Page 46 of New Beginnings
It was like déjà fucking vu. The terror I felt as we raced inside Rebel’s building was beyond words. I can only compare my fear to the day I got the phone call that Dani was at the hospital. The only difference between then and now was I had some idea what was happening with Rebel, where I had been completely in the dark with Dani.
It was a stroke of genius on my girl’s part to call me and leave the line open as soon as she realized she was in trouble. But it was also infuriating and fucking frustrating to hear her try to talk that motherfucker down so Rumi wouldn’t get hurt. It was so damn brave and also terrifying she would trade her life for her sister’s. She shouldn’t have to give herself to him in order to save her sister’s life. I was proud of how she was handling herself. She remained calm which someone else in her position would probably freak the hell out.
However, once again, I was in the same fucking position of not being able to protect someone I cared about. I should be there for her because I got her into this shit, and I should be there to get her out of it.
“It’s only going to be a matter of time before the cops show up,” Hannibal said, breaking through my thoughts. “What’s the plan, Prez?”
He was right. There was no way the commotion wasn’t heard by her neighbors, and we didn’t know how much time we had to get the situation under control. If I had to guess it was only minutes.
I had gathered some of the brothers while the others stayed behind to get rid of Detective Lewis’s body. Hannibal, Schizo, Kilo and Caesar didn’t hesitate to have my back. I had no fucking clue what we were rushing into. All I knew was Rebel was in trouble and that phone call was her asking for my help.
“Priest’s gonna call Doc, and have her meet us at the clubhouse,” I said. “I don’t know if anybody’s hurt.”
“And Abrams?” Hannibal asked.
“We take Detective Abrams alive. Get him out the back before the cops get here and to the clubhouse.”
“What’s the story for the cops?” Caesar asked, stress lacing his voice.
It was the first word he had spoken since all this shit hit the fan. He heard the same thing I did and even though he said things were over between him and Rumi, I didn’t think his feelings for her were dead. As a matter of fact, I believed he might still love her or at the very least he cared for her.
“Because we don’t have that much time,” I said, “you stay with Rumi and Rebel. When the cops ask just tell them there was a misunderstanding between the brothers. Just let them know we took them home. Make sure they stick to the story.”
“And the Feds?” Caesar asked.
“Fuck the Feds,” I said, shrugging. “There isn’t much we can do about it right now. We’ll figure something out, but the priority is to get to the girls and take Abrams alive without anybody else getting hurt.”
Caesar nodded.
The fucking Feds was the last thing on my mind. Getting to Rebel and then finding out what Abrams knew about Dani was what was important.
“We can’t take anybody out the front,” Hannibal said, “so I’ll pull the cage around the back of the building.
He took off back the way we came then disappeared around the corner at the end of the hall. When we reached Rebel’s apartment door, I held my finger up to my lips. Everyone nodded.
A nosey neighbor down the hall peeked out from a crack in her door, but quickly shut it when I looked in her direction. We needed to get shit took care of quickly if the neighbors were already aware of what was happening.
Rebel’s front door wasn’t completely off its hinges but there was damage to it. I know Tiny had made it inside because I heard him over the line struggling with Abrams, I just didn’t know if he was alive.
I stepped through the door first with my gun drawn. Tiny was lying on the floor in the living room. He wasn’t moving and blood covered his stomach. It was a bad thing to think about at this time, but I didn’t see a lot of blood on the floor. I didn’t know if we’d have enough time to cover up a blood stain before the cops showed up.
I pointed to Tiny, then pointed to the man standing over Rumi and Revel with a gun aimed at the twins so the guys would know where to look. He didn’t hear us come in. Thank fucking God because I wanted to take this motherfucker alive. I wanted tomake him suffer for terrorizing Rebel and I wanted to make him suffer for Dani and Luca’s deaths.
I dodged the broken glass from her table, remaining quiet so he wouldn’t be startled. I crept towards Detective Abrams with Caesar behind me. Neither of the girls noticed we were there, and that was a good thing. We didn’t want them to alert him to our presence.
“Say goodbye bitches,” Detective Abrams sneered, the sound of the gun cocking echoed in my ears and all I could do was try to get to her before I lost her too.
I closed the distance so fast he didn’t have time to react, or he was so focused on Rebel and Rumi, he didn’t hear me approaching. When I reached him, instead of shooting him, I delivered a forceful blow to the back of his head using the butt of the gun. He let out a deep grunt before collapsing onto the floor.
Caesar ran to Rumi and helped her off the floor. She threw her arms around him, as tears streamed down her face, clinging to him like he was her lifeline.
“It’s alright.” He kissed her on top of the head. “I got you.”
I squatted beside Rebel, and the smile that crossed her face loosened the tightness in my chest and quelled the fear that made me crazy since I received her phone call.
“I knew you’d come.”
“Sirens!” Schizo shouted before I could respond.
