their number two just murdered Aurora-fucking-Bianchi. Got it?”

He takes a shaky breath, clenching and unclenching his fists as if trying to regain control of himself. “Y-yes, boss.”

“Grab a quick shower, get your head on straight, and get started. You’re the only one who can dig up the information we need. In the meantime, I’ll stay with her.” My tone may make it sound like a request but it’s an order, and Sin knows it.

He shuffles out but looks back when he reaches the door. “If she wakes, call me. I need to hear her voice to know she’s okay.” I nod and he leaves.

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