The man in the suit walks up to the camera and takes off the goggles. Not that he needed to. I would recognize his voice anywhere.
“Tell your husband I said hello,” Orlando says into the camera, making every hair on my body stand on end. “I’ll be seeing you, sweetheart.”
He blows a kiss into the camera then places the goggles over his eyes once more. I want to gag, or scream, or open this door and shoot him between the eyes.
The three of them turn and walk up the stairs and out of the camera's line of sight.
The shrill sound of the phone ringing breaks the silence in the safe room, startling me out of my momentary stupor. Grabbing the phone hanging on the wall, I pick up the receiver.
“Alessia!” Finn yells into the phone. “I see you, baby. You’re going to be okay.”
I look around frantically, trying to find another camera in the room.
“Look above the door to the gun range,” he tells me.
Looking up, I spot the small camera, feeling a sense of relief that he can see me, that I can hear his voice.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, Alessia. Cillian is with me and Eoghan is on his way with the family doctor. All you have to do is stay in the room and wait for me, okay?”
My head bobs up and down, and a sob that I’ve been holding on to since the power went out upstairs escapes from my throat. “They shot Enzo. He’s not in here with me. God, Finn. I think he’s dead.”
“I know, baby. And I know this is going to be hard for you, but I need you to stay in the room. It looks like they’re gone, but I don’t want you taking any chances, okay? You need to wait for me.”
I nod again, tears pouring down my face. “It was Orlando.”
“I know. I’m almost there. It’ll be okay. I’m almost home.”
“Please hurry.”
I keep the phone in my hand but turn back toward the monitor, where I see Enzo. He still hasn’t moved and the amount of blood under him is scaring the ever-loving shit out of me.
God, Finn. Hurry.
Chapter eighteen
Finn
I’m in a nearly blind rage. The only thing keeping me fucking grounded in this moment is the fact I’m on the phone with my wife. Cillian got a call from the dancer who tipped him off the first time that Carlo was at the strip club again. Eoghan met Cillian and me there with a couple of our guys, intent on ending this tonight. I’m sick and fucking tired of Carlo and Orlando Farina walking around this planet thinking they’re untouchable, they sure as shit aren’t, and it’s time I proved it.
When we pulled up, we saw a sea of flashing lights outside. Declan, one of the guys who works on Eoghan’s crew, jumped out to ask what was going on. He talked to the security guy for the club, and he said one of the girls was found in the alley with a bullet between the eyes. Turns out it was Cillian’s friend who tipped us off earlier tonight.
I don’t know if Carlo knew she called us or made her call us, then killed her. But either way, the girl was dead, and shit was not sitting right with me.
We all jumped back in the car to head to my house. I needed to be close to my wife, to know she was safe. We weren’t more than fifteen minutes from the house when I got an emergency notification on my phone. The lock to the safe room had been activated. Cillian immediately pulled up the camera feed to the house, and what I saw shook me to my core. Two men were standing outside the safe room door in one frame and my wife was behind the steel-reinforced door in the other. I could hear them trying to figure out what the hell to do when a third man walked into the basement.
Orlando Farina. My wife’s soon-to-be-dead ex-boyfriend.
He fed her a line of bullshit about seeing her soon and turned, walking past Enzo’s body, lying motionless on the ground. I immediately called Eoghan and told him to go pick up the doctor we keep on payroll and meet us at the house. Before he could ask any questions, I hung up and called Alessia on the direct line going to the safe room.
I’ve been on the phone with her for the last ten minutes, trying to calm her down, but she can’t take her eyes off the monitor for the camera pointing at Enzo.
“How much longer?” she asks again. “He’s still not moving.” Swiping the tears pouring down her face, she stares at the screen. Knowing my wife, she’s probably trying to will him to move, to wake up and show some kind of life.
“I know, baby. I can see both of you.”
I refrain from telling her I’m not sure Enzo will ever move again. Goddammit. We’ve gotten to know each other a bit since the three of us began working out together. The man doesn’t say much, but he’s reliable and has a dry sense of humor that reminds me of Alessia’s. I can see why she’s so fucking distraught over the idea of losing him. I’ve always felt at ease when I couldn’t be with her, knowing he was there to protect her. Even now, if he dies, I know he did everything he could to make sure she was safe.
“How close are you?”