Just then, we hear a yell, and we look around to see a man with a mohawk running at us with a chainsaw from the other side of the balcony. Roxy thrusts out her leg, tripping him, and I give him a helping hand over the edge of it. We all look over as he falls with a scream and lands on the table below, impaling himself on a decorative statue there.
Looking back at number three, I grin. “I would give him an eight out of ten for his landing.”
“You think you’re so smart? Better check your people again, I’m betting you’re missing one.” He laughs, and Ryder steps closer.
“Who?”
“That enforcer of yours?” Number three chuckles, gripping his bleeding stomach harder as he falls to his ass. “We made a promise, and he will help us keep it…”
“Where is he?” Roxy yells, pressing her bat to his chin.
“He’ll already be dead anyway.” He chuckles weakly. “You’re all fucking dead,” he sneers. I go to raise my knife, but Roxy beats me to it.
With a savage yell, she brings the bat down on him, again and again, caving in his head as his laughter cuts off into a choking noise. But she doesn’t stop there, she keeps swinging, over and over like a woman possessed until she can no more. The bat drops to the floor with a clank, and she stands there panting with blood on her hands and arms, spatters of it across her face.
Pushing back her hair, she licks her lips and straightens, looking over at me and Ryder, who are just staring at her in shock. “What?” she snarks.
“Nothing, Little Bird…just, fuck, that was hot.” I nod, then look at Ryder. “If she wasn’t ours, I would totally stalk her, hack her cameras, watch her through the windows, the whole nine yards.”
“Well, aren’t I a lucky bastard?” She huffs. “I get to live under the same roof as you, so now you just get to stalk me to the bathroom.”
Flicking open my lighter, I grab a cigarette and talk around it. “Exactly, you really are beautiful when you shower.”
She blinks and looks at Ryder. “I would ask if he was serious, but I don’t need to.”
“Children,” he snaps. “Let’s find Garrett. He’s probably lying to spook us, but I would rather be safe than sorry.”
The mood sobers instantly. “Garrett. No one takes that big fucker, it would be like trying to carry an elephant.”
As Roxy slips past me, she pats my chest. “I’ll tell him that.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
ROXY
We quickly make our way back through the hotel looking for Kenzo and Garrett, and a bad feeling starts in my gut as we go down the corridor they traversed and to an open metal door at the end. Heading up, we step out onto a roof where there are bodies littered everywhere, but no Kenzo or Garrett.
But then I hear it.
A grunt.
Following it, I drop to my knees behind an old section of piping to see Kenzo there with blood dripping from his chest. His face is pale, and his eyes are barely open. Gripping his hand tight, I gesture the others over. “Babe, what happened?”
He groans and looks at Ryder. “They got Garrett, they wanted him all along. I couldn’t stop them, I’m sorry.”
Ryder smashes his fist into the pipe, but I wipe Kenzo’s sweaty forehead and kiss him softly, seeing the distress and pain carved there. “Shush, it’s okay, we can get him back.” Lifting his hand from the wound, I spot the blood there. “We need to get him to a doctor.”
D leans down and inspects it before slapping him. “Stay awake. Okay, this is going to hurt.” He grabs him, hoists him over his shoulder, and casually stands, not like he’s got a Kenzo backpack on. “Let’s go, Little Bird.”
Ryder is on the phone as we head down through the hotel, and when we get into the car, I slip into the back, and D places Kenzo along the back seat between my thighs. I hold him there, stroking his hair and kissing his head.
“Missed you, darling.” He sighs, his eyes on me as he reaches up with bloody hands and grips my own, tangling our fingers together.
“I missed you too,” I admit. “Those suckers knew nothing about how to kidnap a woman, honestly.”
He laughs at that, the sound tapering off in a groan as we speed through the city. “They have no finesse, that’s why,” he wheezes out. “You gotta trick them into loving you, duh.”
“I was going to ask something stupid like, does it hurt?” I snort as I lean down and kiss his head. “Don’t you fucking die on me, you hear me, asshole?”
“Got it, beautiful, no dying, but you can play nurse and kiss all this better later.” He winks.
“Even dying, you’re a total flirt,” I scoff, though panic winds through me at the blood he’s losing. I look up and meet Ryder’s eyes, who’s staring back at his brother in alarm. Kenzo reaches out and grabs his hand, squeezing it.
“I’ll be fine, brother, don’t worry about me. Deal with Garrett, okay?”
Ryder sucks in a breath but hesitates. “I’m sorry you had to go back there,” he offers lightly.
“Me too. When this is over, we’re burning that place down.” Kenzo grins, turning his head to meet Ryder’s gaze. “No more ghosts, no more bad memories, just us, okay?”
Ryder nods and glances at me. “Take care of him.”
“Always,” I reply, as I look back at Kenzo. “You’re going to be alright, you’re too fucking stubborn to die on us.”
“Yeah?” he whispers.
“Yeah.” I nod. “Wanna bet on it?”
He groans. “God, I fucking love you.”
“The winner gets to trash Ry’s new car,” I murmur, making D laugh.
“If I win, you have to marry us, that way you can never leave.” He grins.
“Fuck, you always play the high stakes,” I mutter. “Just ’cause you’re dying doesn’t mean you get to ask for weird shit.”
“Course it does,” he whispers, but his face is paler now. Fear blasts through me as I lean down and press my lips to his. “Don’t fucking die, and I’ll marry you all, I’ll even wear a fucking dress and everything.”
“Deal,” he mumbles.
“We’re here, doctor is waiting,” Ryder announces, as we skid into the parking garage. My door is ripped open, and I tumble out into D’s arms as two burly security men grab Kenzo and carry him away. I watch him go with fear in my heart and my hands covered in his fresh blood. My fear turns into anger as I look at Ryder.
“We need to find Garrett, then we kill these fucking assholes. No one takes what is mine,” I snap, as the elevator closes after Kenzo. There is nothing else I can do for him, and I refuse to let Garrett suffer. That man has been tortured enough, I don’t want any more nightmares for him.
“I don’t know where to find another one of the Triad. Go clean up. We’ll search the city and get the information however we have to. D, where are you going?”
I look over my shoulder to see D getting into a car. “I’ll find out where the Triad is, you be ready.”
I don’t ask how, I don’t care. We need that information. Ryder twines his fingers with mine, and his free hand comes up as he swipes his thumb across my lips. “Kenzo will be okay, my brother is a fighter, but right now, Garrett needs us…stay with me, love.”