Chapter 97: Full Unveiling

DRAVEN’S POV

We got out.

I still couldn’t fully believe it, but we did. We escaped successfully and managed to recover Lucas and the remaining two guys from the seven. When I stepped out of that building, my legs were still moving before my brain caught up.

But I didn’t see some of the strippers. A few of them hadn’t made it out.

Damn.

"Jade, some of the strippers are..."

"That’s irrelevant right now. You need to focus." She cut me off clean.

We ran out of the building through a back door with Lucas leading the way. We split into two cars and sped off so fast the tyres barely kissed the ground. I was so scared I thought my heart was going to fly straight out of my mouth.

"What was all of that, Jade?" I asked her in the car, my voice still shaky.

"That was the strategy," she said, calm as ever. "The plan was always to take out one enemy first. Not all of them."

"Okay. But did you have to use me as a scapegoat? What the fuck?"

"She knew what she was doing," Lucas said from the front. "At least you’re safe now."

That was a day.

Lucas told us that once we reached the backup base, they could use a laptop to log into the garage cameras and check who made it out and who didn’t. We already knew some of the strippers hadn’t survived. And Carlos ... I literally watched him drop dead right in front of me. That image wasn’t leaving my head anytime soon.

"Draven, I’m sorry if I made you feel strange back there," Jade said quietly. "I just needed to execute my plan. That’s all."

She pulled me into her, resting my head against her chest. It should have felt awkward but it didn’t.

"Did you mean everything you said in there?" I asked.

"Everything like what, Draven?"

"About loving me. And what you said about Rex."

"Now is not the time for all of that." She exhaled slowly. "Besides, I told you the full story before we stepped into that garage. Don’t you believe me?"

I nodded.

I believed her. I chose to. Or maybe I didn’t know what to believe anymore. Everything about this world was questionable ... Rex, the Mafia Wolves, the seven. All of it sat in a grey space that I couldn’t sort through. I didn’t know what to trust.

"Where are we heading?" I asked Lucas.

"You’ll see when we get there. Be patient," the tech guy said flatly.

We reached another warehouse. The strippers climbed out of the second car. The first one who had given me serious head that night was there ... but I couldn’t find her partner. I didn’t ask. I already knew what it meant.

Lucas opened the place up and we filed in. Wherever we were, I figured they couldn’t track us here.

I did a quiet head count. Eleven of us. We had been close to twenty when we walked into that garage.

The guys pulled back a cloth and underneath were computers, neatly set up and waiting. They connected to the internet and got to work fast. These people were good.

"Looks like this is your backup base," I whispered to Jade.

"Yes," she whispered back directly into my ear. "Don’t whisper to me again."

I stared at her.

If you didn’t want me to whisper, why did you whisper back? I let it go. She had a weird way of saying things but hey ... that was Jade.

The footage loaded. The moment Carlos was shot, he died instantly. Confirmed. His people scattered immediately after ... none of them stayed to fight. But someone had fired two additional shots at two of his men on the way out. I leaned forward.

"Zoom in on whoever fired those two shots," I said to one of the guys.

They did. It was Viktor. One of Rex’s Mafia Wolves. The rest of the Glocks had run the moment their boss hit the floor.

I also saw it clearly now ... Dorian had tried to shoot me when Jade helped me duck after I collected my gun. She’d literally saved my life in real time and I hadn’t even fully registered it in the chaos.

"Thank you, Jade. I can see it all now. Dorian wanted me dead."

Jade laughed, short and sharp.

"He and Rafael have been trying to get at me for the longest time," she said. "That’s probably why they’re both so bitter."

"Then I think I know exactly what they need." I grinned. "We should kiss right in front of a camera and post it for all of them to see. Fuck them all." I threw up the middle finger for emphasis.

Everyone in the room laughed.

I was right. I knew I was.

The final count confirmed it ... twenty people had entered that garage, and only nine came out. Eleven hadn’t made it. Some of the men and women had been shot by Mia and Gia. Camila had even tried to run.

Then one of the strippers who had been shot managed to squeeze off one last round. It landed clean on Gia. She dropped and didn’t get back up.

"Serves that bitch right! Stupid motherfucker," Jade said with full satisfaction.

"The two of you had some serious scores to settle, didn’t you?" I asked, laughing.

"She was always running to Rex and framing me ... for things I did and things I didn’t do. Fuck her." Jade wasn’t even trying to hide how happy she was.

I looked at the full picture now. The results were mixed. Some of Carlos’s people were still alive. Rex and his people were still standing, except for Gia. And we ... we had taken the heaviest losses. Non-professional gunners, most of them. They had walked in already marked, I supposed.

But that second stripper could have been spared. She didn’t deserve it. Sex is a vital part of life and she played her role like a pro.

I would never say that within Jade’s earshot. I valued my life.

"I’m sorry for how many of our people we lost today," Jade said, turning to face the room. "The decision I made carried a cost and I knew it would when I was making it ... but it had to be done."

They all clapped for her. I didn’t fully understand why, but I joined in anyway. Softly.

"Thank you, Jade, for the bravery you showed in that garage. Like no other. This will be our interim base. We’ll return to our place when it’s safe, and the gang of five will continue." The tech guy paused. "Jade ... welcome back to the team. And her friend ... welcome officially."

They clapped again.

I blinked.

That was it? No initiation. No consent. No trial. Just a round of applause and I was suddenly a member of a mafia crew? Okay. Fine. I had been following Jade like a housefly chasing its favourite thing anyway. Might as well lean into it and be grateful.

"Thank you," I said, waving at the room.

Jade and I were given a room. The others spread out into different spaces. The room was dusty as hell. We started cleaning without even discussing it ... just picked up whatever we could find and got to work.

"What’s next, Jade?" I asked.

"What do you mean, what’s next? Are you not safe?" she said.

"You’re the gangster. So I have to ask you."

She looked at me. Then she reached over and dragged me by the ear.

"Ow! Ow! That hurts!"

She let go and went back to cleaning like nothing had happened.

I pulled her to the side and kissed her. Deep. She hadn’t seen it coming.

"Sorry," I said when I pulled back. "I haven’t had the chance to properly thank you for saving my life."

She looked at me for a long moment. Then she smiled ... really smiled ... and kissed me back even deeper, slow and deliberate, like she had all the time in the world.

"Next time," she said when she finally pulled away, "ask for permission first."

Then she went right back to cleaning.

I watched her and something settled in my chest. This was who she really was. Sassy, sharp, unapologetic, and braver than anyone I had ever met. Rex had made her cloak herself so completely that I hadn’t seen it ... and I wasn’t sure she had seen it in herself either, not for a long time.

"Rex is still on my list, for your information," she said without looking up. "I’ll be the one who takes him out."

I believed her.

After everything she had pulled off today, there wasn’t a single doubt in my mind.