“Yeah,” I agreed.
Bates was standing upright once again, and there was no way he’d missed any of the details. Trigger ran on ahead to find the best spot. We waited for the signal and pushed Bates up in front of us. He would get in, and Trigger would have his eye on him from a distance, his sniper rifle trained on Bates the whole time.
The rest of us followed at a slower pace, including Raven. Bash wanted her to stay behind, but there was no reasoning with her. Lexa was in there, and she was going to get her baby back one way or another.
The house was an old ranch-style design. The roof looked like it needed to be replaced—a decade ago. One really hard snow and it would cave in from the looks of it.
Colt, Raider, and Hawk moved around to the back door, getting into place first, while the rest of us took the front. Raven was stuck between Bash and Jet, but she had her own gun, and I almost pitied Fontana when she got to him.
Almost.
“Now!” Bash whisper-shouted and kicked in the front door just as an echoing sound came from the back of the house.
I knew where I was going simply from following the sound of Fontana screaming at Bates. Bash and Jet barreled through the house in front of me, but Raven slipped past them, making them both shout in protest.
The three of us reached her just as she lifted her gun and pulled the trigger.
Fontana jerked, then fell to his knees as his head canted around to glare at her. Blood poured out of his mouth seconds later, and she pulled the trigger again, this time hitting him in the face.
That was when I saw Lexa, and there was no mistaking the fact that Raven had already seen her. Because as soon as Fontana’s brains were exploding out of the back of his head, Raven dropped her gun and was across the room and falling to her knees, her hands trembling as she ran them over the bruised, unmoving form of her daughter.
But it was the cut on her face, leaving her beautiful skin covered in
blood, that had us all turning to stone. Fuck. He’d cut her. I didn’t know how bad it was from where I was standing, but Raven was going crazy.
“Lexa,” she shouted, feeling for a pulse. “Baby, open your eyes for Mommy. Look at me, Lexa. Please, look at me!”
Bash lifted the little girl into his arms, bracing her against his chest and took off running, his wife right behind him.
Bates just stood there in the middle of the living room, Fontana’s blood and brains on his face and clothes. I crossed the distance separating us in seconds, lifted my gun, and put a single bullet in his brain.
Stepping back, I spat on both bodies at my feet and walked away.
It was over.
And I could finally breathe.
Chapter 25
Raven
I couldn’t stop shaking.
Not when I held Lexa in my arms in the back of Quinn’s car and Bash drove like the hounds of hell were chasing us to the nearest hospital. There was so much blood. So many bruises.
Not when the doctor and a team of nurses took her from us when we ran into the ER, shouting for help. I screamed at them to let me go with her, my heart beating so hard it was close to exploding because I couldn’t fucking stand to be away from her.
Not during the long wait, or when the cops arrived because we’d walked in with an unconscious, badly beaten child. We answered their questions. Told them who to call if they really needed to know so badly—Vito Vitucci, his son, his son-in-law. They always came up with a cover story to protect their muscle. They would sort the cops all out. Get these damn pigs out of my face so I could just worry about my daughter.
Not when the doctor finally came out to tell us what was going on and that Lexa was being rushed up to surgery.
Contusions. Broken bones. Internal bleeding. Severe concussion.
She’d been beaten to within an inch of her life. If we hadn’t gotten her to the hospital in time, she could have bled out from a lacerated liver and a ruptured spleen.
Bash held me close, telling me it was going to be okay. But I didn’t believe him. Lexa had been so still, so fucking broken. And that cut. What the hell had he used to make that damn cut? What had he done to my sweet little angel?
I was still shaking when the surgeon came out and said Lexa was going to be okay.