No Justice_A Croft Mob Family Book

by Morgan Kelley

  “They blew security. They will take the stairs. The power is down,” he said, holding his phone. It was their ONLY line to Chris.

  “I hear them,” Chris stated as he stayed on the line with them. “They’re down a few floors, but they are coming,” he stated.

  “Greyson is on his way to give you some support,” he said. “Keep your head down.”

  Dimitri knew bulletproof didn’t holdup forever. It would stop a few bullets, but eventually, it would shatter. Once that happened, Chris had zero sniper cover if he stood up. The shooter was from a lower level, but he’d have a target once the man was upright.

  “On it.”

  Heath and Nikita pulled on body armor that some cops had given them.

  “We can give you S.W.A.T,” the commissioner offered.

  “We’ll be good. Just don’t let anyone out of that building. There are residents and there are shooters. Figure it out fast.”

  He would.

  A few cops offered up guns, staring at them in confusion. Were they giving weapons to killers to save killers from killers?

  What?

  “Hurry,” Chris said, as he heard shooting. “I don’t think anyone is going to survive this,” he said, meaning the people who lived in the building.

  He had a gun.

  He might have a chance.

  “I’m bleeding. I don’t have much time upright,” he stated, relaying the urgency.

  “Hang in there.”

  It didn’t take long.

  There was one-shot, and someone fell of off the roof across from the building.

  “We’re clear,” Dimitri stated. “That’s the sniper.”

  They ran for it.

  The entire time, no one shot at them. Inside the smoky building, they stayed in a formation.

  They could hear screams and shooting.

  Yeah, no one was coming out of there alive.

  And that was what scared him.

  Greyson took the shot.

  It hit his target, and he focused on the building across from him. While the penthouse was above him, he could see the lower floors of Sky Villa.

  It was a bloodbath.

  The people with guns were killing anyone who got in their way. It was a seek and destroy mission, and he needed to stop it.

  Only, he couldn’t get a clear shot.

  Not of the shooters.

  He crossed his fingers.

  His wife and son’s lives were in Chris’s hands.

  And so was his future.

  Chris saw the first one kick in their door. They weren’t messing around. That’s when the gunfire started. When one tossed in a smoke bomb, he immediately backed up, moving for cover. The bullets whizzed past him, embedding in the wall. When one of the shooters got too close, he fired at him, trying to buy them more time.

  His arm was dripping blood onto the floor, and he was getting woozy.

  Still, he fought with all he had, emptying a clip at the three men heading his way. One was a headshot, and the shooter went down. The rest of his shots missed the last two men coming into the penthouse.

  In the bedroom, he shoved the dresser in front of the door and moved to kneel in the closet doorway. His body was between Emma and the people trying to get her.

  “She’s in active labor,” Poppy said, timing her contractions. Emma was on her back, and she was breathing through them.

  “Just keep her safe. No one’s coming in through here,” he promised, closing the door enough to give them even more cover.

  He could hear them shooting into the door with the dresser stopping the bullets.

  “We could really use that sexy panic room of yours that was at Terrace Glen,” he stated, trying to keep her calm.

  “Just get out,” she stated. “They don’t want you,” she said, staring over at him.

  Chris laughed.

  “Over my dead body. I’m not ditching my nephew. No way, no how.”

  They heard more bullets.

  Poppy grabbed her gun.

  “You’re bleeding. Help Emma. I can shoot with my gun arm. Yours isn’t looking so good.”

  They swapped positions. Chris had every intention of being the one who put his body over Emma’s if need be.

  She’d saved him once.

  “Hey, kiddo, nice role reversal.”

  She breathed through a contraction.

  My how stress brought on the labor.

  “I want meds!”

  He laughed.

  “That is the least of our issues, cupcake.”

  She tried to will her body to listen. She needed a gun. No, she needed an epidural.

  “Chris.”

  He stopped her.

  “They’ll get here. I know them.”

  She had tears in her eyes.

  This was not how she saw her son being born. This was not how she wanted to bring him into the world in a hail of bullets.

  Chris held her hand with his dead numb one, or maybe she held his. He didn’t care.

  They just had to get through this.

  Together.

  Dimitri and his team moved up the stairwell. They found bodies along the way. There were dead owners of the condos who had tried to flee, and they had been shot.

  This became a shoot and destroy mission, and the people behind it were taking no prisoners.

  They had to move fast.

  “We skip searching for them,” he said. “We need to go right there and face them head-on. We don’t have time,” he stated.

  Nikita pointed.

  “Let’s do it like we did that day in the hotel.”

  “I hope you’re not talking about sex,” Heath muttered. “This is ruining my date.”

  Dimitri laughed.

  “We went in guns blazing. Relax.”

  They hustled up the stairs. At the penthouse floor, there was no one on the door. They didn’t think anyone was going to be coming up after them.

  That worked for them.

  They moved toward the penthouse and could hear the shots being fired.

  Dimitri knew Greyson didn’t keep an arsenal in there. Chris was going to have limited supplies while wounded.

  Plus, Emma in labor.

