Secret Crown

XXVI. Twenty-Six

Adrián (continued)

I removed my tie and tightened it around my arm to apply pressure to the gunshot wound. There was no pain, as my mind was focused on my target at the moment. The adrenaline rush paired with the rage had me feeling like Superman, but that didn't stop the blood from soaking through my suit. The tie would help with all of that for a handful of hours, giving me enough time to end this.

Callum wasted no time and began the next phase of the plan standing from his seat in an assertive stance: "I, Callum Clarke, leader of the Irish, vote that these grounds are sufficient to take necessary action against Vicenzo Catalano's attack against Adrián Giovanni De Leon."

Fernando and the twins rose from their seats and cast their vote unanimously. The host nodded in agreement and announced the news loud and clear throughout the room. We circled Vicenzo like vultures as he blindly shot, not knowing who to aim his gun at. His men had no choice but to form a human shield around him as they waited for the next orders.

"Mr. Leon," the host, smiled at me as he pulled out a silver pistol from his apron. "Now that this bar is no longer protected and neutral, it would be an honor for you to use my weapon." The waiters quickly came, rushing up the stairs with more guns as it all became fair game. A massacre was waiting to happen as every man in the room drew their weapons. Shots began to fire from all angles and heights inside the meeting room. The violence spilled into the bar right outside and down the stairs as our soldiers shot their way up to our aid. With all the blood, smoke, and chaos that had broken out, it was hard to see where the Lombardi brothers, my cousins, and Callum were. My mind quickly shifted to finishing off Vicenzo. I had finally caught sight of him at the end of the room with three other men. He was being escorted out, using the chaos that had erupted as his chance to leave. There was no making it out of here alive, though. He had a broken code. I saw my opening and latched onto it like a fucking dog, running after him and shooting anyone who got in my way. As I reached the doors he had fled through, one of his men kicked me in the chest as he caught me by surprise. He knocked the air right out of me and smiled. "You are nothing. The great Adrián gasps for air from a little kick."He smirked as he cracked his neck and knuckles and pulled out a butterfly knife.

"Bring it then!" I grinned as I dropped my weapons to the floor, bringing out my own knife. A knife that Ian had gifted me years ago and had yet to put to the test. We both sized each other up, circling one another as he tried to find an opening in my body to stab. I made things easy for him and let him take a swing at my right side of the rib cage. As soon as he found the opening I had purposefully given him, he went in for the kill, only for me to evade that move and stab him right in the spine. His body went limp as he spat out blood, and he fell to the floor. He was no match for me. By the time I had made my way out of the bar, Vicenzo and Luca were gone.

Fernando managed to catch up to me outside of the bar and ask, "Where the fuck did they go?" He angrily asked. I pulled out my phone to see where Leo and Scarlett were. The blinking dot was moving erratically on the highway and at a very fast speed. It had to be Luca's men.

We gathered up our men and finished off the rest of the Romano soldiers that were at the bar. We quickly settled into the blacked-out trucks and sped onto the highway as the GPS inside of Scarlett kept moving at high speeds. I called Leo. "Where are you, and how many are on you?" I worriedly asked. "We have ten cars behind us," Leo replied. We are nowhere near our house, Adrián."

"They're closer to my property than any of yours." Callum said. If Leo can enter through the tunnel off the West Side, my men can take Scarlett into my home with Natalia, and Leo can keep driving as a decoy. "Did you hear that, Leo?"

"Loud and clear," Leo replied, as I could hear the gunshots going off in the background noise.

Fernando was speeding through the highway, yelling commands in Italian left and right at his men on speaker phone. My men are tailing behind us while others are headed to reinforce Callum's and my own family's home. The city will be on fire tonight, leaving no stone unturned. Scarlett's GPS came to a halt right at Callum's hidden entrance. Her dot quickly blinks as it shows her nearing the main house through the underground tunnel.

As we were speeding down the highway, blue and red lights, followed by a police siren, were heard. "I thought the fucking police were handled today!" I barked through the phone at Tymon. " "That's not police, "Saint said, focusing his sight back to the front. "Those are fucking feds." My eyes widened; cops were one thing, but feds were an entire different thing. Strict motherfuckers thought they were uncorruptable, but they weren't any different than cops. Anyone could be bought for the right price. The bigger question is: What the fuck are they doing in my city? An armored car quickly rammed into the center divider of the highway. The airbags deployed, and everyone in the truck was recovering from the shock, gasping for air. "Fuck, I do not miss getting rammed by a fucking car." Fernando wheezed as he pushed down his airbag. He almost died like this once from a hit placed on him. The feds all swarmed our truck with their guns aimed high. "Drop your weapons!" A tall, lanky agent barked as he approached my window. Great. A fucking rookie was assigned to my case. Nothing is worse than a newbie fresh out of the academy trying to make a name for himself.

"My name is Angelo Catalano, and you, Adrián De Leon, are under arrest for money laundering and the murder of Mauricio Romano." He proudly smirked as his men circled our truck like hungry vultures. They dragged Fernando and Saint out of the truck, first quickly handcuffing their arms behind them. As for me, they had other plans. By the way, Angelo cuffed my arms together and placed a black sack over my head.

He wasted no time in pressing into the bullet wound on my arm, causing me to seeth through my teeth. He yelled to the men, "Take the Lombardi in for questioning!"

"And what about Adrián?" His men questioned him. "He'll be booked and sent to prison." He announced as he dragged me away towards a different car that the sick son of a bitch whispered, "You've been outsmarted, Adrián; my sister will be taken back home on a rope dragged through the streets for being a whore. Whatever is left of her will be sent to work in the brothels, where she will live the rest of her fucking miserable life." He slammed the door shut on me and proceeded to get into the driver's seat.

Vicenzo Catalano might have caught me off guard tonight, but I knew Scarlett would be safe in Callum's home. The Lombardi brothers would have the best lawyers bailing them out at any minute, and my brothers would activate the chip in my arm to track me down. After everything that has happened, it was only customary for us to have one, even my niece and nephew, for numerous safety reasons. Angelo put the car in drive and sped off into the night without any sirens blaring. His car smelled of empty Red Bull cans and cigarette butts. He got on the phone and began speaking in Italian to someone on the phone. I knew enough Italian to understand that he was saying he had captured me and was moving me to a new holding location. What made my blood boil was hearing that they were moving on to launch an all-out assault on Callum's home.

No one knew the layout of their home. My brother-in-law was meticulous in his planning for their home. Everything as it appeared on the outside wasn't close to how it really was on the inside. For them to confidently say they were ready for the next part of their assault had my teeth gritting as the only other person I could think of that could snake their way for a price was on their way to hurt the ones I love. I just hoped my brother-in-law could get to them and figure it out before they could do any damage.