BLOOD AND HEART

91 | NO MERCY

Z     A     Y     N

The inside of the SUV was thick with tension. The kind that sits heavy in your chest, suffocating you with every breath. It felt like the calm before the storm, the silence between strikes, the stillness before the world goes to hell.

I kept my eyes locked on the rain-slicked streets, watching as the blurred neon lights smeared across the glass. The city, with its rusted skeletons and decaying streets, had always felt like home, its grime, its cold, its darkness. But right now, it was just a blur. Nothing felt real anymore. Just the noise of my heart, hammering in my chest, pounding louder with each passing second.

I couldn't think straight. I tried, Fuck knows I tried, but every time I closed my eyes, it was her face. Nyx's face, like a ghost, flickering in front of me, haunted by the image of her laughter, her warmth, the softness of her touch.

Nyx laughing in the kitchen, her eyes sparkling as she held a spoonful of cookie dough, daring Levi to take a bite, even though she knew he'd do it anyway.

Nyx curled up on the couch with Andrew, reading him a bedtime story, the two of them bathed in the golden light of our living room, the kind of peace I thought we'd always have.

Nyx, standing by the door as I walked out, her eyes full of worry. Don't do anything stupid, Zayn. Her voice, so calm, yet filled with the kind of care that could break you if you weren't careful.

And now? Now she was with him. Adrian. The son of a bitch who had dared to touch what was mine.

I clenched my fist. The pain in my chest wasn't from the fight. It was from the thought that, for all the power I had, all the blood I'd spilled, I couldn't save her in time.

"It's not stopping," I said, my throat tight. my voice thick, strained. It felt like I couldn't catch my breath. My heartbeat was erratic, like a wild drum pounding away, making it impossible to concentrate. "My heart. It's not supposed to beat like this."

Hunter glanced over at me, but he kept his eyes on the road, his expression unreadable. "It's not supposed to stop, boss," he said in that matter-of-fact tone of his.

I wasn't sure if his words were meant to reassure me or piss me off, but the truth was, my heart wasn't just beating. It was screaming, like it wanted to break free from my chest and tear Adrian's throat out with its bare hands.

I could feel the blood rushing to my head, my veins pulsing with something darker, something sharper. "I can't do this, Hunter," I muttered under my breath. "How the hell am I supposed to save her when my own heart's about to explode?"

Octavio, the ever-analytical bastard, didn't even look up from his laptop. His fingers clicked over the keys, his eyes glued to the screen. "This isn't the time for you to start crying about your anxiety," he said, almost too calm, like his mind was a million miles away from where we were. "You want to save her? Focus. We don't have time for weakness."

I wanted to snap. To scream. To shove my gun down his throat and pull the trigger until the words stopped coming out of his mouth.

But I didn't. Because he was right.

Adrian was out there, with Nyx. God knows what he was doing to her. God knows what kind of sick game he was playing, and every second we wasted was another second she was in danger.

I ground my teeth together, the taste of metal in my mouth. "You're right," I said, my voice dangerously low, as if I was talking to myself more than to him. "I'm gonna rip that fucker apart. No mercy. No hesitation."

Octavio's eyes flicked up for a moment, a look of mild surprise crossing his face. But he didn't say anything. Instead, he kept his focus on his laptop, tapping a few more keys. The faint hum of the engine was the only sound between us.

But even as the words left my lips, I knew I wasn't just talking about Adrian anymore. I was talking about the part of me that was falling apart inside. The part that didn't care how many lives I took to get to Nyx. The part that didn't give a shit how many more sacrifices I'd have to make.

This wasn't about the mafia. This wasn't about power or control. This was about her.

"We need a plan," I said, trying to steady my breath, to pull myself together. "What do we know?"

Ace, who had been quietly sharpening his blade, finally spoke up. "Adrian's hiding out in some safe house. We've got the location. It's an old property he's using under a fake name. Place is locked down tight. Booby traps. Cameras. Security systems out the ass."

"So we don't walk in there like idiots," I said, voice low and dangerous. "We get in, get her, and get out. No room for mistakes."

Octavio looked up, his eyes narrowing. "The problem is, Adrian's expecting us. He's already made plans. We won't be the only ones walking through that door. He'll have backup."

"Good," I said, the edge in my voice unmistakable. "Let him think he's prepared. Let him think he has the upper hand. The second we walk in, he's dead."

The tension in the car was palpable now. The kind of tension that grips you by the throat and doesn't let go. It was a waiting game. A game we were going to win.

But there was something else gnawing at the back of my mind. It wasn't just Adrian. It was Nyx.

I glanced over at Octavio again. His face was stoic, like always, but there was something different about him today. Something subtle.

He cared about her.

I didn't know when it happened. Maybe it was the way he would ask questions about her, the way he'd look at his phone for updates on her whereabouts, the little things he'd do to keep tabs on her safety. He never said it outright, but I saw it in the way he moved, the way he'd clench his jaw every time her name came up in conversation in the past few hours.

He had a soft spot for Nyx.

And in a way, that pissed me off. Because she wasn't just hers to care about. She was mine.

But even I couldn't deny the truth of it. She had a way of slipping past the walls people like us build up. She had a way of making everyone feel like family, even the hardest, deadliest men I knew.

I turned back to the windshield, the rain blurring the world outside. "We're getting her back. No matter what it takes," I muttered.

Ace's voice cut through the silence. "You think Adrian's scared yet?"

I smirked, the edge of my anger sharpening. "He will be. The second we walk through those doors, he'll know."

The rest of the ride was a blur of silence and calculated thoughts, each of us locked in our own worlds. We were all thinking the same thing. But none of us said it.

We were walking into hell. But this time, we weren't leaving without her.