Page 153 of The Best of Us

I had no choice but to power through the demons trying to take me down to Hell. No way I could really be forgiven for everything I’d done, right? Too many skeletons in my closet. Too many times taking justice into my own hands.

“Hey.” Easton shook my hand, assessing me. Not sizing me up to see if I was good enough for his sister, more like he was getting the correct read on my current state of mind—FUBAR: fucked up beyond all repair.

“Hi,” I returned, a gruff breath settling between us, and I wasn’t even sure who it’d come from. “Thanks for meeting us here. For the assist today.”

“Thanks for keeping my sister and nephew safe back in New York,” he replied curtly and politely. Business as usual. Not like he was going to be my future brother-in-law.

I pulled my hand away from Easton’s calloused palm and brought it to the back of my head.

We both nodded through the awkwardness as Colin came over, saving us from more small talk. But now, with Colin out here, I’d have to look him in the eyes and promise him again I’d get Lennon back no matter what, even if that meant he’d lose me.

I’d be keeping my shades on for that conversation. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Lennon’s alive! ThatLara Croft–looking Italian woman in there confirmed it.” Something told me he was referring to Emilia. “She said something about Ace’s satellite feeds showing Lennon being brought into the bad guy compound this morning . . .”

“Ah, you mean A-I-S-E.” Enzo patted Colin on the shoulder. “Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna.”

“Sure, that sounds like whatever mumbo jumbo she said.” Colin shrugged, and with the Lennon-being-alive news, the color in his face and his personality had returned. “Italy’s version of the CIA, yada, yada, yada.”

Enzo smirked, then glanced at me. “Emilia must’ve hacked their feeds. I’m sure AISE has been monitoring the Rizzos’ compound for years, but they’ve not had the balls to strike them yet.”

“But y’all do, right, Uncle E?”

Enzo slapped a hand to his chest at Colin’s nickname for him, and I loved that my son had that effect on people. Enzo cleared his throat and nodded. “Hell yeah, we do.”

His remark earned another grin from Colin.

“Gwen hacked the feeds.” Easton expanded on Colin’s teenage version of relaying intel. “Emilia didn’t trust reaching out to AISE for assistance, so Gwen did it for her. She zoomed in and confirmed Lennon, Daniel, and Jamie were escorted to the target location this morning. Hands and mouths bound for all three. But alive.”

“You see, we’ll get her out in time,” I told Colin, pushing down the uncomfortable lump trying to obstruct my airway.

“Of course you will.” Colin patted my chest. “Because you’re Constantine Effing Costa.”

His faith in me was . . . well, maybe I needed to hear that. “She’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Let’s head in so they can catch us up on the plans,” Enzo suggested. “How many of us are there? Do we have enough for this last-minute infil?” he asked Easton as they began to walk ahead of us.

Colin and Juliette flanked my sides as we followed our brothers toward the villa Sebastian had secured for us at the last minute.

His team and the others had beaten us here by thirty minutes, even with our head start. From the sounds of it, they’d been busy strategizing in our absence.

“We’ll have four teams, which is more than enough,” I overheard Easton answer him. “But there is one issue I know you won’t like. Because I don’t.” He stopped outside the front door and faced me directly. “We can’t leave them here at the safe house”—he tipped his head toward Juliette and Colin—“while we hit the compound.”

My stomach dropped, and the hairs at the back of my neck stood. “What are you saying?”

“Gwen needs to hack their security cameras so we can have a better look around their property. They have some major firewalls or something like that. I can’t remember exactly what Gwen said, but she has to be within close range of the compound. With Gwen being out in the field like that, she’ll need a team with her for protection, which means we don’t have enough people to spare to leave at the safe house.” Easton frowned when he made eye contact with Juliette. “You and Colin will be on the yacht with her.” Focusing back on me, he continued, “Your sister will handle our comms from there as well.”

I removed my sunglasses and hooked them to the front of my shirt. “Who will be on the boat with them?”

“Gwen’s father was visiting her at The Sapphire when all of this went down, so Wyatt came with us to Dublin. And now he’s here. He’ll be on the yacht. Sebastian pulled in two former operators he trusts to round out Wyatt’s team. They’ll be anchored a safe distance away, but they have to be within range?—”

“For the security cameras, I got it,” I finished for Easton, resting my hands on my hips.

“We’ll be fine, Dad.” Colin tapped my arm, urging me to face him like he was a little kid, not a teenager. “Look at me.”

I slowly did as he asked, tensing up all over again in the process.

“It’s just likeCall of Duty, right? We’re a team. We’ve got this.”

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