Page 102 of Legacy

She stared at me, sweat dripping down her face. Her lips quivered, and I nodded.

“Let’s go.”

Her eyes went wide. “You found her?”

“Yes, in Athens.” I grabbed her hand as we hurried out the door.

She remained at my side during the flight. Her excitement and determination to get to Cali rejuvenated her.

Laya and Avra bombarded me with question after question, barely taking a breath between them. I gave them the unfiltered truth, sparing them no detail, warning them of all the scenarios we could walk into.

Meeting Nikolas was a brief blur of formal greetings. He was all about business, helping us get near the area they’d been scoping. Since it was his turf, and he knew the lay of theland, I deferred to his lead. We kept our men to a minimum, and before too long, we positioned ourselves outside the warehouse where his man had taken a picture through the window of the woman bound inside.

“You stay back,” I ordered Avra and Laya before we got too close.

This was the moment we’d been waiting for. We’d lost sleep and appetites, too full of worry over Calista’s fate for so long.

We couldn’t screw it up now.

Not if Avra insisted on being the hero and distracting me with anxiety abouthersafety, too. She was a bold, badass fighter. I knew this. But I was also painfully aware of the mental toll this had taken on her. She wasn’t as sharp as she could be, too jittery with the need to protect her sister. She wasn’t as alert and logical, operating with a precise reaction time. Instead, she moved, emphasizing her emotions: rage and impatience.

We couldn’t risk sloppy work. We all had to be at our best to get Calista out of there alive.

“Avra, you stay?—”

She shot me a stern look. “Tell me what to do again and see what I do to you.”

Laya moved right up next to Avra and braced herself to creep closer until the scout signaled the all-clear to bust through the windows and doors.

Fuck.

She wasn’t going to listen. Why was I surprised?

The second we got the signal, she went in with Laya, guns drawn.

I followed them, trying to remain as close to them as possible.

We would get Cali back, making it one small part of my repentance for all the ways I’d failed them because of Ozias.

If given the chance, I would kill every last one of those fuckers who’d touched Cali.

Nikolas narrowed his gaze as he focused on Laya before giving instructions to his men, who gathered closer to Avra and Laya.

I waited for Avra to say something, but in the next second, someone burst through the basement entrance of the building, and everyone’s attention homed in on the task at hand.

Soldiers blocked all exits, and soon, all that rang out around us were the sounds of gunshots, the breaking of furniture, and shouts from fighting. A battle of trained killers and skilled fighters ensued.

A murderous haze filled my mind, and I stalked straight to the area where I knew the fuckers held Cali. I gunned down anyone who got in my way and all who targeted Avra as she charged in the same direction.

My heart stuttered, almost stopping with the stark realization that one of the assassins grinned as if he recognized Avra and pointed his weapon at her head.

Fuck, no.The thought of losing Avra sent me into a frenzied rage, increasing my speed and accuracy. I emptied myclip relentlessly, taking out every threat targeting her without hesitation. Avra pushed through the door before her, pivoted, and fired straight at the man standing next to Calista. Laya took out the tall brute holding guard behind the door.

And there she was, bound and bleeding, tied to a chair. Her torn, tattered clothes draped off her petite frame, and her head hung low. There wasn’t a way to see if she was breathing.

Avra kneeled before her and pressed her fingers to Cali’s pulse point.

“Dead?” one of Nikolas’s men asked.

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