Ignacio taps his phone, rolling his eyes as he sees it’s dead.
“Figures,” he mutters, plugging it in and pulling back the blankets to get in next to me.
Together, Lili and he check their weapons in their nightstand tables, making certain they’re ready to use at a moment’s notice. Strangely, seeing them do this helps me slowly relax. By the time Nacio turns out the light and wraps his arms around me, I’m already beginning to drift away.
Please, let me wake up and find this is all just a dream…
CHAPTER34
ELIJAH
The trek in from the woods isn’t difficult, though we did have to down a few of Emil Reyes’ men. How is it possible that he has this many people protecting one little girl?
The truth is, he shouldn’t care this much about her. None of us should. She’s disposable, and we’re going to remind everyone of that.
Going through the house isn’t going to work if we’re having this much difficulty, so the best way to do this is up the side of the house. The emergency exit ladder is disguised as part of the house, something only people with inside access know.
I send one more text to Ignacio, hoping he’ll make this easy and simply open the window.
Remember who the fuck you are, asshole.
Me:
Hey, we’re outside. Want to open the window to make our job easier?
Glancing up,I sigh.
“I don’t know what the deal is, but we’re on our own,” Theo says gruffly. “You and I can climb up pretty easily. We have extra syringes if we need them.”
Jared hands me the extras to put in my sweatshirt pockets, dropping down to give me a boost up with his hand. He’s the bulkier of the four of us since his arms are stronger, and as I stand on his hands, he launches me into the air to catch the bottom rung of the ladder. One of the downfalls of it is that it begins ten feet over my head.
It’s done like this so people won’t use it to climb up the side of the house, but we’re clearly rebels.
Silently, my black gloves on to ensure I don’t leave a single fingerprint, I climb the ladder until my feet hit the top rung, my muscles complaining. Whatever, this is the reason I train so hard. I’m in decent shape, this won’t fuck with me too badly. I hear Theo’s hands hit the bottom rung underneath me, and once I reach Rachelle’s window, I make the jump to her thin balcony.
A moment later, Theo joins me, and I pull out my lockpicking set, quickly unlocking the window. So far, so good, but I still haven’t received a text from Nacio. My phone is on vibrate just for his number.
All hopes of him being on our side crumble to dust as I climb in the window, avoiding the curtains to see that he’s sleeping in the bed next to Liliana and Rachelle. This is why he’s been dodging our calls, making excuses.
He’s fucking playing house with the little mouse!And to think, we’ve all been so worried about his father deciding to kill him for exterminating our bet. He’s lucky we’re the loyal ones, because no one will ever fucking find her.
My head turns to look at Theo, pointing at the bed. The slight ambient light of the open window spotlights what I’m showing him, and he frowns disapprovingly. Motioning toward Liliana to show that he’s going to take care of her, he pulls out one of the syringes with the heavier dose of sedative.
Doing the same as I walk toward Nacio, all I can hope is that this is a heavy enough dose to take him out for a while. Who the fuck knows what kind of conditioning his crazy fucking father has him doing in case he’s ever kidnapped?
I would say I’ve probably watched too many mafia movies, but I have a strange feeling I’m not too far from the mark. I hear Lili’s strangled scream, cursing in my mind as I force myself to move faster. Thank fuck he’s not wearing a shirt as his eyes snap open.
He’s half asleep as he swings on me, his fist catching me on the temple, disorienting me. Theo climbs over the bed after he injects Rachelle as well, helping me to hold Nacio down.
“This is the way it has to be,” Theo hisses, using his full body to immobilize him so I can plunge the syringe into his neck, emptying the contents into his body.
Continuing to hold him down, we watch the sedative begin to work, and he drifts off.
“I don’t think that’ll last nearly long enough,” I worry, blowing out a breath. “Did Lili give you trouble?”
“She reached for something in her nightstand and tried to scream. When I looked, it was a gun that was hidden in there,” Theo explains, his voice strained.
Pulling open the nightstand drawer next to Nacio’s side of the bed, I find a gun there as well.