Page 56 of Unbound

I called behind me, “Everyone who can move, move out this door.” I called to the two firefighters, “A guy over there told me there’s a third explosion happening, and it could be any minute, ten minutes after the second explosion.”

The firefighter’s back straightened and his eyes went wide. And then with Dex over my shoulder, Tia and Tess at my back, we moved outdoors.

Paramedics moved to us immediately, pushing a gurney. Someone helped me get Dex onto it. He was now unconscious. Nino moved to me.

“Where is he?” I muttered under my breath.

“Got ‘im,” Nino said low, his face stone as he took in the wreckage that was visibly coming out of Fete in the arms of firefighters.

Tia was still holding my coat; Tess was still holding Tia’s hand. I turned around to face them. They both looked a little bit disheveled, but otherwise whole. Thank God Tia being out of the way for the first and second explosions was a part of that fucker’s plan.

“Good,” I said to Nino, turning around to take my wife into my arms.

She was still bawling. She was also shaking. I took my filthy tux jacket off and put it on her shoulders as she cried into my chest.

Nino put his arms around Tess and hugged her. She was crying, too, watching Dex get wheeled toward an ambulance. More ambulances were coming.

“Move away from this building,” I said, and we all moved back. I didn’t know whether John, Kate, Ben, Olive, or any of the other investors were still in there, but there were more emergency vehicles arriving.

This place was rural, it’d take time, time we might not have. I wanted the girls away from this area. Our limo was still here, so I moved the girls to it and led them inside.

“Don’t. Don’t go back in there!” Tia grabbed at me frantically when she realized that I wasn’t getting in.

“I won’t. I won’t, baby. I’m just seeing what’s what. Gotta talk to the cops. You okay? Anything hurt?”

Her hand moved to her stomach and she grabbed the fabric of her dress there.

“No. No I’m not hurt. My ribs a little from his gun that he pushed…but no. The room shook and we heard the booms, but Ididn’t get hurt. That guy that grabbed me was rough with me but I’m… I’m okay.” Tears streamed down her face.

I kissed her on the lips and caressed her belly, then kissed her nose and then her mouth again.

Thank fuck.

“Pull out to the main road,” I said to the driver. “Fast. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“No, Tommy. Wait. If it blows up–” she started, but I shut the door and stepped back. I saw her looking at me through the window. She looked frantic and pounded her fist on the window as the car moved out of the way. I saw her shouting at the driver, but he was following my orders to move her away.

We were about eighty feet from the building and people were being pulled out. There were a lot of people outside the place already, people who’d obviously been evacuated already and several people held their phones up, filming.

Firefighters began moving the crowd back and unrolling yellow tape. I saw a gurney come out with Johnny on it, oxygen mask on his face. He was unconscious and not looking good. Fuck. I ran my hands through my hair.

Nino jogged to where a couple cops and Ben stood. He was all right. Good. His wife was with a group a little further back. I told them all to move back some more and we got behind the fire truck.

Minutes ticked by and I watched from what I hoped was a safe distance with Ben, Olive, and two other investors who hadn’t been in the bar area during the explosion.

A third bomb had not gone off. Either it wasn’t happening or Leo Denarda had to give the order but he couldn’t give any orders because my guys had him. Multiple ambulances were on the scene. All of my people were okay. But I felt sick to my stomach when I heard Olive say to Ben that they hadn’t seen Johnny’s wife Kate.

I was out of my mind with worry. The limousine sat idling on the side of the road a half mile away from the Fete building. The driver told us that the limo was armored as well and was trying to be soothing but in a bossy way because I was having a flip out and I think he knew he had to keep us safe and stop me from doing something stupid, like running toward the building to find my husband.

I didn’t know if that was just our luck that we were in an armored car or if Tommy had planned it that way, but I was not soothed by anything. I was sick with worry and sick with the images I’d seen.

One minute, I’m trying to calm my sister-in-law down and the next minute there was this shaking boom that I felt deep in my bones.

We couldn’t get the bathroom door opened to get out but by the sounds and smells I knew there was some sort of explosion and there was also fire. The fire alarms blared a second and then everything went dark. Tess and I had debated what to do and then finally, she pushed against the door and it wouldn’t move. I pushed too but I was pretty sure there was a person against it. I’d heard a grunt.

“Dex?” I’d called out but he didn’t answer and then a waiter came in, bringing all sorts of dust and smoke with him. I couldn’tsee him well as we had only our phone lights, but mine dropped to the floor the wrong way so wasn’t giving off much of a glow. He grabbed me and started pulling me toward the door and I knew instantly that the guy wasn’t here to help.

We began coughing as that dust filled our lungs and I screamed and tried to pull away so Tessa started fighting him off. I was trying to fight him off, too, but he was a big guy. Tess got her shoe off and hit him on the side of the head with it. He swore at her and then struggled and hit Tessa in the face with a gun before dragging me with him.

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