Page 22 of Broken Empire
“Coolyour jets,Romeo.Weneed to go to the hotel first and go over our game plan.Wecan’t just go in all willy-nilly without a plan because that’s how you get us or her killed and we don’t want that.Plus, we have no clue where we’re even going yet,” he tells me.Ugh!Ihate it when he’s the one who’s making sense with his deranged ass.
“Fine.We’lldo it your way since you’re the expert,”Igrumble.
“Trustme,Iam, sinceIknow my body count is way higher than yours.”
“Huh…”
Whenwe finally get off the plane, there are fourSUVswaiting for us.HunterandIhop in one of them with three of the guys and the others fill the other three.Huntis the one driving and it doesn’t take long getting fromJFKto the city, whichI’mthankful for because it feels like something is finally going my way for once.
Huntertakes us to theCrowneHotelhere inNYC.Ofcourse, he does.LikeIneed the reminder of how muchIfucked up plaguing me.Wemake our way up to the penthouse via the back entrance.Ican only imagine how crazy we’d look going through the front with fifteen guys all dressed in black from head to toe, looking ready to kill.Prettysure that would be bad for business.
“Tookyou assholes long enough to get here!”Ihear as soon as we step into the penthouse.Ilook up surprised to see my brother here, along withRoyce,Nate, andBeck.Graysonbeing the one who just spoke.
“What?Whatare you guys doing here?”Iask.
“Hunterfilled us in on what was going on and we figured we’d show up here to help support and help you with whatever you needed,”Graysays andIdon’t even care ifIsound like a pussy whenIsay thatIfeel tears threaten to spill out.Ilook over atHuntand give him a nod.Heshakes his head in understanding as the guys and him start spreading equipment out on the table.
“Iappreciate you guys coming all the way here butIcan’t let you get involved.Itcould be dangerous,”Itell them.
“Idon’t care.I’mhelping!Wehave to get her back!Iwon’t be able to live with myself if we don’t find her, not after everything that she went through,”Graysontells me in no uncertain terms.
Iwalk over to him and pull him in for a hug.Iknow he’s still feeling like shit after everything that went down.He’sespecially been having a tough time after he was the one to findWinterin the bathroom after she almost killed herself.Notgoing to lieIstill have nightmares about walking in on that scene.
“Yeahbro, we’re here to help no matter the cost.Imean we kinda helped put her in that headspace after the shit we helped you pull,”Natesays.
“Yeahman, we’ll do anything to help get her back.Thisis kinda our fault too,”Roycechimes in.
“Shedoesn’t deserve any of this shit brother.Iwant her to be ourWinteragain,”Beckmutters.Ilet out a sigh, knowing thatIwon’t be able to change their minds.Oncethey get it into their heads to do something, they will stop at nothing to get it done.Hardheadedas fuck assholes, just like my girl.
“Conferencecall!”Huntershouts from the dining area where he has all of his shit set up.
“Let’sget to it then guys!Justpromise me that if any of this shit gets to be too much for any of you, then you’ll back out,”Itell them as we head over to whereHunteris.
“We’renot fucking pussies’ asshole!Besides, we all fucking owe it to her to see this through.Beforeyou two were an item, she was our friend too, even though we haven’t been acting like it lately,”Becksays with a defeated sigh.Ijust nod my head, knowing arguing further would be futile.
“Mybrother and the guys are on the line,”Huntersays as we finally make it to him.
“We’reall here,”Isay a moment later.
“Wehaven’t gotten any new information about where they might have taken her, but we have everyone we can looking,”Cartersays on the screen andIfeel my heart sink at his words.Thisis definitely not whatIwanted to hear.
“Thanksman,Iappreciate everything that you guys are doing,”
“Talkto you later, bro.Ihave a friend whoIthink might be able to help soI’mgoing to give him a call,”Huntersays before cutting the video call and then grabbing his phone to call someone.
“Whois he calling?”Graysonasks.
“Noclue,”
“HeyCole.YeahmanI’minNewYork.No,I'mhere on business and that’s whatI’mactually calling about.Ineed your help,”Huntersays into the phone. “Yeah,Ican be there in an hour.I’mbringing some friends too.”
“Whowas that?”Iask him once he’s cut the phone off.
“ColeMancini, head of theManciniMafiaand a friend of mine,” he tells me.
“Remindme not to piss you off again,”Imumble jokingly.
“Betternot forget it because as you can already tell,Ican have you murdered or tortured, which happens to beCole’sspecialty, and they’d never find your body,” he says with a smirk on his face. “We’remeeting him at his club in an hour.”