“Is the place back on lockdown?” I asked.
“Yeah. Enzo and his team are here, so we’re good. We’ve got men closing in on the parameters. I’m going to see if I can find anything else on the camera that could lead us to where this guy went.”
“Alright. Keep me posted.”
“Will do.” He hung up, and the screen went black.
I leaned back and rubbed my hands down my face.
Alphonse returned to stand beside me.
“Don’t you have an empire to run?” I asked him.
He huffed a laugh. “I can run it from anywhere. And I have good men I trust watching things over until we kill this fucker.”
My phone rang again. When I answered, it was a text message with a photo. I stopped breathing. The attached photo showed Gigi sitting beside Liam’s bed and a message below:I am everywhere. She is never safe as long as I’m alive. Oh, and Nico, I hope you like my present.
Alphonse looked over my shoulder at my phone and cursed, and we both sprinted toward Liam’s room. We busted inside and started looking for the camera.
“What’s going on?” Dante asked, standing up.
“There’s a fucking camera in here,” I growled, still searching in all the small spaces that a camera could be.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Dante hissed.
I looked helplessly, but then I stopped as I got closer to the TV mounted on the wall and noticed something small and out of place. My fingers closed around a small rectangular lens, the size of a quarter, nestled underneath the TV. I ripped the camera out and tossed it to Alphonse. He brought it to the bathroom and ran water over it.
“Is the hospital secure?” Dante asked but a commotion in the hall stopped me from answering.
I turned to Gigi and pointed at her. “Don’t fucking move.”
She gave me a look that said she understood.
A popping sound came from the hall followed by people screaming.
The doors to the room bust open, and two of my guards come rushing in. “We’re under attack!”
Ithrew myself over Liam, desperately trying to shield him from the madness that had exploded around us.
“It’s okay, Liam,” I murmured, my voice trembling. “I’ll protect you.” Tears began to spill down my cheeks.
My heart raced as the door swung open violently.
Strong arms wrapped around my waist, and panic washed over me. “No, please. No,” I chanted, a futile plea for mercy.
“Baby,” Nico whispered. “We have to go. I need to get you to safety.”
“I can’t leave Liam,” I insisted.
“Fuck,” Nico muttered.
The sharp crack of gunshots echoed through the air. Nico had that look in his eyes that said “I’ll fucking knock you out and drag you if I don’t go with him willingly.”
He raised his hand, almost as if to hush me, but I agreed. “Okay.”
For a brief moment, he looked taken aback, but that surprise quickly disappeared. “Let’s go.” He grasped my hand and pulled me toward the door.
Waiting outside was Dante, flanked by three guards, including Miguel. “Dante, stay close to your son,” he instructed.