Page 46 of Taking Over the Dark

I can hear the guys behind the door yelling in Russian, but it sounds like it’s maybe at a video game.

Once we hear the click of the locks disengaging, we’re pulling the door open toward us, storming into the room. We all haveour guns out now, not needing to be quiet anymore since these are the last fucks left in this place.

Right before the first bullet flies through the chamber, I hear Willow’s voice break through the comms, asking if this is real, while she sobs manically.

I land a headshot on the guy sitting beside who I’m assuming is the main guy, and all the others are slumped in their chairs with a new matching head hole. Dario moves quickly to knock the last guy out with the butt of his gun before quickly pulling out a syringe and dosing him to keep him out.

He had this planned, but honestly, I can’t blame him. I would’ve done the same thing.

I hurt anyone who dares to hurt someone I love.

Percy’s big ass steps up, slinging the man’s limp body over his shoulder and picking him up like he weighs nothing.

As we all pile out, Dario sees Willow and Sonny for the first time. “You’re alive,” his voice breaks as he starts to sob. Tears are running down everyone’s face, including mine, but we need to get out of here. “They sent a video of your head getting cut off.”

“That one likes playing with AI,” Niccolo grits out. They must have made the artificial videos and shown them to them before sending them to Dario’s team. “Willow’s wasn’t AI though…” Now we know for certain Willow was brutally assaulted. We won’t tell Nash about it, though—that’s Willow’s story to tell if she chooses.

Filling Noah in through the comms I explain, “We’ve got both of them. About to send everyone out. Can you all bring the vehicles down so we don’t have to carry everyone up?”

Nash answers me, “Yes, Sir.”

And there goes my cock twitching.

“Noah, are there any gas lines in here?”

“The stove. Take a right when you get to the end of the hallway. Please be careful, Marcello. I don’t want to have todeal with burns. Docs an hour or two away,” Noah drones on, knowing exactly what I have planned.

“Let the cameras roll. I want Andrei to know who did this.”

I shuffle everyone out of the back of the warehouse and out the doors. Then Vin and I are heading into the kitchen to flip on the burners, letting the gas fill the space.

We’re both out the front door loading into the SUVs and sending them down the road, not wanting to risk them in an explosion if it ends up being bigger than I think it might. I open the crack of the front door, throw my lit zippo onto the floor, and take off in a sprint to the vehicles.

As I’m jumping into the back seat I hear the explosion, and when I look back the whole building is on fire. Especially the end that supposedly had the drugs in it.

Now I find myself wondering what kind of drugs he had stored in there… whatever they were had to be highly flammable.

Nash sits in the front seat as Noah drives. I begin questioning him, because he’s being way too quiet for my liking. “Nash, if you need help telling your sister what happened with your da—” He cuts me off before I can get the rest of the sentence out.

“He’s to be referred to as sperm donor from here on out.” He takes a few settling breaths and then adds, “I’ll explain everything to her when we get back. Maybe in the morning. I can only imagine how much worse they had it than we did.”

Zamir’s quick with a response, angry with Nash’s dismissal. “Don’t you dare undermine yours or Ellie’s suffering. Justbecause you weren’t tortured doesn’t mean that didn’t cause trauma either.”

Nash brats back, “Fine. But I’m still going to wait until at least the morning.” He turns around to look at us, asking his next question, “Does it make me a horrible person to want to be back at home and not stay here for my own sperm donor’s funeral?”

Ellie is the one to comfort him on this one. “With all the shit we’ve been through the past couple of weeks. No. That does not make you a bad person whatsoever.”

It’s not lost on me that Nash killed his father, but he’s taking it pretty well as far as I can tell. We’ll have to keep an eye on him once we get back to Vegas.

I find myself pulling away, scared to get close to Nash and Zamir.I know this stems from them being taken and all my fears about putting those close to me in danger coming true. I hate putting them at risk, but I don’t think I can hold back the feelings I have for the both of them any longer.

* Fuck Up Some Commas - Future

THIRTY-TWO

ELLINOR

Dario hauls his Russian captive to his underground bunker to enjoy some torture time and, I’m sure, to get some of that rage out from hurting his people. He heads down there with his men, and I warn him to be careful. Sonny is far from the condition he needs to be in to be able to torture someone.

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