Live For It

|17|

Ajax Di Maggio loaded his gun, strapping the backup magazines to the holder across his chest. The faint sound of reloading and clicking filled the arsenal room; his brothers copying his actions behind him. 

Sparks of rage were flooding his veins, aching against his muscles as they tensed under the leather covering his figure. 

The news of the phone call Hayden had received earlier had sent all of them into a chaotic mess of fury. 

"The lady swore it was her, said that she was there with the fucking Armani's."

He gritted his teeth when the repetition of words took over his mind as he prepared for what could turn out in war. A blood battle. A rescue. Whatever it took. 

"Where do we hit first? It's been days since they were seen, the odds of them still being in New York are too slim to risk an assumed location," Stefano, one of the chief soldiers, asks as more men are ordered to prepare. 

Ajax angled his body to the man in full black, ready to speak before the burden of a familiar voice interrupts him. 

"Didn't the little bird run away herself? Why bother with all of this? Up until a few days ago, we all thought she was dead. She got herself into this mess, didn't she?" Stein Vincenzo chuckles from his seat in the corner of the room, half of the men turning to him in shock. The heir of the Di Maggio family snapped his eyes over to the cocky man who thought too much of himself. 

Ajax had always hated Stein. For many reasons, but mostly because the idiot thought that just because his father was a second, he would end up being in Ajax's cabinet. Ajax had already planned to keep all of his brothers as his seconds, and then bring Zhara up to consigliere, his advisor. All of his planning had gone to shit when they thought Zhara was dead, but now...he would still keep his hopes at low. 

"Disrespect my sister again, and you will have a bullet between your eyes," Ajax growled, sliding the AK-104 into the safety holster on his back. Stein scoffed at his future Don, ignoring the glaring from everyone in the room as he went back to loading up gear. 

Ajax's patience was being tested too often these days, and it took everything in him to refrain from staining the wall with Stein's brains. 

"If they were going to use her as bait, they would keep her as close as possible," Koven spoke up, pushing himself off the wall he was leaning on. 

"They wouldn't use her as leverage if they planted a fake body to throw us off," Hayden countered, sending new ideas into everyone's mind. Rowen's head jerked up from its lowered position, and the men got curious about what he just realized. 

"They still think we believe their attempt at her death," Rowen asserted. Everyone nodded in sync, thinking of all the possibilities in this. 

"We use the unknown to our advantage," Stefano adds, putting two guns into his waistband. Ajax turned to the man standing by the door, waiting for the orders. 

"See if you can find her exact location in the resurfaced tracker," he advised, and the man nodded curtly before leaving to do his part.  

"We leave at midnight," Ajax orders, looking over the men who would save his sister.

~~~

{ZHARA}

There is an unimaginable feeling that one can achieve in only the riskiest situations. It's so short, lasting barely enough for what it costs, and if you breathe, you can miss it. But it's there. It's the five seconds of life where nothing matters, nothing is happening, and nothing is nothing.