Griz’s frown deepened, and he shook his head. “There's no way you all are going with us. I’ll take three other guys and head to those coordinates.”
“Keep us updated,” Nichole called after him.
The door opened again, and the rest of the men and women stepped outside.
“Asher got an email,” Griz said as he stopped in front of Sharp.
Sharp narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“Show him the email.”
Asher’s phone was passed around, and the guys spoke in hushed tones.
Danika moved to hug Nichole, and the other women hugged each other. They were all crying, and she was still teary-eyed, but feeling more hopeful now. Could Thario really be alive?
Rowan didn’t want to get her hopes up too high, but it was difficult not to expect something good from this. Maybe Thario was okay. But who had died in that fire if it wasn’t Thario?
Chapter 3
There wereadvantages to working with Thario, but those advantages had put Brent at risk. He’d almost lost everything because that bastard had started looking in the wrong direction.
The setup had made sense two years ago. Brent had befriended Thario almost two years ago, growing closer every week, trying to work his way into the inner sanctum. Cracking Thario was difficult.
The first chip at the outer shell had come when he’d followed Thario to a conference. Luckily for Brent, he’d been able to convince the guy he was for real. Then they started working together to take down traffickers.
He had only been working with Thario to keep an eye on the guy, but getting rid of other traffickers had helped his bottom line. Brent had been able to put together a high-class business, delivering exactly what his customers wanted when they wanted it.
Brent used what he learned from Thario to escape detection. It was funny to him that Thario had welcomed him in, not looking deep enough to discover the subterfuge.
Brent had peddled flesh, shipping young girls and boys to Asia and South America, deepening connections without fear, because he knew how traffickers were being tracked and trapped. He learned enough to hide the evidence of his own networks, forcing the focus on others.
It was too bad Peter had to be sacrificed, but someone had to give for Brent’s way of life to continue. Peter had to have known that at some point, he would be sacrificed. He wasn’t as crucial to the business.
Leaving Peter’s car in Thario’s driveway may have been risky, but he needed the police to tie Peter to the scene, not him. With both Peter and Thario dead, Brent could continue his work.
It pissed him off that Thario had tried to ruin him. He’d had a handle on everything until a few weeks ago. That was when Calla had tried to escape, and he’d had to take care of things, so he didn’t have as much time to spend watching and redirecting Thario.
It wasn’t just her fault, though. It was Thario’s fault, too. Both of them were fucking wimps. He wished he could have fought Thario to determine the winner, but killing Thario had to be enough.
The police might come looking for him, but he’d planned for this. Not this exactly, but something like this, and was ready to run. They would escape to another state and stay there until the situation calmed. Once the police gave up and stopped chasing him, he could return to his life and build his empire.
Chapter 4
Thario feltlike a bomb had gone off inside his head. His body, other than his old injuries, felt fine. But someone had slammed him hard in the back of his head, knocking him out.
When he’d come to, he’d found that bastard trying to set his house on fire. The real kick to his guts was that the person was someone he trusted.
Brent was one of the guys he'd worked with for years, tracking down at-risk women and lost children. He thought Brent was a solid guy. He guessed he'd made a huge mistake trusting him. It wasn't like him to judge someone so totally off basis that they surprised the shit out of him like this.
Brent wasn’t good, or even decent. He’d attacked fast after he’d dosed Frog with something. Fuck, his dog was down.
Thario tried to sit up so he could get his eyes on Frog, but pain pushed him back to the seat. He wasn’t in any condition to move quickly.
“Frog?” Thario said, praying for some sort of answer from his beloved friend. He heard nothing. Pain filled him. Frog didn’t deserve to die like this. What the fuck had that guy given him?
Thario squeezed his eyes shut, thinking about how he'd dragged Frog's body out of his burning house. Somehow, he'd gotten the dog into the car outside and then taken off, driving to this safe house few knew about.
His van was in the shop for repairs, so he’d used the car in his driveway. He’d only been able to drive because he’d been wearing his prosthetics.
