Page 148 of Filthy Liar

“Andre.”

“Ander,” I corrected bluntly, my eyes scanning the room for trouble as I stepped inside, speaking Italian. “Is everyone standing down?”

“No,” he sighed, his expression tight. “Philip has gathered some men to try and extract Mr. Ricci from the situation.”

“What’s he saying?” Beckett bit out, not being able to be left out of anything, as fucking usual.

Fabio turned his attention to her, assessing her for a moment before replying in English.

“Some men are standing with Mr. Ricci still. You’ll need to keep your eyes open in here.”

“Antonio has eyes open for us too,” I stated, grasping Fabio’s hand tightly in mine. “I’m sorry about your sister, my friend. Dante and I will find answers, I promise you.”

He nodded, stepping back as we all made our way through the building.

There were missing ceiling panels throughout, meaning there were hiding spots above us for a possible attack. The paint was peeling from the walls, and old junk was spread around the place as we walked deeper into the building.

“Blake’s being held on the opposite side of the building. I can give your tech friend access so he can guide a team to her, while I guide you to Stefano,” Antonio offered, and within seconds, Will moved into our view with a thumbs up, letting us know he had contact with Cruz.

“Will can take a team to Blake. Can someone with a familiar face to her go with them? Fuck knows what they’ve done to her, so someone she recognizes might be a good idea,” Knox stated, turning to me.

I wanted to make sure she was okay, but there was no way I was choosing her over Zavier.

Before I had to make the choice, Reid nodded. “Logan and I can go to Blake. Bring our boy out safely.”

Raven looked worried about splitting up, so I gave her shoulder a nudge. “We’ve got Zav. Most of the manpower will be trying to defend Stefano if we run into trouble, so Reid and Logan will be fine.”

“We need to keep moving,” Rory said as she appeared beside us, her eyes on Raven. “You good?”

“Is splitting up a smart idea?” she asked hesitantly.

“We’re all trained for this. Spreading out covers more ground,” she promised, motioning for us to walk.

I started moving, glancing back to find Raven walking alongside Beckett and Maddox, her gun drawn and eyes scanning the room. I didn’t want her here where she could get hurt, but she deserved to be here for Zavier.

We were family, and we’d bring him home together.

Slash was making hand gestures to Rory and some of his men, but Maddox caught my gaze, flicking his eyes to Raven then back to me with a nod.

He had her back, and I nodded a thanks as I turned my attention to the front again. These people might not like me, but they loved Raven.

They’d keep her safe.

“You’re in a dead spot. Heads up, eyes open,” Antonio said as we turned a corner, Knox moving ahead of me with some of the Thieves. Their training was made for this kind of thing, so I let them lead.

We’d barely made it to the end of the hallway before gunfire sounded, all of us scrambling for cover. The Thieves started firing back, all of us splitting up to spread ourselves across more space to avoid being cornered.

“You want to go left, but there’s gunfire between you and there,” Antonio warned. “You’ve got three men that I can see, but who knows how many in the current dead spot.”

“We’ll wing it,” Knox answered, glancing at me from his hiding spot just up ahead.

I nodded, not really having a choice in the matter, then he threw something up the hallway to make some noise.

Gunfire sounded immediately as people came out of their hiding spots, some of us surging ahead to shoot back, clearing the way for everyone else.

I kept checking on Raven and the guys, but they were staying back, thankfully.

The hardest part was when we had to pass through the main room in the middle, leaving us surrounded by many doors. I had no idea where people were hiding, so we had to move as a group while facing different directions to cover each other.

---