Protecting You ("The Shadows" Series: Book I)

XXIX.

"Lily?" Surprise was evident in his voice. I felt guilty for not talking to him because of my own problems but now was not the time to dwell in the past. I shook myself mentally and focused on him.

"You remember I had asked you to keep a few men behind Ryan and all his gang mates?" Zach looked at me with his mouth hung open in shock. I shrugged.

"Yeah. What about that?"

"We can't track him? Do you know where he is?" I said crossing my fingers. I heard him asking me to wait and then some shuffling on the other end. After sometime he came back on the line.

"He's been in Queens hotel for past hour and there are no bodyguards with him."

"What the fuck? What do you mean there are no bodyguards with him? He can't go without them." I almost yelled to which Zach jumped and took the phone from my hand. I glared at him for a moment before running out the door. I heard him scream my name and told Alex that he would call later before cutting the call.

I skipped two steps at a time and ran out the door. All the men were shocked to see me out of my room after a week but did I care?

No.

Zach followed behind me as I made my way to the garage and opened it. I took Ryan's car keys and clicked the button for locating the car. I made my way towards the car and sat in the driver's seat while Zach sat beside me. I drove the car to Queens praying to all things holy that my gut feeling comes out wrong and both Ryan and Evan stay safe.

"Take out the guns from every part of this car. We might need a lot...I guess." I said to Zach to which he nodded and started taking out guns from the gear compartment, the pouches of the seats, from under the seats and from wherever possible. Everybody in my gang would always keep all the vehicles loaded with ammo and guns for times of need and I was glad that this rule was followed in this gang too.

"Why bodyguards were not with Ryan and Evan?" I asked running my palm over my face.

"They had six men with them. I don't know how Alex's men were not able to find them. And how come we had no idea about your men following us?" He asked me.

"I had to take precautions. I saw Ryan trying to do everything his way and then what he got himself into just because of his reckless decisions. So I decided to ask Alex to send men after each and every men of your gang. See it helped us now." I shrugged and tried to distract my mind from all the warning bells that were ringing in my head but couldn't do that. After my father left the gang, they had no one to follow and Alex had asked me to step in. This all happened on Skype and I was still wondering on how I became the boss of the gang just after we got the letter. I had kept this information a secret. The members of dad's gang were happy when I stepped in as their boss but I had asked them to keep this news among the members. Even in the gang, only a few trustworthy people knew about my position, others thought that Alex was the new boss.

After what felt like forever, we parked the car behind the hotel and made our way inside through the backdoor. Zach had informed the manager of this hotel that we were arriving to which he obeyed. I think he owed them something because he didn't complain when we told that we were armed but he did say that he didn't want any police involved because of the reputation he maintained. And he also told us that Ryan and Evan were here for quite some time. We made our way to the receptionist desk and saw a bimbo who was eyeing Zach up and down.

"Excuse me. I'm here to see Ryan Martinez and Evan Lynch."

"They are not here." She replied. Time was running and I was getting angry. She continued twirling her hair not so subtly and was blushing while glancing at Zach. He was unaware of the attention he was getting and was talking on his phone. Before I could slap that girl right across her face, he held my hand and pulled me away from the desk.

"The tracker found the man who gave him the information to come here. They are on the 27th floor." He said and entered the elevator while I followed him.

"How did he find them?" I asked out of curiosity. We could have done this before entering this place and would have saved a lot of time and energy.

"Someone was meddling with our communication services...I don't know how and had tried to kill that man who had passed the information to Evan. James found the guy and he told him this before he fell unconscious. As of now, he is being taken to the hospital." He exhaled while checking his guns.

I couldn't believe this was happening with us. Someone was definitely helping Adam from the inside and the rat was working under our nose. We would be defenseless if he was working freely in our presence. The elevator binged, informing us that we had reached the floor. Zach had called more men to this hotel while we were in the car so we had nothing else to worry about right now except Ryan and Evan. We crawled stealthily towards the doors trying to listen to anything that would hint us about their presence. After listening to three doors, we made our way to the fourth door and tried to eavesdrop. There were faint voices. Zach and I looked at each other and nodded. But before we could think about how to get inside, the door to the adjacent room opened and a man came out.

"Who are you?" He shrieked in surprise and the next moment, he grunted falling to the ground with his head in his hands. I glared at Zach as he shrugged and pulled me hard towards the man.

"We have to take him inside. What if they heard what he screamed?" I nodded and we both held the hands and legs of the guy and pulled him inside his room. Just as we were closing the door, the fourth door opened where we were eavesdropping. A girl in skimpy dress came out and glanced around the hallway, shrugged and went inside, closing the door behind.

"Fucking Hell!!! What is she doing here?" Zach whisper yelled as we closed the door. He started pacing back and forth in the living room after we deposited the unconscious guy on the sofa. I looked at him, confused by what he said. Did he know her?

"Who is she and how do you know her?" I asked already dreading the silence that followed. He seemed reluctant to answer the question.

"Zach I asked you something for heaven's sake. Who is she?" I restrained myself from yelling at him. He looked at me and the creases on his forehead made me sweat in worry.

"This is not my place to tell you but she is an enemy." He said and I felt like stabbing him.

"Who the fuck is she Zach? Tell me?" This time I did yell and he threw his hands in the air in frustration.

"She is Laura. Adam's daughter." He said and glanced at me. I knew he was not telling me everything. I knew Adam was behind this almost kidnapping but this shouldn't affect him to this extent.

"You're not telling me. Why are you so bothered by her. She is just her daught-"

"She's also Ryan's ex-girlfriend." He yelled back, making me freeze.
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Hello guys!!! *waves excitedly* It's been so long since I last updated but here it is. This is the longest chapter I have written in this book and I almost fell asleep. College and work is exhausting me to no ends. But the read on the chapters push me to work on this story harder and give it some time of my day. It took me almost two days to complete this chapter and I hope this is what you expected *in a good way obviously* *smiles sheepishly*.

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Last but not the least...

Loads Of Love...

✌

-R