Page 95 of Vendetta

“Soon,” I said as I reached for one of the AKs leaning up against the wall. A muffled pop interrupted the somber quiet. “Oliver.”

He pulled out his phone, letting my brothers finish scrolling through the files on the laptop. Cruz moved to the door with his gun out and ready.

Oliver opened the camera app, and his mouth dropped open in an O. “Uh, we have company.” He turned his screen toward me as my right shoulder began to ache.

Rosa was in my father’s office, a dead guard on the floor, and a decapitated head on his desk. My father had her in a chokehold with her arm twisted behind her back.

Fury beat against sheer force of iron will. We had to be smart about this. With a minimum of twenty guards on the grounds, as much as I wanted to, rushing through the halls would only get us killed.

“I need you watching our backs. He has our omega,” I said to my brothers, the words slipping out in a barely restrained, animalistic growl, unlike anything I’d made before.

Wrath seeped from my pores as I locked down the feral rush of rage that was flooding my senses. How dare he touch Rosa?

Cruz and Oliver exchanged worried looks, but I took a deep breath, centering myself, and then turned toward my brothers. “You know the grounds better than anyone. We’re outnumbered and outgunned. I need you to deal with the perimeter guards and any in the barracks that are loyal to our father. If we cut off backup before they figure out what’s happening, we have a shot. Keep it quiet.”

Dom glared at me. “Do you always have to take the fun out of it?”

“No grenades.” I shook my head. He was going to get us killed someday.

“Whatever you say, boss.” Dom tipped his chin toward the back, and my three brothers headed out.

Before the door closed behind them, Luca’s voice carried through the hall. “Is no one gonna mention the head? No? Okay, then.”

How long they’d stay quiet was anyone’s guess. They didn’t have the best track record at stealth. Dom liked explosives too much for his own good.

Without warning, Oliver walked to the front entrance of the suite and popped his head out. “Hey, meathead. Do you know anything about the plumbing? The toilet’s overflowing. I think something’s stuck. I could use a hand.”

A mumbled curse came from the guard outside, who followed Oliver in. As soon as the door shut, Cruz stepped out from behind it, cracking the alpha in the temple with the butt of his rifle. The oblivious man dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Oliver held his finger up. “One.”

Bloodthirsty little shit.

Cruz dragged the unconscious guard into the bathroom and handcuffed him to the toilet.

“How many more are outside?” I asked, too angry to laugh despite the humor.

“Three in this hall,” Oliver replied.

The math wasn’t on our side, considering there were at least three more patrolling the house, if we account for the dead guy on the office floor. Eight of my father’s elite alphas against the three of us? I’d put my money on my pack any day, but it wouldn’t be easy.

“Can you get one more in here alone?”

He shrugged his shoulders and popped his head outside again. “Hey, you. Meathead asked if you could come help him. I’m not strong enough, I guess.”

I snorted. Who needed alpha strength when you had the audacity?

Sure enough, another guard waltzed right through the door, clueless as a lamb, taking a gun to the face as Cruz swung his rifle like a baseball bat. He collapsed in a heap, just like the last.

I ripped open the backpack and tossed Cruz an extra set of handcuffs.

“Lock them up in the bathroom together.” I said, sorting through the rest of the contents of the bag my brothers had brought.

Cruz grunted his agreement and dragged the second soldier into the back of the suite.

Oliver knelt beside me. “It’s okay to be upset, Nico. We’ll get Rosa back, and we’ll get vengeance for your mom.”

“I can’t right now, Oliver.” It came out more harshly than I’d intended, but if I let myself feel even a fraction of the rage burning inside me, I wouldn’t be able to save Rosa. That was my focus.