Page 74 of Gilded Saint

“What are you going to do?”

“Take care of this.” I press my lips to her forehead.

I love you.

The thought blindsides me. I breathe it away.

“Go. I’ll be up as soon as I can.”

I watch, hand on my gun, not taking my eyes off my wife until she’s secure in the elevator. I wait until the digital reading shows the number 41.

My skin tingles. This isn’t over.

I pop John’s trunk and place all three bodies inside. The concrete’s a bloody mess. This place needs a cleaner. But I need to get out of here. I need to get a call in to Nick. Get bobbies we own on the scene.

That means I don’t have time to surprise the tango. He’s probably figured out he doesn’t have signal down here, so he’s waiting for one of his buddies to come up for him. Watching for them to walk up the incline. Or he’ll loop the garage.

I get in the elevator and monitor the signal bar from the moment the doors close. The second I have signal, I dial. The lift stops at the lobby level, and a woman in a business suit and trench coat enters.

“Leo. I heard from Goldman. Funds cleared,” Nick says.

“We have a problem.” The woman side-eyes me, but the lift stops two floors higher, and she exits. The doors close, and the lift begins its rapid ascension.

“What now?”

“Leandro De Luca attempted to kidnap Willow.”

“Fuck.”

“He’s dead, and so are two of his men. One is hanging out in the garage in the getaway car.”

“Bloody hell.”

“Leandro had to be the one behind Lina. He wanted to find me, so he went after her when you were out of town. Everyone knew you were at that conference.”

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Beat you to it.”

“Any idea if Massimo knew what he was doing?”

“Didn’t get to interrogate him. He had a gun to Willow’s head.” The elevator doors open, and I slam a fist against a tile panel. The tile lifts, and I press the button for the stairs to expand.

“God damn. The last thing I want is a war with the Lupi Grigi.”

Willow appears over the banister, clutching her arms to her chest.

“Did Leandro say anything to you? Did Massimo know?”

“Who is that?” Nick asks in my ear.

“Willow.”

“He said my father should have never agreed to give me to the syndicate. That the syndicate sold out the Lupi Grigi. And they would get revenge, starting with reclaiming me.”

“You hear that?”

“Fuck.” He’d been playing with fire when he tried to weaken them by taking out the capo last year.

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