Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 264(@200wpm)___ 211(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
“Dead serious,” Hunter gritted out.
Blake shook his head, disbelief written all over his face. “Demingo had his freedom. He wasn’t bound to the government anymore. He could move any way he wanted, wasn’t under the microscope. What the fuck does he want with us?”
“Revenge,” Kyle answered, her voice void of emotion. Heads turned toward her as she leaned forward, elbows braced on the table, her expression unreadable. “He lost the power that working for the government gave him,” she continued. “Now he has to answer to other people. He has to work with other cartels, so he doesn’t get to run the show anymore. He wants to prove his strength and get that power back.”
Silence.
Then—
“What does he have planned?”
Mace’s voice was strained, his body wound tight.
I felt for the guy. If it had been Kyle who had been taken… if I had gotten that photo… I would have lost my fucking mind.
His hands shook as he gripped the edge of the table, his breathing hard and uneven.
Duke rubbed his chin, his expression thoughtful as he mulled over everything.
Mace was barely keeping it together as he waited, but Duke took his time.
“We know he has Ava and Gia,” Duke finally said, referring to Mace’s sister and woman. “And we know he has Scarlett—who was taken from her workplace. That means she wasn’t a direct target like Ava and Gia were.” Duke paused, running through the possibilities in his head. “In criminal psychology, this would be viewed as a multi-motive move.”
Mace looked like he was about to snap.
Duke raised a brow but kept going. “Ava and Gia were undoubtedly aimed at you. But Scarlett wasn’t involved with them, aside from being Ava’s close friend.”
The realization clicked into place at the same time for both Hunter and me.
“Scarlett is aimed at someone else,” Hunter whispered.
“Someone Demingo is making a point to,” I finished.
The table split off into small groups, quiet conversations bouncing around as everyone tried to piece together what this meant for them.
But Duke wasn’t done. “Or,” he cut in, raising his voice slightly, “someone requested that she be taken to send a message. We can’t ignore the possibility that this is a job for someone else.”
“That actually makes more sense,” Coleman, one of Mace’s guys, muttered. He started explaining the mess going on in their hometown, about how two powerful families were under attack.
“Maybe Scarlett means something to them,” he suggested, referring to the person behind the attacks.
Hunter scrubbed a hand over his face, groaning. “Fuck me, this just keeps getting worse.”
I leaned back, watching and listening. This group was too diverse for knee-jerk reactions. Listening was the only way to see the problem as a whole, instead of fractured pieces.
Then Mace spoke again, his voice hard. “So how do we find them?” No one had an answer. “And why the fuck am I in this?”
Kyle was the one to reply. “You were part of the raid in 2014.”
Mace went rigid.
The room held its breath.
Then it happened.
CRACK.
His fist collided with the wall, punching right through the hole Noah had made earlier. Coleman lunged, wrapping his arms around Mace, restraining him. No one else moved to stop him, because we got it—the anger, the helplessness, and the feeling of having zero fucking control. But he needed to be in one piece to get Ava and Gia back.
Coleman’s voice was low when he spoke, but it held every ounce of command that Mace needed to hear. “We’re gonna find them.” His grip tightened, his eyes locked on Mace’s wild expression. “We’re gonna find all of them, but you need to calm the fuck down.”
Mace’s head hung low as he panted through his rage.
“What good are you gonna be if you’re out of your damn mind? If you have a fucked hand because you’re being a goddamn asshole?” Coleman shook him once, hard. “The answer to that, and you know I’m not bullshitting you, is no fucking good. Now get your shit together.”
The room went dead silent and stayed that way until Kyle’s phone rang. She barely glanced at the screen before she spoke.
“It’s Bo.” Her voice was steady, but the slight tension in it told me everything I needed to know.
The anxiety and the fear were there, because she knew what was at stake. We listened in silence as Kyle spoke to Bo, setting the plan into motion.
And just like that, we had our targets. One group for Piper, and another, larger group for Ava, Gia, and Scarlett.
And Demingo? He was about to find out exactly what happened when he fucked with the wrong people.
I had my eye locked through the scope of my brand-new TAC-50, every muscle coiled tight as I tracked Bo’s movements. She was dragging Hunter’s woman Piper out of the building, her grip tight despite Piper barely being able to hold herself up. She was getting her out, though, and that’s what mattered.