Page 89 of The Broken Queen
“Gio, tell your men?—”
His voice was panicked as he interjected, “Already did, Elvis. Get your ass down here. Now.”
A shot rang out through the woods toward us, but it wasn’t a high caliber bullet.
Anxiety swam through me as I adjusted my scope. I knew Scotty would be a few steps ahead of us, but dammit, I thought with El Peligro, we had a chance of taking him by surprise just once.
Movement to my right caught my eye, but Kingston began shooting in that direction.
“Where are your men?” I yelled at the twins.
This didn’t make any sense. I’d watched as they ran through drills and ran through all the spots they’d agreed to patrol.
I heard Kingston screaming something over their coms, but Gio had to cover him while he did. I continued shooting into the woods while the twins covered the other blind spots.
Where were my dad and Juan? They would have been ready for us in the manor, where were they?
“They’re closing in,” I advised Gio and Kingston while the men from the woods began to draw in closer.
“Kingston, I’m worried about the farm. If you’re men are gone?—”
“It’s just a house, Elvis,” Gio muttered as if I were being ridiculous.
Anger and hurt tugged at the remnants of my heart as I took another shot. “It’s not just a house, Gio. It’ll never just be a house to me.”
There was silence among the three of us when Kingston added, “The house will be okay, Pres. I promise you.”
I continued to aim while my heart thundered in my ears. “You don’t know him like I do. He will come for the house and burn it to the ground. I’ve lost enough. I will not lose this piece of your heart that you gave to me, Kingston.”
“Then I’ll go,” Gio snapped. Before Kingston could stop him, or I could say anything, he got up and began moving toward the farm. He had his gun up, aimed and ready, but he moved swiftly away from us.
“Gio!” I yelled right as Kingston cursed.
“I can’t leave you and go after him.”
I kept shooting as I found new enemies popping up. “Then we both go.”
I had two flash grenades on me that we could use.
“Where is everyone, King?” My voice wavered as I continued to check my scope.
He continued targeting. “I don’t know, but I want to check on my family. I want to keep you safe, and Gio. I don’t know how to?—”
“Leave me, King. You know I have this, and I know your dad can take care of himself. Go to Gio.”
“I’m not leaving you,” he replied angrily.
I needed Scotty to show himself, but I had no idea—then it hit me. The woods. His men had been in the woods, where I once trained. I knew he wanted to send me a message, and if burning the house was too obvious, then he’d be somewhere else. Somewhere only significant to us.
“King, go after Gio. We’re close to the hatch that leads under the garage. I can get down there and into the house. We have to split up, and you have to trust me.”
“Fuck.” He cursed before sinking to the ground and pulling me with him. Our mouths connected as he pulled me close. “I love you. Please be careful.”
I needed him to give me the freedom to do this on my own. When I faced Scotty, I didn’t want him to use anyone as a hostage, and he’d be too eager to grab one of the twins. No, I wanted them to be free of this and to keep my house safe. I remembered what Kingston had told me to do and summoned the image I’d picked out that I was supposed to think of. The hope I was clinging to, and then I moved.
I made my way to the circular hatch in the ground that had a ladder leading down into the garage tunnels. These connected all over the property and led back to the manor, through the armory.
There were motion sensing lights that automatically illuminated the concrete as I climbed down. My gun was slung onto my back as I descended, and as soon as my boots hit the ground, I began running.