  They didn’t have time.

  “Pick a target, and take him out,” he stated.

  She gave him a fist bump.

  They went in.

  Heath watching their flank to ensure that no one came up behind them. Once in the fray, they began firing at the men, shooting up the place.

  Nikita took out one, and Dimitri the other.

  “Chris!” Dimitri shouted.

  “In here!”

  They moved down the hall, keeping their eyes open. Dimitri checked out the door, and it was riddled with bullets.

  “We’re coming in. Don’t shoot.”

  Dimitri leaned on the door, and that’s when he saw Nikita move, pointing the gun at his head. Before he could speak, she pulled the trigger, and there was a thud behind him.

  Dimitri spun.

  There was a third gunman.

  “He was creeping up on you,” she stated. “I think he wanted to be your buddy, Da?”

  He stared at her.

  “You’re hired.”

  She snorted.

  “I was already hired. You can’t hire the hired,” she teased. “I am gainfully employed.”

  “You quit. I am rehiring you to work for me,” he added.

  Heath stared at them.

  “Can we maybe have this conversation later? There’s about to be a baby born. I love me some baby. Think I can catch?” Heath asked, rubbing his big hands together after slinging his gun over his shoulder.

  Speaking of which…

  “Nikita, call Greyson. Heath, open the door.”

  The big man shoved with all he had, moving the dresser. When they got into the room, it was shot the hell up.

  Poppy opened the closet.

  “HURRY! She’s about to give birth! She can’t wait any longer!”

>   “Heath, call an ambulance!”

  Dimitri rushed in, and Chris was between Emma’s legs, talking her through it.

  “Jesus. I didn’t need to see this today,” Dimitri said, kneeling beside her head. “That baby’s head is huge!”

  “Shut up,” she muttered.

  They heard footsteps coming, and from the running, they knew who it would be.

  When Greyson burst through the door, he saw his wife giving birth.

  “Emma!”

  He dropped his gun and moved toward her.

  Chris moved out of the way.

  “It’s time,” he said, moving to sit beside Emma’s other arm, and hold her hand.

  Greyson had to regroup. His son’s head was out. He could see the cord wrapped around his neck, so he untangled him.

  “Emma, listen to me. On the next one, push. I’ve got him and you.”

  She closed her eyes. When she felt the contraction, both Dimitri and Chris helped her sit up a little, and she bared down. With one push, Maximillian Atticus Christopher Croft was born.

  He screamed.

  Emma laid back and tried not to cry.

  She’d given birth in a gunfight, in a closet, and in a supposedly impenetrable tower.

  But she’d made it.

  Greyson reached up and grabbed one of his white dress shirts, and he wrapped his son in it. To help, Dimitri pulled a shoelace off of his boot and tied off the baby’s cord.

  When Chris handed Greyson a knife, he swapped him for the baby.

  “Cut the cord, Dad. You got to birth your baby.”

  “Hey!” Emma stated.

  “I mean, she did,” he said, handing her the swaddled baby.

  Emma took her son, and she held him. It was all kinds of ironic that he’d come in fighting, and he’d likely do that his whole life.

  Vegas.

  It was something.

  “For the record,” Greyson began, “I’m buying you whatever you want because, damn girl! You’re the champ.”

  She laughed and cuddled her baby.

  “Chris kept me alive. He’s the champ. I was the one along for the ride. Poppy too!”

  Greyson realized that.

  It changed everything.

  “Oh my God! Tessa!” Emma blurted, sitting up. “Is she okay?”

  Greyson reassured her.

  “I called Paris after taking out the guy. They had a doctor appointment. She wasn’t in the building.”

  He gave her a kiss on the forehead.

  “Let’s get you to the hospital. The commissioner is going after Jeffrey Raye. You need to see a doctor, and Chris is bleeding all over you.”

  She still held his hand.

  “Thank you, Chris. Thank you.”

  He gave her a kiss on the forehead.

  “One good life saving deserves another,” he said, smiling. “MEDIC!” he shouted, as he got dizzy. “I think I’ll just lay down.”

  And he did.

  Dimitri stared down at them.

  “So, are you leaving Las Vegas?” he asked Greyson as hell broke loose around them all over again.

  Greyson Croft laughed.

  How could he leave now?

  It was just beginning.

  Epilogue

  One Hour Later

  As Greyson moved between the maternity ward, Chris’s room, and the police waiting downstairs, he was astounded by the media’s take on all of this. They were trying to get his attention, and someone had even found his private number.

  It had been ringing for the last hour—since they saw Emma and Chris being wheeled out of Sky Villa.

  As it rang again, Greyson had enough.

  “WHAT?” he asked.

  “Greyson, are you having fun?” Jeffrey Raye asked, laughing into the phone.

  Croft stopped moving.

  “Where are you, weasel? The cops are looking for you. It seems you’ve killed some women, shoved them in bags, and tried to frame not one of Vegas’s heavy hitters, but two. Zachary Lipton is looking for you. It seems he found out you hired hit men out of his account.”

  He laughed.

