“We start at the festering heart of this.” Nick looked at me, knowing what needed to be done.
I just nodded. I was ready. Ready to finish this once and for all.
“What?” Ryth glanced from Nick, to Caleb, then me. “No.” She shook her head and stepped toward me. “No fucking way. Do you have any idea what that will mean?”
“Yes,” I answered, holding her stare. “We force them out into the open.”
“And get yourselves killed in the process,” she snapped, her blue-gray eyes darkening with a scowl. Fuck, she was cute when she was pissed. “No. I won’t allow it.”
Caleb’s stare was steely. “It’s happening, princess. Whether you like it or not.”
She turned, throwing her hands into the air. “You’re all fucking suicidal, you know that?”
“More like homicidal,” I answered carefully.
She stilled at the words, her chest rising a little harder. Nick stepped closer, captured her chin, and tilted her gaze up to his. “There’s nowhere that’s safe for us, not anymore.” He nodded toward the TV. “Sooner or later, someone’s going to spot us and they’ll take you…again.”
“Not going to happen,” I growled, that cold hunger burning inside me. “Not now, not fucking ever. I’ll take that sick piece of shit out before I let him put his hands on you.”
She thought these were just words, just a threat with no ability to follow through. She didn’t realize that there had been a hole in me in the seconds, and the minutes, and the goddamn hellish days when she’d been taken. Did she think I’d paced the floor, wringing my goddamn hands, bereft with her loss? She’d learn soon enough.
“I know where he is.” Caleb lifted his head, scowling at the phone in his hand. “According to this, he has a standing lunch reservation at an elite restaurant in the city.”
My pulse jumped a little as I muttered, “Then let’s fucking go.”
Caleb lowered his hand. His gaze was stony as he headed for the bedroom. We left her behind, staring at our backs, as Nick and I followed Caleb to the bag of weapons which had been courtesy of Lazarus. I changed clothes, yanking on black jeans and a black t-shirt, then strapped a double harness around my shoulders and stowed two black Glocks in the holster.
“There’s no going back after this. You get that, right?” Nick glanced my way as he adjusted his shirt, tucking his own weapon in the back of his jeans. “If this doesn’t work, then we need to think about running.”
Running. I shook my head. “Not an option, brother.” I met his stare. “People like Hale won’t give up, and if you think he will, then you haven’t been paying attention.” I glanced at the doorway and listened to Ryth as she paced in the living room, while the drone of the TV still echoed in my head. “They were on the fucking TV, Nick. You think they’re just gonna make that go away?”
He didn’t answer.
“They exposed themselves. That’s how desperate they are to get her back.”
“But why her?” my brother muttered.
Movement came in the corner of my eye. I didn’t have to turn my head to know she was there. I felt her like a goddamn magnetic hum in my soul. To me, she was a gravitational pull.
“Why her?” Nick repeated, shaking his head. “I can’t work it out. Why the fuck her?”
I didn’t answer. Because the truth was, I didn’t fucking know either. It was all I thought about, all that drove me. Why her? Why her? And how could we end it?
I shook my head, knowing she was listening to every word and tearing herself apart in the process. “It doesn’t matter.” I adjusted my holster and grabbed my leather jacket, yanking it over my weapons. “They want her and they’re not about to stop, not unless we make them…so we make them.”
Nick gave a slow nod, determination burning in his gaze.
“Ready,” Caleb added from the doorway.
My focus found Ryth as I turned and strode toward her. Nick was kind and comforting. I was hard edges and bloody knuckles. She was safe because I was savagery. I strode past her, headed for the front door, and the others followed.
I climbed into the back seat of the dark grey sedan Freddy had left for us after he disposed of the stolen car. Nick slipped behind the wheel, leaving Caleb to slump into the passenger seat. But Ryth didn’t come out, just left us sitting in the damn car to wait…until finally she stepped through the door of the safehouse and headed for the car.
She slammed the car door behind her, glaring my way. But we were already moving, pulling out of the driveway and heading for the city in icy silence. She wrung her hands, twisting and bending her poor fingers in ways that looked fucking painful.
A twitch came in the corner of my eye…she’s hurting herself…she’s hurting herself…she’s hurting herself. I clenched my jaw and lashed out, grabbing her hand. Her breath caught. Surprise flared in those damn beautiful eyes. Harsh breaths felt too fast as I stared back at her. I wasn’t like this, wasn’t comforting or caring, and yet, here I was.
She made me uncomfortable.
Made me feel skinned and raw and not like the bastard I really was. I lowered my gaze to my fingers curled around hers, and knew this was love. We drove into the city like that, me in the back seat holding her hand, trying to stop her from ruining her goddamn knuckles.
It worked until, under C’s directions, Nick pulled us into a darkened alley and parked the car. My hand was sweaty when I let her go, but I didn’t swipe it across my thigh as I climbed out. I clenched it instead, turning my focus to my brothers as we rounded the rear of the car. Ryth climbed out, leaving Nick to pull her close to his side. “I want you to hang back a bit.” He brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Stay in the open where you’re seen. But if shit goes south…”
“If it goes south, then I’m fucked either way,” she answered.
He pressed the car keys into her hand. “In the glove compartment, there’s an envelope. You’ll find details there for an account I set up in your name. One they won’t trace, not for a while anyway, and enough cash to get you set up somewhere.”
Pain flashed across her face as she shook her head. “That’s not going to happen.”
“No,” I agreed, finding Caleb’s gaze. “It won’t.” I’d kill the motherfucker right in the middle of his prissy fucking restaurant before it came down to that.
