“Where?”
Her eyes closed, and she shook her head silently.
There was something growing inside of me—something dark and powerful and deadly. I watched her face and knew there was a lot more than what she’d already said. Inside, it felt like my organs were caught up in the beginnings of an earthquake.
“Tell me!” I growled.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“What did he do?” I demanded again.
“He just...he just fingered me, okay?” she finally yelled. “He was holding me down and saying he was going to…to rape me and make you pay for everything you did. I…I think he was going to, but that’s when his phone went off, and he said you were coming.”
My teeth clenched as my body started to shake, and everything in my vision went red. The earthquake inside began to rocket to the surface.
I had to get out of there, find Kyle Davies, and rip his flesh from his body. I shoved myself up from the couch.
“I gotta go take care of something.”
“Evan…” Lia placed her hand on my arm, but I pushed it away.
“I need to go take care of something,” I repeated.
“Evan, you don’t even know where he is,” Rinaldo said. He also stood up from his chair and crossed the room to place a hand on my shoulder. “Now let’s sit down and-”
“NO!” I screamed as I shoved him backwards.
Both Matthew and Victor were on me immediately. I threw a punch to Victor’s face, which threw him backwards into the bookcase. Matthew grabbed my arm, but I wrenched it away and kicked him in the gut.
“Leave him alone!” Rinaldo yelled at both of them as he stood up and straightened his jacket. “You’re just going to get yourselves killed if you don’t.”
Jonathan didn’t listen to Rinaldo. He came up from behind me and grabbed both my arms, locking them behind my back. I leaned forward to try to throw him off, but he was expecting it, and Jonathan was a big guy. I couldn’t get the leverage I needed.
What if I had been any later?
“He fucking touched her!” I screamed. I looked to Lia’s crying face as I struggled against Jonathan’s grip. I kicked backwards and connected with some part of Jonathan’s leg, but he didn’t let up. Luisa had an arm around Lia’s shoulders and was glaring at me.
“You aren’t helping!” Luisa spat. “For Christ’s sake, Evan, stop it!”
“He…he…” I couldn’t bring forth words. I couldn’t even understand the incredible rage I felt inside of me. I’d never wanted someone dead so badly. I wanted to tear him apart with my hands. I wanted his blood all over me. I wanted to revel in his screams of agony.
Jonathan held me firmly.
“I know, brotha,” he said calmly. “I’m gonna be right there with ya when we make that motherfucker pay for it, too. But not right now. Right now, you have to get your shit together and think. She’s still alive. If you go off like this, she’s just going to have to deal with you getting yourself killed.”
I looked at her and watched more tears fall from her cheeks and onto her shirt. I pushed against Jonathan once more but with only minimal effort. He slowly loosened his grip as I tried to get my breath back under control, but he didn’t let go entirely.
“I want his fucking balls on a platter,” I snarled over my shoulder. Jonathan let go, and I dropped back down on the couch next to Lia. I reached over, moving slowly because I knew I had scared her, and ran my hand down her arm. She stroked my cheek.
“That’s why I didn’t want to tell you,” she whispered.
I opened my mouth to say something, but the only words I had were of blood and violence so I closed it again. I reached up and wiped the tears from her cheeks with my thumb.
“We’ll git ‘em,” Jonathan promised, “but we do it smart, right? We gotta find him, first.”
“I know where he is,” Milena said.
Jonathan grabbed my arm again as I stood up and took a step toward Nick’s girlfriend.
“Easy, brotha.”
“Where?” I asked. “Tell me where—right fucking now!”
Nick stepped forward and took Milena’s hand. He was obviously ticked off at the way I was talking to her, but I didn’t give a shit. If she didn’t give me what I wanted, I’d gut her right in front of him.
“He’s with Rurik,” Milena said. “Micah’s with him, too.”
“Where?” I demanded again.
“I’ll tell you,” Milena said, “but there’s a condition.”
I pulled out my Beretta, cocked it, and aimed it at her head.
“The condition,” I told her, “is you getting to live for telling me what I want to know.”
Nick moved in front of her, but Milena—bravely or stupidly—pushed his arm away to look right at me. I saw Rinaldo roll his eyes, which meant he didn’t realize how serious I was.
“No, that’s not the condition,” Milena said, “well, not the only one, anyway. Micah’s my brother. He can be as dumb as a box of rocks, but he’s still my brother. I don’t want him dead.”
“I’m not making any fucking promises,” I snarled.
“Then you’ll have to shoot me and figure it out for yourself,” she said with a shrug.
“Me, too,” Nick piped up.
I moved the business end of the Beretta to Nick.
“Evan.” Rinaldo’s voice held a warning I couldn’t completely ignore.
I took in a long breath and huffed it out my nose sharply before I dropped the gun to point at the floor. If I was going to be the least bit successful, I needed Rinaldo on my side. I couldn’t do that if I shot his kid. I glared at Milena.
“Fine,” I said. “He lives. Tell me.”
“There’s a construction site just south of Quay—a little restaurant and bar on East Illinois.”
“I know the place,” I said.
“There’s a little outbuilding there—that’s where they are hiding. Davies is there with them along with that other guy who’s always with him. At least, they were headed there a few hours ago.”
“Johnson,” I said.
“That’s not his name,” Milena said with a shake of her head. “He’s Russian, too.”
“Figures,” I muttered.
“Hey!” Nick called out in protest.
“Enough, Nicholas,” Rinaldo responded. He walked forward and took his illegitimate son’s arm to lead him over to the opposite couch and sit him and Milena down away from me. “Evan, do you have what you need?”
“All I need is this,” I said, indicating the weapon in my hand.
“I’m going with ya,” Jonathan said with conviction.
I wasn’t going to argue with him.
“Then go take care of your business,” Rinaldo said. “We’ll watch over Lia.”
I moved back over to Lia, and she stood up to meet me. I held her against me for a moment. We parted slightly, and I looked into her eyes, still red from crying.
“I’ll be back soon,” I told her. “Then we’re gone, you hear me? We’re going to leave.”
I turned my attention to Rinaldo.
“I’m done here,” I told him. “This is my last job, and then I’m out—permanently.”
His eyes went dark, but he didn’t argue. He didn’t agree, either.
“We’ll discuss that when you return,” he said with a meaningful look.
I leaned in close to Lia.
“We’ll leave as soon as this is done,” I vowed. It was a promise I intended to keep.
She closed her eyes and nodded. We touched our foreheads together, and I leaned a little closer to press my lips softly and briefly to hers before I turned to leave with Jonathan behind me.
“I’m going to need a drink when all this is done,” Jonathan said as we went out into the hallway.
I was about to respond when an explosion rocked the house.