Page 49 of Our Vicious Descent
All Elise could do was laugh as Jamie finally brought the vehicle to a steadier speed. A few blocks later, they approached a Saint training compound. Her lover’s relief warmed a part of her that had not been touched since their separation. She had spent so long defendingherself and others, yet no one had done the same for her until Layla. The tender concern in her eyes made Elise want to pull Layla into her arms and stay there until they were forced apart, but Jamie was clearing his throat and Sterling groaning nearby. She allowed Layla to release her and climbed out of the vehicle to face the building Jamie pointed at. The men they had followed were long gone now after having fled into the compound.
“It looks like it’s mostly empty right now, but they have guards.” He gestured to the two strange men standing just outside the door to the Saint training center—or whatever was left of it. While the building still stood, no more eager and determined men and women entered or exited the building with their shiny new badges and earned honor. Instead, it remained a tall brick building in the middle of Harlem. What had once been a factory was converted into a multistory building with various gyms and armories. Now Elise wondered if they were even used with the intruding gangsters having taken over.
“What is the etiquette for one gang approaching another?” Elise asked.
Sterling whipped his gaze to her. Though his expression remained mostly stoic, Elise noticed the flicker of apprehension in his hazel eyes. “Are you calling us a gang?”
“With Jamie leading us, who’s to say we aren’t one?” Layla muttered. She nodded to Jamie. “You two go ahead. Elise and I will take up the back in case they feel provoked.” She waited back at the corner with Elise as the two men approached the building across the street.With them out of earshot, Layla turned her attention to Elise. “Don’t you find it a little odd how easily your father’s empire fell? Where there was once an insane man is now the shadow of an empire that was considered great.”
Elise bit back a bitter laugh. “It wasn’t exactly that easy. There was biological warfare and bad press involved. Bad press can take down anything. Especially if you were believed to be a failure from the beginning.”
Layla considered her words carefully. “Sure, but…I think we should be cautious. What if he’s planning something else, or someone else is planning something through him?”
“Then we’ll stop him before the plans come to fruition,” Elise said strongly.
“So confident.”
“One of us has to be.” Elise moved forward before Layla could respond to her jab.
Across the street, they met Jamie and Sterling at the entrance to the training center, where the two men appeared to be stuck in a heated conversation with the guarding gangsters.
“Do you take me for an idiot? We are not just letting anyone inside our property,” one Italian gangster spat.
Jamie lifted his hands and coughed out a laugh. “Listen. I know you don’t pay rent for this place. It’s a fortress. I understand your frustration, though, because plenty of people call me dumb. But the trick is letting them underestimate you so you can—”
“This is not your property. We have alerted the Saints to yourtheft, and they will not take kindly to finding you all here when they arrive.” Sterling pulled his coat back to reveal his guns, which had newly engraved crosses on the handles as tribute to his time as a Saint member.
The gangster did not seem impressed. His hand tightened on his gun, and he continued to glare, his dark eyes only filling with more irritation as Elise and Layla arrived. “That means nothing to me. If you want this place, you will have to take it from us. Judging by your small group, you would certainly die in any type of insurrection.”
Jamie’s easy smile dropped into a frown. “Well, it was never going to come to that, jester.” He gestured to Layla, whose lips had pulled into an annoyed flat line. “This one will destroy you—won’t you, Layla?”
Layla stared at him with a blank expression. “Never for you.”
Elise bit back a groan of frustration. “Sir, please. It’s in your best interest to work with us. You can tell Nicoletta—”
“How do you know her name?” The gangster shoved his gun under Elise’s chin. The metal only grazed her skin before Layla shot between them, baring her fangs and hissing.
“Watch it,” Layla snapped.
Her fury had the man stumbling back in shock, his arm shaking as he tried to point the gun at her. “Demone!” His voice quaked even while he used his native language to insult her.
Layla wrapped her hand around the barrel of the gun and wrenched so hard, his wrist twisted and popped. His fingers released the gun, and he collapsed, still staring up at her with horror-filledeyes.
“How are you here, in the sunlight? You look so…so human. What kind of sorcery do you practice in New York to hide monsters in plain sight?” he demanded. The gangster scrambled for the second gun at his belt, but Sterling and Jamie were already lifting their own to his heart.
Elise relished in the display of violence. Three beings stood in front of her, ready to spill blood to defend her. Whatever their true reasons for doing it were, she didn’t care. All her life, she had wondered whether she would ever be worthy of such devotion. Today, she understood her humanity and ever-shifting morals did not make her a liability, but rather an asset worth protecting.
“You do not know this city or country well enough to want to run it. Just hear us out,” Elise said.
The gangster cradled his arm in his hand and shook his head. “I’m not the one you need to talk to. My boss—she’s not here right now. You can wait for her, or—”
“Oh, Vito, che hai fatto?” A feminine voice called out nearby.
Everyone turned to see a tall woman with dark hair approaching the entryway, two men following her. The same woman had approached Elise outside the Renny a couple of nights ago. She peeled leather gloves off her hands and bent toward Vito, pinching her fingers around his wrist. The gangster cried out as she forced him to his feet by dragging him up with two fingers around his injured arm.
“Scusa. Mi dispiace tantissimo.” Vito wept.
The woman, who Elise could only assume was Nicoletta, shook her head and gave him a bitter smile. “Your apologies mean nothing to me now that you’ve made a fool of me and my business.” She dropped his limp wrist and shoved him away. The man scampered back into the building, leaving his gun and his dignity behind.
