Page 85 of Taming Nikki

He nodded, his face pale. “I’m good. Fuckers got me in the arm. We need to move.”

Yeah, no shit. I helped him to his feet, shoving him towards the exit while keeping my sisters tucked behind me. Nonna took up the rear, a deadly serious look on her face as she scanned the parking lot. Keeping our heads low, we darted toward the street where Mass and Alonzo were supposed to be waiting, but they were both on the ground, unconscious when we came up to them. Gemma screamed. I wasn’t fast enough to cover her eyes before she saw. I jerked her away, shoving her towards Nonna.

“We need to get them out of here,” I hissed. We were out in the open and there was no telling if the shooters would be coming back to finish the job.

Mikey fished his keys out of his pocket, throwing them at me. “Go. Get them home. I’ll stay until backup arrives.”

There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to argue with him. Not with my little sisters at risk. Picking up Gemma, I raced towards Mikey’s car, shoving her into the back seat. She didn't let go willingly. Amara had to tear her out of my arms. I slammed the door shut, dropping into the driver’s seat. I had the engine running and the tires squealing before I even fully closed my door. Now, more than ever, I needed to drive like my ass was on fire.

I sped through red lights, stop signs, and ignored every speed limit until our house came into view. The gate was open, thank fuck for that, but we were going too fast to make it without some fancy footwork on my part. I was pretty sure people weren’t following us, but I wasn’t going to take the chance of slowing down. I yanked up the parking brake, jerking the wheel, and pulled off a turn that professional racers would be proud of. My sisters screamed in the back seat, but luckily Amara had buckled them both when we left.

There were already teams of people outside, but the front door burst open at our arrival. Papa and Viola came rushing out, panicked looks on their faces as I came to a halt right in front of the door. Viola ripped the back door open and pulled the girls out while Papa helped Nonna. He glanced at me, doing a double take when he realized it was me driving.

“Are you–”

“I’m fine. Get them inside. They didn’t look hurt, but they could be in shock.”

“Where are you–”

Before he could get an argument in, I reached across the center console and jerked the door shut, cutting him off. Slamming my foot on the gas, I sped out of the gate. I couldn’t risk him trying to keep me here. Whoever it was that shot at my little sisters was going to die.

I was going to head back to Nino’s, see what I could find on my computer, when an email came into my encrypted server. Only clients contacted me that way. I stopped along the edge of the road, pulling up the email. It only had two words in it, but my blood boiled when I saw them.

Your move.

It wasn’t my papa’s enemies or Leo’s that I could blame for this. This one was on me.

I wasn’t normally on the receiving end of this kind of thing. I dealt with my enemies through a screen. No one had been ballsy enough to come for me since. They knew if they did, I’d nail them over and over again. I didn't need a quick shot to kill them. I’d drag out their suffering for the rest of their lives. But this? Trying to kill my little sisters? This was personal. And I wasn’t going to stop until they were dead.

* * *

I found a gun in the glove box of Mikey’s car. I normally preferred to have more, but I wasn’t going to stop now. I put the pedal to the metal, racing across town to where I knew the asshole lived.

Fucking Henderson.

The first person to ever try to screw me over. He hired me to get information on his enemy. I did the job, but then he decided to stick his nose in my business, looking for a way to blackmail me into sticking around. I warned him what would happen if he didn’t back off. He didn’t listen, so I exposed his every secret both to the police and to his enemies. The police got to him first, and he spent a few years behind bars. I didn't even know he had been released. If I knew it was getting close to that time, I would’ve prepared better.

Leo’s warnings crashed through my head, reminding me I was too ballsy. It was my fault my sisters were put in danger. My fault the guys were hurt. Hell, I didn’t even know if they were alive, and that tore at my insides. I never wanted anyone to get hurt because of me.

My phone rang. I thought about ignoring it, but I thought maybe it was Henderson, and I wanted to hear what he had to say. No doubt he wouldn’t be living through the night, but if he moved around, I might be able to trace his call to find him faster.

Answering without looking, I barked out, “What?”

“Where are you?”

I rolled my eyes. “Not now, Leo. I’m busy.”

“Mikey told me what happened. Tell me you’re at your papa’s place right now,” he demanded.

I made an irritated noise, wrenching the wheel at a particularly tight turn. Here’s hoping I didn’t end up in a chase with the cops, because I wasn’t slowing down for anything. To my knowledge, Henderson didn’t know I knew where he lived and worked. I did research on all my clients to make sure they weren’t a danger to me and mine. I did the same for him, but he was one of my first big clients, and I must’ve missed something.

“Nikki!”

I wasn’t paying attention to Leo, and I missed whatever the hell he was saying to me.

“What?”

“Where the fuck are you?”

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