Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 290(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Reed’s eyes narrowed to thin slits. “Where is she? Where does he have her?”
“Who?”
“Paige!”
I noticed a slight tremor of the gun. He was scared shitless.
“Listen to me, Parkston, I’m not in the mood to fuck around. I can help you, but you gotta put the goddamn gun down.”
Reed considered me for a moment and then lowered it to the desk. He collapsed back into his leather chair and frantically raked his hands through his hair as though trying to rid them of the sensation of holding the cold metal in the first place.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me. I’m losing it.”
I eyed the gun. It was still within his reach, but I took a gamble and kept my own piece tucked into the back of my jeans as I stalked into the room. I planted my hands on the desk.
“Start at the beginning.”
“Who are you?” Reed demanded. “Don’t you work for that piece of shit, Dalton?”
I tugged my FBI badge from my back pocket and dropped it open for him, letting it answer his question about my loyalties. “I’m one of the good guys, Parkston. I won’t get into all the details right now but rest assured that I’m on your side. Now, if you’re done asking questions, how about you start answering some of mine.”
Reed stared at my badge and then at me as though comparing the image to my face. I looked slightly different than the picture, but it was close enough. The photo had been snapped a few years back, and I was clean-shaven with lighter hair. Bennett. Not Eric.
Reed made up his mind and offered a slight nod. I snapped the badge shut, re-pocketed it, and planted my hands on the desk.
“What happened? Where is Tor—” I stopped myself, mentally kicking myself from almost giving up Tori’s name. “Where is Avery?”
“I don’t know,” Reed replied, his voice still shaky. “If she was with Paige…oh God. She was probably taken, too. He didn’t say on the message, but—”
“Taken? What do you mean?”
Reed rubbed his hands over his face. He was a man close to the brink. I could see it. Feel it. He was about to crumble under the weight of the situation. My heart rocketed into triple time as I waited for him to continue. It took every shred of control not to launch myself over the desk and rattle him until his teeth chattered together.
“Dalton has her. Them.”
Dark, ugly hate curled inside me and instantly ignited into a bonfire of rage. “What?” I boomed, losing grip on my own leash.
Reed shot to his feet. “He wants the club. He’s been after me about it for a while now. I figured he was just a persistent businessman. You know, the assholes who won’t take no for an answer. Damn it!”
He stopped and spun around to slam a fist onto the desk’s smooth surface. “I should have seen this coming!”
I shook my head. “Rewind. How do you know he took Paige and Avery?”
“He called and left a message on my cell. If I don’t send over the signed contracts for him to take possession of Parkston’s, he’ll hurt Paige.”
“And Avery?”
“She and Paige are close. Paige’s friends said the last time they saw Paige, she was in here talking to Avery. Avery was upset about something.”
Hot guilt slid down to the pit of my stomach. I was the reason she’d been upset. She watched Richie’s men all but drag my ass from the club. She’d probably been terrified, and I hadn’t been able to explain anything or tell her that I was all right once the deal was done. I’d been so consumed with returning to the outpost and checking the trackers that I hadn’t called her until…until it was too late.
“When was this?” I barked.
“Forty minutes ago. He said I had an hour.”
“Did you call the cops?”
Reed shook his head. “He said he’d kill her.”
His voice was thin, barely above a whisper.
“Okay. We’re going to get them back.”
“Do you need to call it in? Get back up?”
I hesitated a moment. I knew Richie—far more than I’d like to—and if I knew one thing about him, he was a man of his word. In the worst way. If he said he’d kill Paige—and Tori—he meant it. And God forbid he had some of his other idiots there, wherever he held them. Richie liked to put on a show, to display his power and prominence within the Sanderson family.
A shiver snaked down my back. If Dalton held Tori, there was a good chance that someone would recognize her from the Paul Sanderson bust. And if that happened, there was no question Richie would kill her on the spot.
“No,” I snapped. “That’ll take too long. Let’s go.”
It went against every protocol in the book, everything I’d been trained and taught, every command I’d ever been given. And I didn’t give a shit. This wasn’t business as usual. This was fucking personal, and I was going to handle it…personally.