Page 58 of Joyride
“Andrei paid off your father’s debt to Big Vin in return for your freedom. Big Vin knew Zack wouldn’t give you up willingly and gave us permission to do what we needed to do to get you back,” Raze tells me.
I take a deep breath. “I did hear them talking about taking someone down by starting a war with their rivals. Also, Santo mentioned they would have Torres to fall back on.”
“Torres? As in TJ’s father? The man who took Sienna,” Minx asks.
“His friendship with TJ makes sense now,” Rico mutters. “As for Santo, that snake has never been one to be trusted. You all can do what you want with the waste of life that is my brother. All I ask is that you let my brothers and I have our way with Santo. As one of myPapa’scapos, he deserves the Italian mafia’s punishment for betraying us.”
“I’m sure my Prez will be fine with that.” Raze glances at his phone before walking away answering it.
Minx pulls me away from Rico. “Did anything else happen while you were with him?” She gestures to my bruised cheek.
“No, nothing else,” I lie to her. It won’t do any good telling her what Zack did. I also don’t want to relive it.
Raze walks back over to us, no longer on the phone. “Ready to go see your man?”
“Hell yeah! Let’s go,” I reply. Minx and I follow him outside and climb into one of the club’s blacked-out SUVs. Twenty minutes later, we pull up to the hospital. Raze parks the SUV, and we head inside. Raze takes us to a waiting room, where Rascal and Diesel are already sitting.
“Where is he? Where’s Sketch?” I look between Rascal and Diesel.
“They took him into surgery thirty minutes ago,” Rascal tells me. “The nurse said it could take a couple hours depending on how bad the damage is, but she said she would keep us updated as much as she can.”
I slouch into a chair across from them. “He has to be okay. I need him to be okay.”
“Oh, Wren.” Minx sits next to me, wrapping her arm around my shoulders. More brothers trickle in over the next thirty minutes, including my own.
“Wren, are you okay? What did that asshole do to you?” He brushes his thumb over my cheek.
“I’m fine, Shade. It’s nothing,” I tell him.
“Can I get you anything? Something to eat? Drink,” he asks.
“The thought of food makes me want to puke,” I admit.
“Why not get some tea or 7-Up?” Minx suggests.
“Those do sound good,” I say.
“I’ll get you both. Minx, you want anything,” Shade asks.
“I’ll take a tea, please,” she replies.
“You got it.” He walks away to go get our drinks.
“Raze.” Ranger gestures for Raze to go talk to him and Thor. My guess is they want to know what I said about Zack and Santo. While they’re talking, Andrei Orlov, Pakhan of the Bratva, walks in. His eyes search the room before landing on mine. My heart drops as he walks my way. What would the Pakhan want with me?
“Wren, how are you feeling,” Andrei asks.
“As well as I can be, considering,” I tell him. “Thank you for paying off my father’s debt.”
“It was the least I could do. I actually came here to personally thank you for risking your life for my daughter, grandson, and son-in-law,” he says.
“I couldn’t have bared it if something were to happen to them because of me,” I admit.
“You were not the one threatening them. Zack was, and he’ll be taken care of. Santo, too.” With that, he walks away to talk to Ranger. Another thirty minutes go by before anyone comes to talk to us.
“Logan Hayes’s family?” A nurse calls out.
I jump to my feet, standing in front of her. “We’re his family.”
