Page 111 of Diary from an Inked Throne

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DAX

EARLIER THAT DAY…

Dear Diary,

Next time someone says, “I’ve got a plan,” I’m asking a lot more questions.

Getting the phone call from Luca that MacGregor had taken over the Guerra mansion ruined any pleasure I might have secretly taken in tattooing claw marks all over the back of the man who’d held Lynx in a jail cell without charges.

Standing outside the house I’d come to think of as our home, in the darkness, watching unfamiliar guards prowl the grounds while my woman and my child were held inside was even worse.

I paced the length of the neighbor’s backyard, praying Luca was right when he’d said it would be the perfect place to infiltrate from because they always went to Spain for the winter and wouldn’t be home. We’d raided it for weapons, finding none, and so far, no one seemed to have called the cops to report us trespassing on their property.

But we were on the wrong side of the fence line.

“What exactly is the plan here?” I asked, staring at the other two, feeling utterly sick to my stomach.

Luca folded his arms over his chest and contemplated the building he’d called home for most of his life. “I have no fucking idea. It’s a really unfortunate time for half of the Slayers to be on the other side of the country.”

He glared at Lynx like that was somehow his fault.

Lynx threw up his hands. “I’m pretty sure War didn’t deliberately plan the annual meetup to coincide with our problems.”

War had left only a skeleton crew of prospects behind to keep an eye on the clubhouse and keep their legitimate businesses running, which was the only reason Lynx was even here right now. Otherwise, he would have been expected to go along too.

I was grateful he hadn’t gone.

We needed him here tonight. I would have lost it if this had all fallen on the shoulders of me and Luca.

Especially after what had happened between us the night before, which made being around him today a little awkward.

But that had been forgotten when we’d realized Nyah was trapped inside that house with a man who had clearly been obsessed with her for a very long time.

Lynx looked at me. “We could call your brothers.”

“Into a situation where they could be killed? After my father already lost his wife? Absolutely not.”

Lynx screwed up his face. “Maybe some guys on the hockey team…”

Luca glanced at him. “I don’t think we really have that sort of relationship with them, do you? I’m really not sure which one I would call just to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got a bit of a hostage situation going on here that will probably end in a bloodbath. Want to come help?’”

I didn’t know any of them well, but even I knew that brawling on the ice was not the same thing as what we were doing here.

“We’re overthinking it,” Luca announced. “We just go in, guns blazing, and kill them all.”

Lynx stared at him. “The three of us, against all of them? Do you have an automatic weapon built into your bra? Because that’s the only way that scenario ends up without the three of us dead.”

Luca scowled at him.

The man wasn’t used to not having an army to do his bidding. And right now, his army was all miles away, searching for our baby. Those close enough to help were most likely dead.

We’d seen no sign of Viktor or Bruno or any of the other guys who’d worked security at the mansion.

But we had seen the patches on the driveway that hadn’t been there that morning. Even though it was dark, I was pretty confident they weren’t oil.

“I hate that she’s in there with no idea whether we’re even alive to come save her,” I mumbled. “This is fucking killing me.”