Page 54 of Sweet Revenge
After the smoke cleared, I stood and walked back inside, hoping we got more of them than they got of us. My mother had managed to amass an army. Not only did she have the remaining members of Zarnov and Yushenko’s boys, but she also had some that had always been loyal to her.
And the La Rosas.
For now, anyway. Something told me, when Alex La Rosa recovered from what we’d done to him, he would take over that syndicate, and my mother wouldn’t be able to get them to do jack squat. Who was she to them anyway? Just their former leader’s widow, not someone they’d known for long. If anything, they would associate her with my family and want her dead.
I wasn’t lucky enough for them to be able to manage that, though. No, whatever the fuck had gotten into my mother’s head to make her act like this, she had to be held responsible, no one else. If anyone was going to stop her, it had to be me.
“Daemon, what are you doing?” Mikel ran outside of the warehouse to meet me as I wandered back in, lost in thought. “Aren’t you going to go after Ma? She just stole your girl.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” I told him. “I’m going to go after her, but I’m not going to be stupid about it.”
“You could chase her down in one of our armored vehicles,” Vin suggested.
I shook my head. “Nah, that’s what she wants. She thinks I’ll act stupid because I’m in love. I can’t let her know she’s got that much power over me.”
“So you’re just gonna leave Elisa with her?” Mikel’s eyebrows knitted together as he contemplated what I was saying.
I nodded and crossed the threshold into Warehouse K. The killing warehouse had earned its name today. “For now. Elisa will be all right. Ma’s not stupid enough to kill her when she needs her.”
“That doesn’t mean she won’t hurt her,” Vin reminded me.
He wasn’t wrong. Thoughts of what Elisa had already endured came to mind. But I didn’t think Ma had any interest in torture, especially not of someone like Elisa. She wouldn’t let her men take turns with her either because she’d think that would mean I wouldn’t want her back. No, Elisa was as safe with my mother as she could be with any kidnapper.
I just needed a chance to think this through. The answer was there, staring me right in the face. I just had to let it process.
“Let’s clean this shithole up and then we’ll talk it over,” I suggested.
My brothers looked at me for a second, dumbfounded, but then routine kicked in, and they started barking orders, telling the others where to stack the bodies, etc.
A quick glance at the fallen told me we’d inflicted more casualties than we’d suffered. A few of my men were down, some past help, others needing medical attention. I had a doc on hand for that sort of thing, since I knew it was coming, and Tilda and Janis jumped in and helped, too.
While the others were taking care of the bleeding and the dead, I wandered over to where Alexander La Rosa lay on the concrete, past help. Staring at him for a few moments, I considered spitting in his face. My entire life, I’d been told I was supposed to hate this bastard. Now that I knew him, I had even more reason to be glad that he was dead.
I thought of everything Elisa had gone through at his hand and found myself stepping on his outstretched palm until I heard bones crush. Even in the afterlife, La Rosa wouldn’t be punching any more girls in the face.
“What do you want us to do with him?” Vin asked, coming over to me.
“Wrap him up and shove him somewhere until I get a chance to talk to Elisa. She may want to say goodbye.” I shrugged, doubting it, but girls were different than guys. Who knew what kind of closure she might need? I didn’t want to take that away from her.
Vin did as I said, and I stepped away, my gaze landing on Dezzy’s face. Tears streaked the blood and dirt on his cheeks as he failed to raise his head to meet my eyes. I had so many things I wanted to say to him, but now wasn’t the time. If there was any chance of us mending this gaping hole between us, it was going to take a lot of proving his loyalty to me, and a lot of grace on my part. At the moment, I still wasn’t good at that, but if Elisa had taught me anything, it was that sometimes forgiveness was for ourselves, not the other people who had fucked us over.
“Well?” Vin asked about an hour after Ma and her gang had retreated from our facility. “What now? We’re no longer chasing her blindly.”
“Right. Let’s go in the back and chat.” I turned on my heel and headed to the back of the warehouse where we had a makeshift war room. When I sat at the head of the table, it was strange to see one chair empty. I shook my head and concentrated on the two brothers I had left. “We know where she’s headed.”
“To the mansion,” Mikel supplied. “It’s practically a fucking fortress.”
“That’s exactly right. If we try to attack that place with a frontal assault, we’ll draw the attention of every cop in the state. I’ve got most of them in my pocket, but I’m not sure what kind of kickbacks Ma and her friends are supplying these days. So that’s off the table.” I ran a hand through my hair, still feeling like the answer was right there on the edge of my thoughts.
“What are our other options?” Vin asked. “If we can’t shoot the place up, we’re kind of limited in our choices. I mean, it’s not like Ma is gonna want to negotiate. The only thing she wants right now is for you to give up and say you’re not the leader of the syndicate.”
“And if she’s willing to shoot her own fucking husband in the head, who knows what she might do to you?” Mikel shook his head slowly in disbelief, wiping a few beads of sweat on the back of his hand.
It was unsettling, thinking of our mother this way. I shook my head. “She’s clearly come unhinged.”
All this time, I’d thought she was a victim in this, being taken advantage of by that greedy bastard, Alexander La Rosa, only to find out that she was actually calling the shots. And what he’d been about to say regarding Jenny when that bullet cut off his final words? I had to wonder about that. Could that be true? Had Ma been scheming against me all these years?
“You’re not gonna try to trade yourself for the girl, are you?” Vin asked, a tinge of fear in his voice. “That sounds all noble and shit, but it’s not very practical.”