The sound of a safety being flipped clicks on his end and I no longer need an explanation. Sounds like he tortured the information out of some poor fucker and ended the interrogation in his usual fashion with a bullet between the eyes.
“I have one of Blaze’s men here. Well... his corpse. He clued me in on a few details. Like the fact Blaze holds his monthly auction in the basement of his strip club. It starts at seven pm and he always attends, so he won’t be home. Neither will most of his goons. That’s our window. Less security, less guns, less chance of dying. I’m sending Apollo with a team. You want in?”
Fuck. I did not anticipate Rhett taking matters into his own hands. I was certain he’d leave the extraction on my head as punishment for losing Hailey in the first place.
With his men in the picture, my chances of taking her off the grid without being followed are slim. Rhett’s either tired ofwaiting and decided to take care of Hailey himself, or he doesn’t trust me for shit and plans to take me out.
Let him try.
“We’ll stop by Columbus at four in the afternoon. Have your men ready to roll out.”
“They’ll be waiting,” he confirms, dragging the sentence in a way that tells me he’s onto me.
If that’s the case... if he realizes my allegiance has shifted from him, Dante, and everyone else in this world, to Hailey, then he’ll do whatever it takes to make me pay for insubordination.
He drops the call first, leaving my mind racing through the possibilities. As it stands, Rhett’s one step ahead. He’s never showed me all his cards, withholding information that might be crucial, likehowdoes he know Hailey has the evidence orwhoit was he killed at the warehouse. The devil always lies in the details and I’m seriously lacking those.
“What did he say?” Broadway prompts somewhere behind me. “Where is she?”
I turn to find all four of them staring, ears perked, shoulders squared, backs straight like drawn strings: ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
“Noretto has her. Rhett’s sending his men with us which means we need to figure out how we’ll move her to the safe house without being followed.”
“How many is he sending?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Do you have a plan?” Ryder asks, eyes on me, but fingers flickering over the keyboard. “Because if you don’t, I may.”
“Hold that thought. I’ll call Dante and the rest of the crew. You can explain it atBravo.”
They all nod, new energy coursing through them, evident in every hastened move they make while packing up.
Time to even out the playing field.
11
HAILEY
ONE DAY EARLIER
My eyes pop open from where I’m hunched in bed, propped against a stack of pillows. I was determined not to sleep and managed until three am before my brain started phasing into those infuriating short naps. Once sunrise breached the room, I fell asleep for good. Well, for an hour according to the electronic clock on the night table.
Blaze leans against the wall by the door, both arms crossed over his chest, another immaculate black suit hugging his tall frame. He’s at least six feet, but not half as bulky as Nash.
He’s slender, though doesn’t lack muscles.
“My men tell me you don’t sleep,” Blaze says, a hint of annoyance in his tone, but laced with... worry.
And that worry... it makes the choking anxiety ease up. I knowhe’s dangerous. He’s holding me captive to get information, but he did save me from a terrible fate.
“I just woke up,” I counter, struggling as I pull myself up.
Pain is still there, still potent, but the hour I slept took the edge off. Maybe I’m not as broken as my body makes out, the agony amplified by hunger, thirst, and exhaustion.
“An hour in four days?” he counters, raising a skeptical brow.
There it is again—worry. Why would he worry about me? It doesn’t make sense, but... it calms me down.
