Page 81 of Precious Legacy

Without a second’s hesitation, I spin her around and guide her to the fire exit. “We gotta go, Presh.”

Cold air whips at my face, a brief relief soothing my thoughts. I tangle my hand with Lani’s and guide her down the metal steps. It’s not a long way down, but Haven and the guys are already sprinting to their cars. My heart pounds and my breaths come out ragged as I battle my own fear and anger. Fear because I don’t want Lani to get caught up in whatever’s going down, and anger because I only need one guess as to who’s responsible for this raid.

Ahead, Haldon and Haven are peeling away in his Audi, while Varo waits beside his Mercedes. He’s still a fair distance in front of us, parked on the other side of the gravelly lot, but Lani can make it.

“Go!” I shout at her, detangling our sweaty hands and pointing to her brother. I grab her by the waist and kiss her lips before spinning her towards Varo. “Go! I’ve got this.”

She turns back around, eyes rounded in fear. “But?—”

“Hands up and face the wall!”

The bright lights of torches smash us both in the face, immediately blinding us. My retinas burn with the sudden intrusion, but all I can think about is how the fuck to get out of this. From the shadows cast on the floor, I can spot two officers approaching, guns pointed at us.

Fuck!

“Hands up!” The voice repeats, and Lani immediately obeys.

I, on the other hand, am a little more rebellious. I don’t care for the likes of men pointing weapons at me, and especially my girl. Rage roils off of me, and it takes everything within me tokeep calm. My hand twitches, begging to reach for my Desert Eagle. If I can distract them long enough, Lani can make a break for it.

“Don’t even think about it, Genovese!”

My brows knit together as I glance at a worried Lani. I don’t recognize the voice, but the guy seems to know me.

Lani’s gaze goes glassy, those gorgeous green defiant eyes turn sad.

“Run,” I murmur at her, but for the first time, I see the real fear in her eyes. Not because she’s about to get arrested, but over the fact this could fuck everything up for her. We both know it, and yet she refuses to leave my side. “Don’t,” I growl in warning, but it’s too late.

She turns and faces the wall, just as an officer closes in and pins her arms behind her back. She yelps back, face pressed against the brick as the guy cuffs her.

“Get the fuck off her!” I scream, lunging at the fucker. All my rage is centered on protecting her, on making sure she’s safe. Unfortunately, I don’t get very far before pain explodes in my head and I drop to the floor, clutching my temple.

“Fuck!”

“Roman!” Lani cries out.

I hear the shuffle of feet, but I can’t move. I can’t see. Pain ripples through my spine, like electricity zapping through my veins. Then I feel the cold, hard concrete slam into my body before I give in to it all.

It’s agony and darkness. Pitch black darkness.

THIRTY-ONE

The echo of footsteps is like a soundtrack to my impending doom. I’ve been here for hours, staring at the crusty ceiling above me and counting how many mold spots I can see. It’s all I can do to keep my mind occupied until my brother gets me out of here. Since he couldn’t locate Roman when I spoke to him on the phone, and he sure as shit can’t just walk in here, all I have is his word that he’ll fix this. I don’t even know what that means at this point, but all I can think about is the fact thatI’m fucked.

I’m as good as done with the academy if this gets back to Chief Madden—which it probably will—and then I’ve got nothing to lose. Even though I haven’t done anything wrong, being in the wrong place at the wrong time is enough to put a strike on my record. Butthis,I’ll be kicked out of the program faster than I got into this mess in the first place. There’s no way out of this, and that thought leaves a kind of emptiness I don’t know how to fill. I’ve wanted to be an officer for years, eager to hold some semblance of meaning in my life that doesn’t involve the empire my father and uncles built. To get real justice for what happened to me. If I lose that, I have no idea what I’ll do.

I’ve tried so fucking hard to keep a low-profile at the academy by covering my tracks, including my name. And now it’s all about to blow up in my face. In a matter of seconds—or hours, as it stands right now—my entire life has changed.Again. And it wasn’t even my fault.

Laying on the cold metal bench, I run my fingertips over the sore spots on my wrists. The frigid hardness digs into my back as I stare at the faint red marks on my skin from where Officer Prescott was not-so-gentle with me.

He’s never let on that he remembers me from that night, not officially anyway.Aside from my first day where I could have sworn I saw a flicker of recognition, he’s made no attempt to confront me or even talk to me.

I set my own problems aside to focus on a more pertinent worry; Roman. I haven’t seen him since I was shoved into the back of the squad car. Not since he collapsed to the ground in agony in an effort to protect me. I’m practically shaking with fury as I recall how hard he hit the ground when the officer smacked him in the head with his gun.

Sure, he wasn’t exactly complying, but he wasn’t fighting them, either. He didn’t want me to go down with him and he didn’t want me to get hurt. He wanted me to run, and I didn’t. Icouldn’t.

Footsteps echo down the narrow corridor that leads to my cell. Keys jangle, and this time I perk up at the sound, pushing to sit upright and rearranging my dress.

“Caruthers!” Prescott barks as he stands in front of me, the bars the only things preventing me from punching that smug smirk off his face. “Or should I say Bonanno?”

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