“The safe room is large, but if we get rid of it as an option, they’ll have nowhere to go, they’re outnumbered… it’s just the matter of the safe room and if there’s anything at all that we don’t see.”
“Hit the safe room first then,” I answer without thinking twice, but then add, turning to face Jase, “Unless they take Aria there.”
Her locked away in a room, refusing to let me in even though she knows I’ll be waiting for her and only time is keeping her away from me, is exactly what our relationship has been. I can see it reversed though just as easily.
Tonight I take that option away. Tonight I change the course of our fate. I choose us. Forever. No more fighting; I’ve fought enough in this life already. I only want to love her.
“Is everyone in place?” I ask Jase and he nods solemnly. We left our home and every piece of property we own unguarded. Every single man is here. Every man ready for blood. The only exception is a small crew guarding Addison right now, far away from all of this.
“I’ve got the security feeds.” As Declan speaks, my eyes open and I wait for the screen to flick to a new video stream, one that shows the hacked footage inside each and every one of Talvery’s rooms until it lands on a picture of Aria.
The images flick by on the screen, moving as she moves, and focused on her expression.
My poor Aria. Fuck, I’ve never known pain like this before.
“You’re good for something, Declan,” Daniel tells him, with his hand on the loaded gun in his lap.
“Fuck you too,” Declan replies with a smirk.
“Feels like old times,” Jase says and I turn to look at him, looking at each of my brothers and Sebastian. It does.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” I tell him, feeling each pulse in my veins. The tension, the buildup. But something else too.
“Since it’s felt like everything is riding on this one moment?”
“Yeah,” I answer him.
“Too long,” Sebastian says lowly, checking his gun and then slamming the magazine into place with the butt of his hand.
“It used to be thrilling, though,” Jase says quietly, glancing at the screen showing the men outside the door to where Aria’s been taken. A few men wait outside, but Nikolai goes in with her. “This is different.”
“There’s too much riding on this one,” I tell them all and their nods are instant.
“We’ll get her and bring her home,” Jase tells me and Sebastian looks between the two of us.
“When this is over,” Sebastian says, “I’m not leaving. I’ll bring Chloe home; she’ll come with me.” I don’t have time to answer him.
“First Talvery, then Romano. Your ass isn’t going anywhere.” Jase’s answer pulls Sebastian’s lips into an asymmetric smirk.
It’s hard to let the words go, but I tell my brothers something I often don’t. “Thank you.” I swallow thickly and then turn to each of them, the leather seats groaning as I do. “Thank you for being here. For helping me and for helping her.”
“Of course,” Jase says, his eyes searching mine and the sad smile showing. “We survived together. Fought together… Loved together.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else. You need me,” Sebastian tells me and looks me in the eyes. “Mostly because I fucked up, but still, you need me.”
His joke lightens the mood a touch, enough to let the other emotions in just slightly. The emotions that remind me she left me. The ones that prove to me it’s because of me.
With his hand gripping my shoulder, Sebastian tells me, “We’ll get her back.”
“And I’ll keep her,” I tell them, meaning every word. I’ll keep all of her every way I know how.
“All right, enough with this shit,” Declan says, and Daniel huffs a short laugh. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a conversation like this one. One that’s real, and touches a piece of me that remains dormant. A piece Aria holds hostage.
“I’ve got it all covered now,” Declan speaks up from the back of the SUV. “The safe room is empty, but it’s not close enough to the outside rooms to be hit easily.”
“Does Aden have vision anywhere near the safe room?”
“He can hit the west side through the hall window, send in the smoke bombs and ambush that side of the house. We’ll be in and out with the bombs within a few minutes, but they’ll react. The odds of coming out are not the best.” Jase answers for Declan, and I can see the plan already formulating in his head.
Aden is already waiting on the other side. They’re waiting for Jase’s cue.
“We need to hit them all at once,” I tell Jase. The adrenaline in my blood is nearly suffocating me. Only because I’m sitting here. I need to move, to get this shit over with and have her back. “Tell them all to hit on my command.”