Chase Me

Chapter Forty: State

Bellona

Elio's breathing had calmed when the door abruptly opened and he pushed away from me, turning away from the opening door and trying to wipe his eyes dry. Amo came inside. He had his gloves on and his white shirt was now lightly splattered with red. His eyes went to Elio's back and then to me. "Samuel's dead."

I nodded, eyes briefly going to Elio who still hadn't said anything. "Did you get anything out of him?"

Amo stayed in the doorway, gaze darting to Elio from the corner of his eyes one last time before settling on me. "The Daffodils in London tried to stop Nex and Elio from getting to the airport. The elevator hijacking didn't work but with the camera stuck on Elio's hand, they were able to find out where he stayed. And they attacked. Camila and Santiago Ricci are in the hospital and it was a miracle that Elio was okay. But there is no ignoring what they did." Amo brought a hand up and rubbed his forehead with the back of his wrist. "They invaded New York territory. They have clearly initiated war now and there is no avoiding it. We can't go to the hospital to reach the Riccis and now the Maeve family is also in lockdown."

My heart sank a little. I wouldn't see my family. I blew out a long breath. "So what's the move?"

Amo looked behind his shoulder, most likely at Nex, before facing me. "War is about strategy. Their strategy was a clear attack."

I stepped toward him. "And ours will be?"

A small, slow smile crawled up Amo's face. "We're going to return the favour by going to Minnesota."

Elio spun around, eyes hysterical. "What? We are going to enter another mafia state?"

Amo nodded. "We can do it. We'll locate the major areas of the state and perform a siege. We won't harm the majority of the public, only the Daffodils."

Elio shook his head in time when Nex entered the room and I saw their eyes meet briefly before Elio faced Amo again. "You're mad."

Amo shrugged. "Quoting a rather famous pirate, thank goodness for that, because if I wasn't, this'd probably never work."

Elio ran a hand through his hair, gripping the strands. "How can you joke about this? We are a city against a state!"

Elio was right. What the hell was Amo thinking?

Amo rolled his neck and pursed his lips as if in deep thought. "Actually, we're not one city."

Elio threw his hands up in the air. "That doesn't matter! A state with a population of roughly five million and ground that covers 225 000 kilometres—we're screwed!"

"Elio, calm down," I tried, grabbing his arm lightly. "We are not going today. We'll discuss this and plan this out, just calm down."

Elio pulled away from my grasp and headed straight for the door, eyes stuck on Amo who couldn't have looked more like he gave less of a crap. Nex followed Elio out and shut the door, leaving Amo and me alone.

I brushed my fingers through my hair, trying to catch his eye. My thoughts were buzzing crazily and as I watched Amo look anywhere but at me, I began to think if, maybe, he was mad? "What is this?"

His gaze shot to me. "What?"

What?

What?

I crossed my arms, eyes staring back at him. "What the hell are you suggesting, Amo? We go to Minnesota then, what? We go straight to Adrian Morales and shoot him point-blank in the head?" And Robert.

Robert. Robert Morales. I was missing details, so many details that made no sense to me. Rumours that had circled her death had clouded the truth and it was getting hard to separate the two. Maria got married and fled to fight alongside her husband, Robert, who shot her.