Page 58 of Red Dreams

I step back, giving them space, my own heart aching. I know this isn't the end, and we still have a long way to go. But for now, at this moment, a father and daughter are reunited.

And that's a start.

20

LAYLA

Getting two killers and one half-dead man out of a Mafia-owned nightclub without drawing attention requires a special kind of skill.

Not to mention the pile of bodies we’re leaving behind in the VIP suite.

I massage the back of my neck as Kaden finally breaks his embrace with Cassie. Bodies litter the floor around us, her men stained in a shade of red brighter than the plush maroon carpeting. The metallic scent of blood clogs the air. I’m not sure a window has ever been opened in this room. Definitely not while I’ve been held in here.

“We need to move,” Kaden says, his voice still thick with a storm he refuses to release. He moves to Ethan's limp form, checking his pulse before hauling him up in a fireman's carry.

I wince at the way Ethan sags over Kaden’s shoulder while Cassie chews on the side of her cheek and surveys our environment with new eyes. Abruptly, she hops over two of her former bodyguards with a ballerina’s grace and moves to the panel of monitors.

Kaden shifts Ethan's weight on his shoulder, his free hand moving to his knife. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure the othermafiosidon't see this.” She pauses, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. “They've been circling since Papa died, waiting for his heir to show weakness.”

“And this isn't weakness?” I ask, eyeing the dead men at our feet.

Cassie shrugs but still doesn’t press any keys. “If they see me leaving with the Scythe, some of Papa's most loyal dogs would love an excuse to put me down.”

Kaden makes an annoyed sound in his throat. “We’ll have to deal with them eventually.”

“Maybe not now,” I suggest, all too aware that Kaden is ready and willing to dole out more death, even with a comatose friend hanging off his shoulder, a newly turned daughter and … me.

“There are lieutenants in the club charged with supervising me during the transition of control. They were Morelli's first made men. His most loyal.” Cassie’s fingers brush her throat where Kaden's knife drew blood. “If they see me with you, they'll view it as betrayal. And Papa made sure they knew exactly how to deal with traitors.”

Kaden's patience wears thin, the tension visible in his strained posture as he bears Ethan's drooping form. “All right, erase our tracks by shutting down surveillance.”

Cassie starts typing.

“We can’t leave through normal means,” Kaden adds as he carefully watches what Cassie pulls up on the screens and the prompts she’s entering. “Ethan and I studied the blueprints of this place. An old prohibition tunnel should run under the club to the harbor. We couldn’t pinpoint where the access point was or if an exit from this building existed anymore.”

Cassie lifts her attention to the monitor where she pulls up a schematic of the Siren’s Call. “Yes. It used to be for smuggling booze, but Papa repurposed it.”

She points at a bottom section of the blueprint. “Access is hidden in the wine cellar behind a false wall. It leads to a series of underground passages that come out in a sea cave by the old fishing docks.”

Kaden frowns. “The tide will be high soon. It'll be a tight window before the tunnel floods.”

“Papa liked his insurance policies.” Cassie's voice is dry. “Nothing like the threat of drowning to keep his mules motivated to move the merchandise quickly.”

“How is it possible that the Mafia had such a firm grip on Greycliff? We’re just a small fishing town,” I ask, folding my arms and studying the screens.

“This was a perfect location for smuggling contraband. Tiny population, bare-bones police force, and abandoned warehouses galore. That is, until a bunch of twenty and thirty-somethings moved in and messed with the real estate.” Cassie stares at me pointedly.

Kaden’s too busy searching for threats to notice Cassie’s and my exchange, though I’m focused on the obvious threat in front of me. Cassie’s switch from Morelli to Black is tenuous, at best, and I’m reluctant to make her the leader orchestrating our escape. Ethan’s life hangs in the balance, and while Kaden is lethal and terrific to have on my side, he’s blinded by the idea of getting his daughter back.

Cassie hits the final key, and the monitors wink out. “The cameras are now showing a loop. As far as the security team knows, I'm still in this room with you, conducting business as usual.”

I shudder, remembering her version of “business,” and my precarious faith in her thins further.

She strides across the room, her steps precise even as she avoids the splayed limbs of the fallen men. At the door, she pauses, one hand on the knob as she listens.

Kaden moves up behind her, Ethan's dead weight on his shoulder. “Well?”

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