Page 80 of Maximum Bet
I gasp when I locate the source of the bleeding. “Nico, this looks bad.” Blood still leaks from the wound on his bicep onto his crisp button-down. “You need stitches.”
He laughs. “We’ve got bigger problems at the moment.”
“Dominic,” Leo snaps. “Are you listening at all?”
“Yes.” Dominic holsters his gun and leans against the counter. “All I’m getting is that right now, we have no surveillance abilities in my hotel, the property is swarming with enemies, and my wife, her family, and my family are trapped inside.”
Leo sighs. “We’re working on it. Victor got his hackers to jump in from LA. They’ve proved useful before.”
“Can someonepleasetell me what happened upstairs?” I beg.
The men fall silent until Leo says, “Nico, I think this is your realm.”
Nico looks to Dominic, who waves his hand in a what the hell are you waiting for gesture.
Nico unbuttons the top few buttons of his shirt. “The Bratva and cartel fuckers got in right as you two disappeared into the stairwell. The guys we had set up as a first line of defense took the hardest hit. We lost four. Three more are on their way to the hospital. Leo, get ready to spin some PR on that.
“The good news is that the attackers weren’t expecting Cortez and his crew, or our friends from Boston and New York. Our allies set up a sneak attack, coming in from the sides to blindside them. Only two men locked in on the Romano-Tariello crew at the altar.”
“Did anyone other than you get hit?” My voice cracks with the lump that forms in my throat. I think of my father, who stayed to fight for us. I could never live with myself if something happened to him because of me.
“Marco had a shell casing jump up and bite him in the ass. He’s being a big fucking baby about it, too. Jonathon had to smack him around a little bit and tell him to suck it up.”
“My dad is okay?” I gasp, stepping closer.
“He’s more than okay,” Nico says. “He shot the guy who did this to me.” He gestures to his injured arm. “I like your dad. He’s a stand-up guy. Even for a cop.”
“Dominic, Nico, and Cassandra,” Leo barks through the phone. “We need a plan. Our communication is cut. We have half our crew, including Vincent and Lucas, guarding the guests in the ballroom. Jonathon and Marco are on a witch hunt tofind out where the enemy is staged. The only way we can communicate is by phone call because I’m fairly confident Kozlova and Perez possess enough technology to access our texts.”
“And not our calls?” Nico asks dubiously.
“We scramble the signal of syndicate phones,” Leo explains. “It should make it a lot harder for them to access the calls.”
“Regardless, we need to dispense information on an as-needed basis,” Dominic orders. “For now, the three of us will stay put. Leo, as soon as you have the surveillance system running again, or have information we need to know, call me.”
“Okay.” Leo pauses. “Stay safe, don’t try to be a hero. That goes for all three of you.”
“Yes, Dad.” Nico rolls his eyes.
Dominic scowls and hangs up the phone.
“And now,” he says, grabbing the champagne bottle and crossing to a set of plush ivory couches. “We wait.”
Chapter 29
Dominic
Fifteen minutes go by with no contact from my men or Leo. Each moment that passes has my anxiety climbing, and the urge to go out and fight intensifying.
Nico is doing his best to lighten the situation, cracking jokes to make Cassandra smile. She’s politely entertaining him, but by the way she jumps each time the air conditioner kicks on, and how she twists the fabric of her skirt between her fingers, I know she’s worried.
“What the fuck is going on out there?” I stop my pacing to glare at the door, tempted to say, “Fuck it,” and run out guns blazing.
“You heard Leo,” Nico drawls, spinning a coaster on the coffee table. “He’ll call when he knows anything.”
“Yeah, but with surveillance down, he’s at least two steps behind,” I snap and continue wearing a trail into the carpet.
Nico shifts in his seat on the couch, throwing an arm over the back to watch me. “I get what you’re saying, but it’s not worth the risk—”
