Buttons and Grace (Buttons 6)

I had shit to do, but I knew it was my obligation to call Pearl. She was undoubtedly a mess right now, alternating between pacing and sobbing. The phone barely rang once before she answered. “What happened?”

“Your idea worked.”

“It did?” she blurted into the phone, slightly maniacal. “What does that mean? Did you find his location?”

“Crow dropped hints and helped me pinpoint his location.”

“Where is he?” she demanded.

“Rome.”

“Then why are you on the phone with me? Go get him, Cane.” She was more ruthless and aggressive than I’d ever heard her. Even when I first met her, she wasn’t nearly as fiery. All of her emotions were heightened when it came to Crow.

“We’re doing a satellite sweep of the area. We need to know what we’re up against. We have time. Crow told them you were in Africa, so it’ll take a while before they figure out he’s full of shit.”

“We have time?” she hissed. “Crow is in there suffering, and you think we have time?”

The only reason I was putting up with her shit was because this was my fault in the first place. “We have to do this right, Pearl—for his sake. I’m certain we didn’t tip off Tristan, so we’re going to hit him hard.”

“Don’t kill him.”

I cocked my head even though we weren’t talking face-to-face. “What?”

“I want to kill that asshole myself. I want to look him in the eye and shoot him right in the skull. He took my husband from me, and no one fucks with a Barsetti like that.” She even had a slight Italian accent as she said it. “He tried to hurt my family. He threatened to hurt me. I want to kill him, Cane.”

I knew she was just angry right now, not that I judged her for it. She had it in her. She’d stabbed Bones without thinking twice about it. She wanted revenge for what Tristan had done to Crow. I didn’t tell her Crow had already been tortured because that would just hurt her. But I knew letting her kill Tristan wasn’t a good idea. “I can’t do that, Pearl. I have to kill everyone in that complex. No one gets out alive.”

“Then you’d better let Crow do it,” she hissed. “That man tried to come between us. He deserves to pull the trigger.”

I deserved to pull the trigger as much as either of them after what Tristan did to Adelina, but that wasn’t appropriate to say right now. “I’ll see what happens when I’m in there.”

“Do not let him get away, Cane. I mean it.”

“I know, Pearl.”

She sighed into the phone, announcing all of her stress in the single sound. “I’m sorry… I’m just so scared. I can’t stop thinking about what they’re doing to him. I keep crying. I can’t stop.” A few quiet sobs erupted over the line.

The same fears plagued me too. “I can promise you there’s nothing they could do to Crow to hurt him. That guy is made of steel. He’s the strongest guy I’ve ever known. They may not have even done anything to him. Tristan thinks he got what he wanted, so there’s no reason to antagonize Crow.” It was effortless for me to lie because I was doing it for the right reason. Crow would want me to keep her calm, especially since she was carrying his kid. “I’ll let you know when we’re about to move in.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “Please don’t take too long. I might have a heart attack. I’m usually so calm about things but…I just can’t relax. I’m losing my mind.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I know how you feel about him. You’ve never been scared when your own life is at risk because you’re brave. But when it comes to someone else, it’s much more terrifying.”

“God, now I know how he feels when I do stupid shit.”

I normally would chuckle, but I wasn’t in the mood. “Yeah.”

She sniffled over the line. “Tell me when it’s done. Put him on the phone…I need to hear his voice.”

“I promise.”

“Okay…” She hung up.

I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and walked to the Hummer where Bran was. He was in the back with the tech gear and staring at the computer screen. “You got anything?”

“Yeah…but it’s not good.”

“Why do you say that?” He had more men than we realized? He wasn’t in the location that Crow gave us?

Bran pulled up the satellite feed of the area, picking up heat-generated sensors that showed the dynamics of the compound. All the warehouses had people inside, silhouettes of people working. “I think all of these men are Tristan’s….and there are nearly a hundred of them.”

“They could just be neighbors.”

“Unlikely.” Bran zoomed in on one of the images, the stacks of cargo and the way the facility was outlined. “I think this is where he keeps the shipments of weapons he bought from you.”