Page 81 of Raziel
The text from Maya had been simple: Headed to Miyori’s for brunch. Love you. I’d grunted at my phone, my focus on a shipping manifest. Three hours later, my phone rang. Miyori’s name flashed on the screen.
I swiped to answer, wondering why she was calling me. “Yeah.”
“Is Maya with you?” Her voice was pitched high, tight with a fear I immediately recognized.
The knot turned to ice. “No. She said she was with you.”
The silence on the other end was deafening. “Raziel… she never showed up, and I can’t reach her.”
A static roar filled my head. The world narrowed to the cold screen of my phone. I ended the call without another word, my hands moving on pure, terrified instinct. I pulled up the app—the one connected to the tracker embedded in the black diamond pendant in the necklace I’d given her.
A blinking dot pulsed on the map. Not a restaurant. Not a street. A warehouse on the industrial docks. A warehouse I knew belonged to Enzio Vescovi.
My blood went from ice to fire. Alessia.
I was already moving, grabbing my gun from the desk drawer. Priest was out of town, his entire crew with him. I had no men. I’d severed those ties when I left Enzio’s organization. I was a king without an army, staring down the abyss of losing my queen.
There was only one person left to call. Ironically, it was because of Maya I could even call him.
I dialed Caine. We had been friendly since the day in the gun range.
He answered on the second ring. “Brother. To what do I owe—”
“Enzio and his daughter have Maya,” I cut him off, my voice a gravelly scrape. “Enzio’s dockside warehouse. I need you. Now.”
There was a beat of silence. No questions. No hesitation. Just a cold, simple, “I’m twenty minutes out. Don’t go in without me.”
I broke every traffic law getting there. Caine’s black SUV was already idling at the mouth of the warehouse district when I arrived. He was leaned against the driver’s side door, looking like he’d just come from a business meeting, not going into a potential war. He tossed a Kevlar vest at me as I jumped out of my car.
“Put it on.”
“I don’t need—”
“Put it on, Raziel,” he snapped, his voice leaving no room for argument. It was the first time I’d ever heard him sound like our father.”
I snarled but yanked the vest on. He checked his own weapon—a sleek, suppressed pistol—his movements efficient and utterly calm.
“Plan?”
“I kill them all,” I growled, heading for a side door.
“Charging in blind is how you get her killed,” Caine said, falling into step beside me, his presence suddenly a steadying, lethal force. “We do this smart. Or we don’t do it at all.”
He was right. The rage burning through me was a liability. I nodded, letting him take point. He picked the lock on a rusted side door with an ease that spoke of a past I knew nothing about.
The inside of the warehouse was cavernous and dim. We found Maya slumped in a chair, her head lolling to the side. A dark purple bruise was already flowering on her cheekbone. The sight of that discoloration on her skin sent a fresh wave of fury through me.
Enzio stood over her, a look of smug satisfaction on his face. Alessia stood beside him, a deranged gleam in her eyes.
“Took you long enough,” Enzio said, his voice echoing. “I guessed right that the necklace around her neck was a tracker.”
“Let her go, Enzio. This is between us.”
“It is between us!” Alessia shrieked, her voice cracking. “You threw me away for that? For some trash you picked up because you felt sorry for her?”
“Alessia, baby, calm down,” Enzio said, but his eyes were on me, calculating.
“No! I loved you! I waited for you! And you choose a junkie!” She was unraveling, her hand dipping into her purse.
