Page 89 of The Viper

“You’re safe now,” I say to Rosa as I hug her tighter. “Marco,” I call. He appears at the door jamb and quickly assesses the room. “Is there anything in here you want?” I ask Rosa. She shakes her head. “Ruben,” I call. He looks over to me. “The girls need to leave.”

“Yes, they do.” He sits on the edge of the bathtub and envelops Eliza. “Come on, sweetheart. We need to get you home.”

“No!” Eliza shrieks. “Rose.” Rose breaks out of my arms and runs to her sister. “I can’t go back there. Please, don’t let him send me back to him.”

“You’re not going back to Adrian’s,” Ruben says as he gently strokes her hair. “You’ll come back to my house.”

She bursts into tears while vigorously shaking her head. “No, please, no.”

“Wherever Eliza goes, I go,” my woman says.

Ruben lifts his chin and nods. “The girls can come back to my house,” I say.

Ruben scrubs his hand over his stubble and nods. “Of course,” he says. “Dante,” he calls in a low tone.

“Mr. Sacco,” Dante announces when he’s in the room.

“Increase security around Dominic’s house.” Dante acknowledges the orders with a nod, and leaves the room. “Dominic, I want to see you once the girls are comfortable.”

We both know what this means. Ruben and I need to discuss what we’re going to do about Adrian. “Rosa,” I say.

Ruben stands and backs away from Eliza. He stands tall and crosses his arms in front of his chest as he watches my Rosa coax Eliza up, bundle her in her arms and lead Eliza out of the bathroom.

“Take the girls home,” I say to Marco.

Rosa offers me a small smile and mouths thank you. They leave the motel room surrounded by a slew of my and Ruben’s men. Ruben and I hang back for the report from Dante. We watch the girls be taken into my car, and Frank drive away surrounded by another four cars all filled with our men.

Dante stands to the side and he too watches. “Talk to me,” Ruben says and releases a small, frustrated breath.

“All the men Dominic had stationed are dead.”

“There’s no way Adrian would’ve been able to take them all out, even with Tony’s help,” I say. “I had four cars with three in each stationed out here.” I shake my head. “He had to have help.”

“Cameras?” Ruben asks Dante.

“Disabled about ten minutes before Rose called.”

My teeth grind as I look to Ruben. He’s calling the shots here, but I want to get my hands on the fucker who disabled the cameras. “Dominic,” Ruben says. I look to him and wait for the okay. “Go home to the girls, and once they’re settled, come to my house.”

I run my hand over the back of my neck and look over to Dante. I don’t want to challenge Ruben in front of his men. He is, after all, the Don. But I want to be the one to rip out the vocal chords of the fucker who turned the cameras off. I step into Ruben and say, “Let me go down there and get the fucker. Someone here was paid off, and I want to be the one to kill him.”

Ruben places a hand on my shoulder. “You will. Go home to the girls, make sure they’re okay, then return to my house.” The smile in his eyes tells me he’s allowing me the honors.

“Dominic.” Dante holds out the key to the car I gave Rosa. I should be surprised that Ruben knew about the car, but I’m not.

“I’ll be an hour.” I take off down to the car to get my ass home.

Chapter twenty-two

Rose

Eliza and I head into Dominic’s house. She’s like a walking zombie. She’s managed to calm her sobbing, but now she’s blank and unemotional.

“Come on,” I say as I lead her up the stairs toward my old bedroom. “I’ll run the bath for you.”

“O-okay,” she meekly whispers.

I lead her to the bathroom, and start running the bath for her. Eliza’s shoulders are slumped, her eyes are dead and she’s just staring at nothing. I duck my hand in the water and move it around, adding some hot to heat it up. “The bath will be ready in a couple of minutes.”

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