Page 117 of Savage King

"Wow, did you come up with all that on your own?" Gigi baits him.

"Quiet, Miss DeLuna, I will get to you. In time. For now, Miss Lambert and I are having a conversation."

"All this professorial talk doesn’t make you any smarter, asshole," Gigi keeps antagonizing him. It hits me then that she's trying to divert his attention from me to her. Because… because she thinks I'm pregnant. I can't allow that to happen. I can't allow her to get hurt because of me.

Nestor tsks. "I'm running out of patience with you, Miss DeLuna. Miss Lambert, would you like to tell Miss DeLuna what I do to people who test my patience?"

"With pleasure," I tell him, facing Gigi. "This spineless asshole likes to cut women. But only when they're tied up and can't defend themselves, because he's such a little weak—" His slap on my cheek lands hard, spinning me. I glare and laugh at him. "See what I mean. He's not man enough to?—"

He kicks me. Thankfully, the spin positioned me so that he kicked my hip, not my stomach; still, it hurts.

Suddenly, he stops the swinging and grabs me by my hips. "You know what? I was prepared for her insults," he jerks his chin toward Gigi. “But since you're nothing but a bonus item, one that isn't even worth her weight, I don't have to take them from you."

From out of nowhere, he produces a gun and points it straight at my forehead.

"No!" Gigi yells.

"Gigi, don't!" I yell back because I have a pretty good idea what she's going to say.

Behind his glasses, Nestor narrows his eyes. "Give me one good reason not to."

"I have two, asshole!" Gigi snarls.

"No, Gigi, don't." I try again. Nestor looks ready to kill someone, and I'm afraid that if he doesn’t shoot me, it will be her.

"She's married to my brother and carries his child." Gigi spits out.

Nestor blinks a few times, incredulity written all over his features, before he breaks out into loud, maniacal laughter. He puts the gun back and claps his hands. "Oh, this day is getting better and better."

Canthis day get any worse?

"I've got their location." Vito's fingers fly over his phone, sending the coordinates to my soldiers—the ones still in Warwick, chasing ghosts like a pack of useless bastards. I’ll deal with them later. Losing her? That's unforgivable. For now, I still need them, but there will be consequences for their carelessness. How the fuck did Scarlet and Gigi even leave the mansion? And why?

I should have been there. It was my job to keep them safe, and I failed. Fuck!

The rotors slice through the sky as the chopper hurtles toward Warwick, where they're once again being held in one of Carlos' warehouses. Thank fuck I installed other trackers besides theones in their phones and Gigi's car. Scarlet's is in her ring; Gigi has one in her necklace's pendant, with a second in her hair tie.

I hit speed dial on my phone; the moment Enrico picks up, I yell, "I need weapons."

He doesn't miss a beat, "How many, what, and where?"

I send him the coordinates. "My men will be there. Carlos's goons just took Gigi and Scarlet. I'm twenty minutes out."

"You got it. It'll take me an hour to get everything there. Two if you want the tanks."

The fucker isn't bluffing, either. He bought a handful of T-14 Armata tanks from the Russians not too long ago. I consider the offer for a few heartbeats, but discard it. For one, driving several illegal tanks through NY will garner too much unwanted attention, and two, in two hours, this will be over. One way or another.

My men are already armed with M-4s, but Enrico has the heavy artillery that will be needed to storm this warehouse. I was lucky the first time. I surprised Carlos and his goons. This time, they'll be waiting for us. An hour, he said, that gives Vito and me just enough time to get the lay of the land and come up with an attack plan. I don't like the idea of Scarlet and Gigi in Carlos's hands for so long, but that can't be helped right now. Like it or not, the girls are on their own for the time being.

I keep track of the minutes that have gone by. I will make Carlos's men pay for every second of it, with interest.

"I'll need stun and smoke grenades, as well as the regular kind. Grenade launchers, and an EMP jammer." I'll cut their way ofcommunication off first. That should put the fear of God on them right from the start. "I want SCAR assault rifles."

"Anything else?" Enrico presses.

I look at Vito, who shakes his head. "That should do."

"You've got it."

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