“You’ll be fine, as long as you’re out in the open so there’re witnesses. We aren’t planning on doing anything rash.” Caleb cut another glance my way. “We just want to have a…discussion. That’s all. Help him see we aren’t backing down, no matter what bullshit he throws at us.”
“So, you’re calling his bluff?” she questioned.
“More like giving him an ultimatum,” Caleb answered.
That seemed to appease her a little, and the fear eased in her eyes.
“Okay, princess?” Nick murmured.
She gave a nod. There wasn’t much else she could do, was there? This was happening whether she wanted it to or not. I looked over my shoulder, then turned back and checked my weapons one last time.
“Let’s do this.” I headed for the street, then along the pathway to the expensive-looking restaurant. Caleb and Nick fell in line behind me as I pushed through the glass doors and climbed the stairs.
The maitre d’ was stationed at the front and smiled for a second, until he glanced from me to my brothers and stuttered, “Do you have a reservation?”
I didn’t answer, didn’t even slow, just kept on walking, scanning the tables until I caught sight of the bastard in the distance. He sat with three other men, casually sipping from his cup. Two discreet security guards stood toward the rear, dressed in black, with the bulges of a weapon under their jackets. One fucking move…and I’d lunge across the restaurant before they even had a chance to react.
“Uh-uh,” Nick snarled softly, meeting the closest asshole’s gaze.
“Mr. Hale,” Caleb called, drawing the bastard’s attention.
Cold, black, beady eyes shifted our way. Muscles flexed in a carved jaw, one that looked like it’d been chiseled from stone. There wasn’t a hint of emotion as Haelstrom Hale glared from my brothers to me.
“I’m sure you know who we are,” Caleb said carefully.
The problem was, my brother was too fucking polite. I leaned down, braced my hands on the edge of the table, and stared into the black pits of Hell. Recognition shimmered under the surface. Fuck, this guy was cold, all the way to the fucking core. There was something rotten inside him. Something festering that seemed to swell behind those black pits as he looked away, searching the restaurant beyond us. But it wasn’t his security he looked for…no, it was Ryth.
In the corner of my eye, I saw her. She waited in the middle of the restaurant, standing between the tables like we’d told her. I knew instantly when he saw her. His breaths deepened, his pupils blew wide.
“You don’t fucking look at her,” I snarled, and leaned down, drawing his focus. “You hear me, you piece of shit? You don’t fucking look at her at all.”
“Haelstrom.” One of his buddies stared at the gun as my jacket gaped. “What’s going on here?”
“Nothing,” Hale answered.
“Call off the hounds, Hale.” Caleb was calm beside me, far more than I was. Rage seethed inside me.
One of his guards moved toward the table until he lifted a hand, stopping him cold. “It’s fine, Gregor.”
“Yeah.” I met the guard’s glare. “It’s fine.”
“How did you find me?” Hale asked.
But no one answered. I knew Caleb had been talking to Freddy behind our backs. Hale wasn’t the only one with scouts in the city.
“We are here to tell you to stop coming after her,” Caleb continued. “Pick someone else, anyone else. Ryth doesn’t belong to you.”
There was a twitch in the corner of Hale’s lips. A tell I didn’t like at all.
“We don’t give a shit if her mom doesn’t want her with us,” Nick added. “We don’t give a shit what our father has to say. We’re telling you now, Ryth won’t be stepping foot inside that place ever again.”
Caleb waited until Nick finished before adding, “Unless you want the world to know exactly what goes on there.”
And there was that fucking twitch again, the one that pinched the corners of those beady eyes. Eyes I wanted to close, permanently. “That sounds an awful lot like a threat, Caleb.”
C gave a shrug. “Threat. Promise. Call it what you want.”
I looked at the pompous pricks he sat with, seeing each of them turning their heads as they looked away. They knew exactly what kind of monster they sat with…and they were afraid of him.
Spineless pieces of shit.
Hale gave a slow sigh and uncrossed his legs. “Tell me, what exactly do you think you can do here, Mr. Banks?” He glanced at Ryth, who’d crept closer. “Ryth is a troubled young woman, running away from an environment that offered stability and safety, one her mother contractually chose over something that encouraged reckless criminal behavior. She’s emotionally unstable and extremely vulnerable. It concerns me she will be even more so when she finds out exactly what kinds of things her stepbrother entertains. Particularly the debased private parties where he entertains his exhibition fantasies.”
Caleb froze. His face turned ashen. Tendons stood out along his neck until his pulse was visible.
“Caleb?”
I winced at her small voice as Ryth stepped closer. Hale never looked her way, just held C’s stare.
Motherfucker.
“What is he talking about?” she asked.
“Would you like me to show her the recording?” Hale offered. “I’m sure it’s available to view, even if it is only forty-eight-hours old. I thought after that night your…tastes would be sated.” He glanced at Ryth. “Then again, maybe not.”
The wounded sound that ripped from her throat was instant and punishing. Ryth stumbled backwards, then turned and tore past the other diners as she raced for the door.
“Nice talk,” Hale murmured. “Maybe we’ll have another one…soon.”
Soon…
That one word was more of a threat than the fucking ammunition we’d come with. I glanced at those filthy fuckers at his side and committed their faces to memory.
My brother jerked his gaze to her, then unleashed a roar and charged after her. “Ryth!”
Hale smirked as C raced through the restaurant, leaving me and Nick behind.
“You ready for the afterlife, motherfucker?” The words slipped out. I expected the smile, but I wanted the rage.
Hale turned that icy stare my way. I knew the kind of man we were dealing with now. He was the fucking devil, a devil dressed in fucking Calvin Klein with an army of the corrupt all around him.
