I’ve had a lot of bad ideas in my time, and I’ve even acted on some of them.Hell, sending Dante into Dax Romano’s world to spy for us was one of the dimmest things I’ve ever done, though it seemed like a good idea at the time.
But I’m starting to think that this right here–coming down here without a plan or way to communicate with Lucien about what’s going on–might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.
Even worse, I don’t see Aislyn in this room.
I got myself kidnapped and thrown into a holding cell with a bunch of helpless girls, and the girl I’m looking for isn’t even here.
Lucien
Ishove the doors of the warehouse open and storm through them, my men following me with our prisoner.
“Put him on the wall,” I snarl.
I’m beyond angry.Brooks has been missing for twenty-four hours and I haven’t been able to find anything about where she might be.I gave the kidnappers ten minutes, just so they wouldn’t realize I’d known what they were going to do, and then I tore through the ball, looking for any sign of Brooks or the men who’d taken her.
But everyone had disappeared.The captain of the circus.The man who’d been following Brooks.I didn’t see the girl Brooks had been talking to or the men who’d shoved past me to get to her, either.
I couldn’t even find Dom Landry, which was strange, considering it was his party.I’d seen Beau Landry momentarily, but he’d looked harried and upset, and had been on his way out the door.
And since then...Nothing.No one was talking.My contacts didn’t know anything, and if they did, they weren’t sharing.
Brooks was caught in a smuggling ring, being held captive in some dank, dark cell somewhere, and I was up here fighting to get someone to tell me something I could use.
Enter Simon leBanc.
I turn and glare at him now, so angry I can hardly see straight.
“You’re sure this guy knows where she is?”
Simon turns large, frightened eyes from me to the man now handcuffed to the wall of the warehouse, and nods once.“He sure does.He’s one of their main guys.”
“And how the hell were you able to get to him?”
Some of Simon’s fear melts at that and he gives me a cocky grin.“I’ve been working for them for a while.Turns out they trusted me more than they should have.”
I almost laugh at that, because it’s a level of self-awareness that I never would have expected from a freelancer like Simon.Though he’s right.Whoever hired him was fucking stupid to think he’d have any loyalty to the organization.He’s an outlaw.Doesn’t belong to any one family and goes wherever the wind takes him.
Or where the money’s better.
I cleaned out an entire set of stock holdings to make sure I was paying him more than Landry’s organization.And in return, he gave me the name and location of the highest-placed man he knew.Simon himself doesn’t know anything, of course.He’s just a set of eyes, in charge of figuring out a girl’s schedule for easier kidnapping.But he reported to some of the snatchers, and those men reported to the guy in charge of organizing it all.
That guy is now chained with his hands above his head in my warehouse.
And I’m going to do whatever it takes to find out what he knows, and where Brooks is.
“James Saldana,” I say, strolling slowly toward the man.“You work for Dominick Landry?”
He narrows his eyes and glares at me.“I don’t know who the fuck you’re talking about.”
“Right.”I brace a hand on the wall near his head and lean toward him.“Then whodoyou work for?Let’s start there.”
Instead of answering, the man spits in my face.
He actually spits.In.My.Face.
I jerk back, disgusted, and then, before I can stop myself, I hit him right in the mouth.His head jerks back and hits the wall, and I feel a disturbing sense of vindication at the sound of it.
“That was rude, James,” I say quietly.“Let’s try this again.And I’ll warn you right now: I’m going to start nicely.But if you don’t tell me what you know, this is going to get ugly.”
