Geno is quick to assure me that every man who works security for me has been called in to make sure that Dominic doesn’t evade me again, and that since Blake is with him, and completely capable of holding down the fort, he will be up immediately to stand guard over our girls.
“Faye’s trying to sleep,” Travis says as he steps into the hall from the bedroom down the hall from mine.
“Ana too,” I reply. He looks as wiped out as I feel, and round two is just getting started.
Walking toward the kitchen, I say over my shoulder, “I’m going to make some coffee while we wait for Geno and Gray.”
His footsteps follow behind me into the kitchen. He sits without a word, resting his chin on his palm, as I pull the coffee grounds out and fill the pot. Leaning against the counter, listening to the hiss as it brews, I check my phone for updates from my security staff.
I’m sipping my second cup of coffee when Gray enters the room. His face is tight and pale. He doesn’t say a word, just pours a cup of the aromatic brew. Angry, brooding silence is my thing, not his. It makes me feel sick seeing him hurting. I get it though. If someone hurt my Ana the way Dominic hurt Gray’s girl, I’d be feeling the same way.
Travis’ harsh voice disintegrates the heavy silence of the room as he shoves his phone in his pocket and slams his mug onto the table, splashing coffee over the rim. “Blake’s got him on camera a couple of floors down,” he says when I look at him questioningly.
I turn to look at Grayson as a low growl rumbles in his chest. A dark smile ghosts across his face.
“Let’s go get him then,” I say, finishing my coffee and pushing the cup to the middle of the table. My friends do the same, and we silently return to my office and gear up, taking more weaponry this time than we did earlier. I hope this is the last time that I have to do this, ever. I want to put these days of fighting and stress behind me and focus on building my future with Ana by my side.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Xavier
It only takes a few minutes for us to meet up with the mixed collection of security from the casino staff and the K&S guys that Blake called in. Weaver and her team are on their way as well. Dominic is going down one way or another. Tonight. Forever if I have any say in the matter. I want him dead. Nothing else will guarantee that his dirty business will end, and I never want him to have a chance to breathe the same air as Ana again.
“Deja vu,” Travis says under his breath, standing shoulder to shoulder with me in the stairwell as Blake runs us through what he knows. The security cameras caught Dominic as he entered this floor before he disabled them. He hasn’t shown up on camera anywhere else, and Blake has been watching, so unless he went out a window, he’s here, hiding somewhere.
“Right?” I try to laugh, knowing he’s trying to lighten the dark mood hanging over us. We are all tired, it’s been entirely too long of a day. I feel like I’m going a little crazy, a riot of emotions crashing inside me. I’m angry that Dominic dared to set foot inside my domain, but at the same time, relieved that he did because he brought the fight to me, and that gives me an edge. I know every square foot of this building, inside and out. There is nowhere that he can hide where I won’t find him. I hope he realizes that it’s over for him. He thought he was going to bring me down, but it’s me who will be taking his ass down. For good.
“How far out are Weaver and her guys?” I ask Blake, my tone irritated. I’m tired of waiting. I’m ready to do this, but without her, our hands are tied this time. She was very clear that a repeat of what happened at the Woodlawn house would not be ignored.
“Right here.” Her cold voice snaps behind me. She sounds as annoyed as
I’m feeling. Working with her was only for the sake of staying on the right side of the law, not because I have any trust for her or the FBI. They want to imprison Dominic and use him to get information. I want to make sure that no one is victimized by anyone named Cerelli ever again, and I have no doubt that Dominic has the connections to continue to run his business even while incarcerated.
“It’s about damn time,” I grumble, turning to look at her. “Are you ready to do this?”
Her answer is a curt nod, her eyes the coldest blue I’ve ever seen. She doesn’t like me, she doesn’t trust me, but she is stuck with me. I feel the same way about her. She and her team are tools that I’m using, just like she is trying to use me. I know without a doubt that she would happily throw me in a cell with Dominic if she could find anything to tie me to my uncle. She has made that crystal clear to me since day one.
“Where is your Uncle, Mr. Cerelli?” She asks, her tone sharp with snark.
My answering smile is just as hard and sneering. I motion toward the door we will be going through in just a few moments. “Somewhere on this floor.”
She turns away from me, but not before I see her roll her eyes. It’s the first time I’ve seen anything close to a human reaction from the ice queen, and it makes me want to laugh, despite the task at hand. My smile is genuine as I turn to my best friend.
“You ready to get this done?” I ask under my breath so only he can hear me. He has as many reasons as I do to hate Dominic, and knowing the state that Nikki is in, he may be even more vested in seeing the end of Dominic than I am. By just a little bit. He nods once, his teeth bared in a feral smile. I’m going to have to get to Dom first if I want to be the one to finish this.
Weaver looks between the two of us weighing the energy flowing between us.
“I want him alive, boys,” she snarls, reaching for the sidearm at the small of her back before pushing past us through the door and into the empty hall. Unwilling to let her take the lead, I quickly follow and move in front of her.
“In twos,” she says quietly, moving toward a closed door with one of her guys.
“Sounds like a plan,” I mutter to myself before bumping Grayson with my elbow. I have a hunch about where Dominic might be concealing himself. Right in the middle of this level is a large housekeeping closet. I use the term lightly. In reality, it is a full room complete with a dumbwaiter and a laundry shoot down to the housekeeping department on the ground level. It’s where I would hide if I needed to make an escape from the top floors of a high-rise building. I wouldn’t hesitate to use either one as a way to sneak out of here, but Dominic is thirty years older than I am. I suspect he is in there for no reason other than he isn’t physically capable of doing either one.
Meaning he’s trapped like the rat that he is. I couldn’t ask for anything better. It shouldn’t be hard to flush him out.
The last couple groups of guys split off, entering rooms with master keys that Geno provided for everyone. The sounds of their voices are muffled, but I can occasionally hear someone call out that the room is clear. Grayson and I stop outside of the door I have been focused on. It’s now or never.
I stand ready with my gun in hand as Gray swings it open and raises his own gun to a ready position.