  “I had you chasing your tail. That’s priceless, Greyson. See, I really had you from the beginning. Who would suspect me? It was a really excellent plan, and it took months to see it unfold.”

  “What do you want?” he asked.

  “Just to say goodbye. For now. The heat is on in Vegas so I’m going to hide out for a while. I’m far from done.”

  Greyson wanted to reach through the phone and kill the asshole.

  “Sorry about your home. I guess you can’t stay there now. I wonder where you’ll go next. Gee. That’s too bad.”

  Greyson knew he was insane.

  “What do you want?”

  “Like I said. I felt the need to say goodbye. Our little game isn’t over. When you least expect it, you’re going to find me in Vegas again. It may be now. It may be in twenty years. Who knows? You won’t see me coming.”

  “What happened to you to make you this sick and twisted? You killed four women and dismembered them. You slit Margot and Harold’s throats. You played with lives, killed a cop, and made a mess.”

  He laughed.

  “Nothing happened, Greyson, other than you challenged me. The whole time, you were the one person I couldn’t beat. I get what I want. My wife needed to die. She did. Oops!”

  Greyson fumed.

  “I needed your family scattered, and Poppy Wayne came into play. Your faithful sidekick was lost without his poor, raped woman.”

  “You’re an asshole. I’ll find you.”

  “How’s your wife? I bet that baby is cute. He was going to take a swan dive headfirst off the building. I wanted to watch him hit and explode like only a soft-skulled child can do.”

  Greyson wanted to be sick.

  “You haven’t even begun to find my legacy I’ve left for Vegas, but you will. Until later, Greyson. Kiss that wife and baby for me and thank Captain Ford. I owe him one.”

  And with that, the phone went dead.

  Greyson’s heart pounded in his chest.

  Heading down the hall, he found Chris still in his room, arguing with a nurse. He wanted to go to the maternity ward. He wanted to see Emma.

  The woman wouldn’t let his gown-wearing ass out of bed.

  “Grey, tell this woman I’m fine. I will see that baby!”

  He escorted the woman out of the room, offering her some reassuring words that he’d handle Chris.

  “Sit,” he said when he found him trying to get dressed.

  With one arm.

  “Not you too.”

  “I want to say something.”

  “What?” Chris asked, his arm slinged and his ass sticking out the back of his hospital gown.

  “I want you to have a baby with my wife.”

  Chris sat.

  “Jesus. These are the good meds. I like them.”

  Greyson sat beside him.

  “You saved them. You were shot, and you held on. I want you to have that day. I want you to see your child born. It was selfish of me to say she couldn’t be your surrogate. You love her just as much as I do, and you will be an amazingly protective father.”

  Chris was flabbergasted.

  “I don’t want you to feel obligated.”

  He stopped him.

  “I’m not. I’m doing it because I love you, and I want you to have a child one day. When I was holding my son, there was no feeling like that in the world. I want you to have that baby, and Emma will be the best mother any child could have. I want to share my wife with you.”

  He grinned.

  Greyson elbowed him in the bad arm.

  “Fuck! That hurt!”

  “That was because you saw her girl parts and were thinking illicit things.”

  “Uh, Dimitri saw them too.”

  “I’ll beat on him later.”

  Chris got serious.

  “Thank you, Greyson. I can’t tell you what this means. It means I have
a chance at my own little circle. I don’t need a wife, but I would kill to have a child.”

  He dropped his arm over his shoulder.

  “Let’s go see Emma and Mac. He’s cute. I make good babies. Want to use my sperm?”

  Chris laughed.

  “Uh, no. One Croft baby is enough.”

  “Tessa has two.”

  “Jesus. There are going to be a flock of silver-eyed devils running amuck.”

  He grinned.

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “I feel a breeze, is my ass sticking out?” he asked, trying to look around.

  Greyson checked and smiled.

  “Nope,” he said, lying.

  He couldn’t help himself.

  Chris would be one more line of defense against the war that was coming.

  He would protect Emma.

  Greyson, he would do the rest.

  It was time to start the war.

  * * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *

  Two Days

  Later

  Meeting

  Aquarius

  He was there with three other people. It was time to get down to business. Before him, Dimitri, Heath, and Nikita sat, and they were waiting on his orders.

  They were getting a new location set for the family, and this was going to be the other thing they worked on.

  For the city.

  For justice.

  Greyson Croft was preparing for the worst-case scenario with Jeffrey Raye. So far, they knew he emptied his bank accounts and was in the wind.

  He threatened to come back.

  Well, he wasn’t done.

  He was going to track him.

  When he found him, he was going to make sure he paid. Wherever the man went, Greyson Croft was going to bring the fight to him.

  It was time.

  It was due.

  You didn’t threaten what was his and walk away from it thinking you won. This was Vegas.

  It was his.

  NOW, Greyson had three things on his mind.

  Keeping Emma and Mac safe.

  Protecting HIS city.

  And finding Jeffrey Raye.

  It was on.

  As they sat there, Greyson had dumped a shitload of money into the underground to find him.