Finding Him

C H A P T E R - T W E N T Y - E I G H T

The End is Near

V A L E R I U S '   P O V :

When we arrive where Katerina instructed Ellie to meet her. It's a warehouse. Deep in the middle of nowhere.

"High alert. Guns out."

I'd be stupid not to admit that this is suspicious. It all
feels staged. I know once we walk into this building, things are not going to go our way.

I'm not worried about being outnumbered. I know for a fact we won't be. I'm more worried about what else this bitch has up her sleeve. It's always something with her. Never something good.

All six of us can handle a few cheep tricks. Katerina isn't that bright. And she doesn't have one creative bone in her body.

"Stop." Enzo commands when we make our way to the doorway. His eyes flicker to the handle then to the clear fishing line that is connected to it.

Funny. Booby-traps? How childish is this bitch.

This door is the only way to get in, we've already scanned the premise.

I scan my way from the door handle all the way to the string following up to the rim of the warehouse. I walk to find at some point it hits the ground and gets lost under the leaves.

"Pull it."

"What?" Enzo snaps.

"Pull it and run."

Little brothers are so annoying.

He grouches slightly then slams it open quickly, all of us making our way in. Just a moment later, an explosion goes off and the a rim of fire is lit.

"That was pointless." Enzo mutters. And it was.

I figure it was only meant to stall us.

"Stay on alert." I say blankly. "There are probably a million more."

Once the door slams shut behind us, the lights go off. My brothers and I were trained from a young age to learn how to move in the shadows. How to move in the darkness. How to hide in the light.

Lights on or off, my gun can still fire.

And when the lights flash back on, I realize we're in the middle of an empty warehouse. Back to back we all stand in the circle, clearing every inch of the room.

This may be bad timing but damn do I feel like we're in the middle of a Hollywood fight movie and some deep, action movie song should be playing right now.

But it only takes me a moment to register the loaded pistols stuck to the wall with wires attaching them all. No doubt they're on a time, ready to shoot at us in any moment. And as soon as Enzo moves to aim his gun at the machine, it triggers the line to go off. Running to take cover through hallways and empty space, I know these fuckers can't be far.

Once we're in the crammed hall, I hear I grunt come from my Papà's mouth. I look over to see him gripping his arm, blood streaming.

"How bad?" I ask quickly.

"Just grazed it I think." He swallows. Grazed my ass.

He's a terrible liar.

"Don't die just yet, old man." Enzo mutters to our papà and he earns a stern eye roll.

"You kids are going to be the death of me."

"Clearly." I slap the back of Enzo's head for the comment and he pushes my shoulder.