Page 68 of Irrevocably

The wind rustles through the trees that line the street, branches waving, as I get off the bike and climb quickly up the side of the house to get to her bedroom. I can’t go through the front door if they’re still talking.

There’s no light on inside, and the window is shut, so she must still be downstairs. I open the window easily enough and climb inside. The room is empty, so I go quickly to the door and open it, moving silently down the hallway.

Voices drift up the stairwell. Astrid’s sounding upset and the deeper tones of her father, urgent and insistent.

My gut clenches at Astrid’s distress, but I force myself to stay still. I need to wait until she’s done, since there’s no point alerting the chief to my presence. Eventually he’ll have to deal with Enzo, but not until my family makes themselves useful and gets rid of the MC first.

Then abruptly all hell breaks loose, and I hear the front door crash open.

I move down the stairs, but the hall is full of men wearing balaclavas, which means they’re soldiers of one of the families and I can already guess which one. Since it’s not us, it must be the Morettis, since they’re the only ones who would even think to come to Astrid Starling’s house.

I grab my Glock and take a few shots, but several of them are coming for me and I have to duck the bullets. By the time they’re dead and I get down to the bottom of the stairs, it’s empty but for the bodies. The front door is off its hinges, and of Astrid and the chief there’s no sign.

Where’s Astrid? Where the fuck is she?

The beast inside me is roaring, but I shove it in a box and nail it shut. Now is not the time for fury or panic. The Morettis must have taken Astrid to get the same information we want out of her, and if so, I need to get her back ASAP.

I stand in the hall and take a couple of breaths to make sure that fucking beast is trapped. Then when I’m cold and clear again, I crouch beside one of the bodies and rip away the balaclava. I don’t recognise the face, but when I lift his hand and see the tattoo on his wrist, the tattoo that all the Moretti hitmen get, my suspicion is confirmed.

Carlos must have got tired of Angelo’s silence and sent his men after Astrid. And since the chief isn’t anywhere around, they must have taken him, too.

I rise, getting out my phone to call Lazarus, but just as I do, I hear the roar of a Harley. Talk about fucking timing. Moving quickly, I step out the front door and watch as her friend, the Hound, pulls up outside the house.

I make no attempt to hide. My brain is making decisions, focused on one thing and one thing only. Finding Astrid. The Hound is muscle I might need, especially against the Morettis, and he’ll want to find her as badly as I do. I can use that.

He pulls his Harley up, kicks down the stand and strides toward me, his face cold and hard. I aim my Glock. We don’t have time for dick-measuring right now.

“You,” he says stopping dead at the bottom of the stairs.

“Yes, me,” I say coldly. “They have Astrid and the chief.”

He blinks and I’ll give him this, his expression gets even harder, his stare even more focused as he says the only thing that matters. “Who has?”

“People who mean them harm. Did you see any vehicle pass you on the way here? Moving fast?”

His dark gaze flickers as he processes this, and I can see the questions he wants to demand answers for cross his face. But he knows what’s at stake, and he only says, “Black van. It went past me at speed.”

“You get a plate?”

The Hound continues to stare fixedly at me as he rattles it off, and if I was a lesser man, I might be intimidated by it. “You’re not just a stalker are you, motherfucker?” he says.

But I’m not a lesser man and I’ve bested him a couple of times already, as I have many others of his type. “No,” I say. “But let’s not get into that right now, shall we? I want what you want, which is Astrid safe and out of harm’s way.”

A muscle flicks in his jaw, but he only nods.

“I’m going to call some people,” I say curtly. “They’ll help with the plate.”

I call Lazarus, keeping my Glock aimed at the Hound’s head just in case he tries to do anything stupid.

“We have a problem,” I say as he answers.

“What problem?”

“The Morettis have just taken the chief and Astrid.”

“Fuck,” Lazarus says succinctly. “I told you that you shouldn’t have got rid of Angelo.”

“Too late for that now.” I keep my voice cold. “We need to find them and fast. If I give you a plate, can you run it? Find out who owns it? Maybe look for traffic cameras?”