Page 65 of Reluctant Surrender

“Two hours is a lot of time,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. It had taken time for Dominik to get a hold of his guy. I’d hesitated to call him, not wanting to put any checkmarks in the favors owed to the Staszek family column, but I wasn’t willing to put Maggie’s life in danger just to keep them at arm’s length. Dominik had fought off the Bertonellis before when they tried to slither into their territory. He was a good ally to have.

“Jakub will meet us at the warehouse.” Dominik pulled out his phone, but I shook my head.

“I don’t think we’ll need him. You’ve done enough with the information. Thank you.”

Dominik frowned. “There’s safety in numbers.”

He was right, and the more strength we had, the faster we’d be able to get her out of there unscathed. If she was still untouched. If they hurt her, if they touched one little curl on her head, I was going to break in every one of their skulls.

“All right. But we’re leaving now.” I gestured for everyone to file out. “Jared, take Camille and get to the airport.”

“I can help,” he said, trying to follow.

“No. You keep your sister safe,” I called over my shoulder.

Bertonelli’s warehouse was on the west side of the city. Half a mile north of Maggie’s old office. She’d been blocks away from these scumbags the entire time she worked there.

“We’ll go round the back, you go up front.” I took control when we rolled up to the gates. The chain was unlocked and dangling around the gate, which probably meant Bertonelli was already inside.

“If Jared’s wrong, I’m going break his nose again,” Andrezj muttered behind me as we made our way along the back wall of the warehouse.

We came to the back door and paused, listening for noise on the other side. When I heard nothing, I quietly opened the door and stepped inside.

My fucking liquor.

Pallets of the shit stolen from my distribution line were all sitting in the warehouse. My men marked our boxes with a K in case anything like this were to ever happen. And there they were. Bertonelli didn’t want my backing to help take over territory on the west side, he wanted to take my territory.

I motioned for my men to follow, and I took the path I’d memorized from Jared’s drawing. There would be a room at the back of the warehouse, down a hallway of unused offices. Dominik and Jakub met us at the hallway with their guns drawn and collectively we made our way down to the last room.

Just as we approached the door, it flung open and Johnny stood there, shock in his eyes at first, and then fear.

“Playing both sides is a dangerous game.” I raised my gun, aiming at his face. “Get out of the way.”

“Sammy.” Johnny turned his head to talk over his shoulder. “You got company, man.”

“Stop!” Maggie’s scream twisted my stomach. With my blood boiling over, I rushed forward, grabbing Johnny and tossing him to the men behind me, and I pushed into the room.

Sammy stood over my girl, my wife, one hand wrapped around her throat, the other gripping the front of her shirt like he was about to tear it off her.

“I really suggest you get your fucking hands off my wife.” I pulled my Glock 19 from my waistband. I knew what that room was for. I had several just like it. Maggie had no business in one of these rooms.

Sammy let her go and stepped away from her, but still too close by my estimation.

“I wasn’t going to hurt her.” His lips slithered into a grin. “I just wanted to talk to you about a new deal.”

“There’s no deals.” My finger hugged the trigger.

“You owe me, Kaczmarek.”

“I don’t owe you shit. My cousin made deals with you, not me.”

He stepped closer to Maggie, gently petting her hair. I chanced taking a glance at her. Dirt smeared across one cheek, while a bruise formed on the other. I could see the fear in her eyes, but only because I knew what to look for. I knew the little flutter of her lids meant she was trying not to cry.

“You promised to back me—”

His words were cut off when I fired my gun over his head to the left. The bullet sank into a wood beam.

“Fuck all that. The minute you touched her you signed your execution warrant.” I pulled back the hammer again.

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