Rising from ashes

Chapter 26

Lorenzo

It had been a while since I had been in Vegas. I never thought I would have missed it as much as I did. Vegas was my birth home before my father moved to Oregon and introduced me to Roland Silvestri and his son Matteo Silvestri who became my best friend.

The last time I went to Vegas was for a mission Matteo asked me to lead. We found out more than we planned... as to which turned the tables in our favour because now, we had a source.

"Hello Zane, it's been a while" I greeted the bar tender as I sat on one of the bar stools.

He turned in my direction unfazed and handed me a martini. "Lorenzo, I thought you died with dear old Matteo"

"That was the point. Your dear old sister would have hunted me if she knew I was alive."

"Half-sister. That bitch killed the only person I considered a sister. We have nothing but fathers DNA." He spat out. The wonderful thing about the Nicolis was that they made enemies in their every wake. And you know what they say, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.'

"Glad to hear nothing has changed"

"So, why are you here?" He asked with a mischievous smile on his face.

"I'm looking for something, Prussian blue."

Zane's smile evaporated as he scanned my serious face. I rotated the small umbrella around mixing my drink as I examined the clustered club. This wasn't a safe place to have this conversation. You could never know who was looking. Zane thought the same thing because he motioned towards the back door. I stood up and headed out waiting for him to follow.

Zane walked out a few minutes after me scanning the surroundings. He was quiet for a while before looking up at my face.

"Thallium?" He asked to which I simply nodded.

"Prussian blue isn't easy to find. And it is even harder to obtain."

"That's why I came to you."

His lips tipped to the side as he looked into the distance. He stood up straight and stretched out his hand for a handshake. I gripped his arm, and he tightened his grip.

"Give me a few days."

"That's all we have."

We scheduled a meeting time and went our separate ways. I booked a motel on the far side of the bar and grabbed my computer. It had taken me 12 hours to get from Oregon to Las Vegas by car. In that time, I had received 12messages from Dom and 50 from Sky which I planned to ignore. 50 messages meant Sky was fine which eased my worries a lot. It meant I could focus on getting the cure and not have my head in separate places. Knowing Sky, she would send someone to come and protect me which meant I had to stay low key so that she couldn't find me.

The next 2 days went by quickly. I spent my days either sleeping or visiting old friends. I told them about Sky and asked them to help her if she ever needed it. Sky didn't know about these people. She had always been focused on rebuilding the clan that I never had time to take her to Vegas or anywhere for that matter. She was the daughter I never had, and I planned to help her in every way possible.

At midnight, I headed to the Neon Museum. I was standing infront of an old painting when Zane stepped besides me. He kept his eyes on the painting like me as he began to speak.

"You owe me big time."

"You know where to find me."

We faced each other and he handed me a bag with three closed test tubes.

"Don't you dare loss these. That's all I could get."

"Appreciate it" 

I placed one of the test tubes into my jacket pocket and the other two into my bag before heading out of the museum. All I needed to do now was head back to the hotel and pack my staff for the ride back.

I packed my bags quickly and loaded the car before jumping in. It was about 1am which meant not many cars would be on the road so the ride should have been smooth.
My phone vibrated in my pocket as I drove towards the Nevada boarder.

"Hello?"

"They know. Lorenzo they-"Zane's voice was cut off by the sound of a gunshot.

"Shit!" I yelled as I took a sharp turn to avoid an iX BMW. My car spun off the road and collided with a tree.