Page 196 of Creep

“Yes, I got it,” Tacchini said to his man. The man nodded and walked away. I waited until he was out of sight before I reacted. I reached around Tacchini, my hand going to the waistband of his pants and grabbing his gun. I held him against me, my front pressed to his back, and the gun aimed right at his temple.

“You fucker! You’re working with the FBI!”

I laughed as his men came into the warehouse, guns drawn. Now was the time to see just how much they valued theircapo dei capi. “I wouldn’t call it working for them. More like a mutual benefit.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

I pressed the gun into his temple. “Call off your men, or I’ll blow your head off.”

“You do that, and they’ll kill you. You won’t be able to escape.”

“Then let’s all go to hell together,” I said, reaching into my pocket for a small bomb Theo had insisted I bring with me if I was going to be walking into the lion’s den, so to speak.

I pulled off the safety pin with my teeth and threw it in the front. His men recognized it for what it was and scrambled off to safety.

“Some loyalty they have to you,” I said, pulling him back toward one of the three exits just as the bomb went off. It wasn’t a big one. Not enough to cause any real damage to the structure of the warehouse but enough to create a diversion for me to leave.

Tacchini struggled against me when he realized no one was coming to help him. I let out an annoyed grunt and hit him on the back of his head. He went down. I looked at him, releasing an annoyed breath before hauling him up in my arms and leaving the place… just in time for the FBI to push through. I was sure most of the men on the premises would be arrested, and the women would be safe.

And Giovanni Tacchini was coming with me. I had a feeling the fucker had helped set up the fucking factory where Theo and I were trapped for four fucking long years. Theo would want to have his fun.

I busted out to the back, pushing the fucker a little more up my shoulder when I felt him slipping. I looked around until I found west and walked in that general direction. I was probably about a mile out when I caught sight of a familiar white van. Theo stood in front of the hood, his arms crossed over his chest.

“I can’t believe you willingly walked in there by yourself with nothing more to protect you than the fucking bomb.”

“I also have my knife tucked in my boot,” I responded.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as if I was giving him a headache.

He looked at the man hanging over my shoulder. “Why’d you bring him?”

“I’ll explain everything later. Right now, we need to leave, as I am sure our friends at the FBI are doing a perimeter check.”

He nodded and opened the side door for me. I dropped the fucker in the back as Theo handed over some zip ties. I made quick work, and then we were off. We took the main road, considering there were more cars there, and we could easily blend in.

We were silent on the ride out. I didn’t know if this was enough to get Leo and Luckas out of hiding, but I knew this would have Keller looking into all the locations associated with Tacchini, trying to locate him, and that would no doubt draw them out sooner or later.

We were about half an hour from my apartment when my phone beeped in my pocket. Not my phone.

The phone of the guards Leo had put on Lia.

I opened the screen, and a bad feeling came over me.

A text message.

The fucker sent a picture.

And the message was clear.

A buzzing sounded in my ears, and I felt my heart drop. I squeezed the phone, trying to control the violent rage mixed in with theunbridled fearfilling up inside me.

“What?” Theo asked when he noticed my expression.

I handed the phone over to him.

“What the fuck? They have Lia?”

I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath, but all it did was bring forth the picture from the message.

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