I pull my phone out and send a text to Justin. It takes two minutes to get a message back letting me know that the penthouse has been rented out for a little over a week to a woman named Layla Harden. I look up from my phone after reading the message. I have a feeling that anyone who has any kind of relationship with Vincent at this time is in danger. He has screwed over the wrong people, and those people’s moral compasses are fucked up.
“You need to get your boy and get out of town for a little while.”
“I have a business to take care of.” She shakes her head.
“Find someone you—” I’m cut off mid-sentence when there is a loud bang in the hall followed by a lot of grunts.
We both turn towards the door when it’s thrown open. I pull my gun as the bodyguard from downstairs crashes into the room with both Sven and Kai trying to hold him back. If this situation weren’t so serious, I would laugh.
“Justice, stop! I’m okay!” Abigail shouts, covering her mouth as she watches Kai and Sven attempt to take this guy down.
His eyes go to her, and I can see worry etched in his face. “Get the fuck off me!” he barks, batting Sven and Kai off him. He storms over to her, holding her face and looking her over. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she answers as tears slide down her cheeks. “I have to get out of town.”
I watch understanding light across his face, and he nods, looks over at me, and says, “You’re lucky I didn’t have my gun on me or you would have a bullet in your head.”
“Justice.” She slaps his arm, bringing his attention back to her.
“Babe,” he replies softly, and her eyes lower from his as a light blush creeps across her cheeks. “I know a place we can go. Dex will love it.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She looks away.
“No more bullshit, Abi.”
“I told you I can’t see you like that,” she tells him.
“And I told you I don’t give a fuck what you say anymore. I know you feel the same way I do.”
“But Dex…” she whispers, closing her eyes.
“I love that kid. I’ve been a part of his life since he was born. Do not use him as an excuse,” Justice growls.
“As sweet as this moment is, we’ve got shit to do,” Sven says, breaking in.
I look at him and nod.
“I’m sorry about your fiancée,” Abigail says sincerely. “I know it doesn’t make it any better, but I’m sorry, and the Vincent I fell in love with years ago would have been sorry too.”
I doubt that, but love is blind.
I turn to look at Justice and pull my card out of my pocket. “If you find you can’t keep her and her boy safe, you call me.”
His eyes narrow, but he takes the card with a nod of his head.
“Are you going to kill him?” Abigail asks, looking at me.
“No,” I say, telling her the truth.
“Amidio is looking for him, and I doubt he wants to have afternoon tea. If I were you, I would find a way to prepare your boy for what’s to come,” Kai tells her.
She nods and understanding flits across her face before she grabs Justice’s hand.
“Let’s roll,” I tell Kai and Sven.
*
I watch from down the hall as the small housekeeper I just paid a thousand bucks walks up to the large double doors at the end of the hall and knocks.
“Housekeeping!” she shouts through the door.
When I see the door open and a woman wearing nothing answer, I make my move, pulling my gun and heading down the hall. The housekeeper runs away and the woman, who I’m assuming is Layla, screams at the top of her lungs when I shove her inside. Vincent comes around the corner with a towel around his waist and a gun in his hand.
“Drop it,” I grumble.
“Fuck you.” He raises the gun towards me and an almost silent shot goes off from behind my back. He falls to the ground, clutching the hand he was holding the gun with to his side.
I turn my head, expecting to see Sven or Kai, but it’s one of Amidio’s men who has his gun raised. Kai and Sven are both behind the other three members of Lacamo, looking ready to kill.
“You following me?” I ask.
He shrugs, and I walk over to Vincent, putting my boot to his hand, which is trying to pick up the gun, and I crush a few bones. He grunts pulling his hand to his chest.
“We’ll take it from here,” one of Amidio’s other men says, bringing Vincent to his feet.
His face is now pale from the amount of blood he’s lost; I’m sure an artery was hit. One of the men brings over a towel, wrapping it around Vincent’s wrist while the others start to clean up the mess.
“We had a deal,” I remind them.
“Deal still stands. Right now, boss has some questions for him. We’ll be in touch,” he says as he and another man drag Vincent from the room while another man talks to Layla, who is crying hysterically.
“Now what?” Sven says, looking between Kai and me.
“Now, we wait.”
It isn’t until two in the morning that Kai gets a message to head downtown. When we arrive at the location, I’m surprised by the amount of cars gathered outside.
“What the fuck is going on?” Kai asks, looking over at his man, Frank, in the driver’s seat. How the hell he got the name Frank when he’s Hawaiian and looks like he could be a sumo wrestler is anyone’s guess.
“Don’t know. You want me to come in with you?”
“Nah.” Kai shakes his head, looking around at all the cars. “These men know not to fuck with me.” He gets out of the SUV and bends over, pulling something out from under the seat and putting it in the waist of his pants. “Keep it running and use your gun if you have to. If something seems off, leave, get Myla, and head to my parents’.”
“You just said they know not to fuck with you,” Frank tells him, pulling his gun from his inside coat pocket.
“Doesn’t mean they aren’t stupid, brother,” Kai mutters, slamming the door.
“Myla won’t be happy,” I hear Frank say as I slam my door.
When we get to the building’s entrance, one of the guys from the hotel earlier meets us out front and escorts us inside and down a hall.