Page 1 of Ruin

CHAPTER 1

KNIGHT

BROCK. MISSING AS WELL. Tinker missing. Saraya in danger and the rest of us...

The rest of us running around in disorganized chaos, trying to figure out what the hell to do about any of it.

Dammit.

We’d thought this was going to be... well, not straightforward, exactly, but at least a known entity. Devil had Tinker. He wanted Saraya. We were going to give him a bait and switch, using Mandy. Kill Devil, get Tinker back. Get the hell out of there, and then prepare for what the next day would bring.

And instead, we had more guys turning up missing.

I grabbed my phone and dialed the number I knew by heart, putting the phone to my ear and praying as the ringing started. Please answer, Brock. Please answer, Brock. With Tink missing, Brock and Gem were my backups, and Gem was currently one of the walking wounded. I needed Brock to come through for me right now. I needed his bulk and his mind, and though he’d always wanted peace over fighting, I needed his ability to stay cool in a dangerous situation and give me valuable advice.

Most of all, I needed him to be okay, because I’d already lost track of one of the most important people in my life. I didn’t know if I could stand losing another.

The call went to voicemail, though—not sent there, like he had the phone in hand and wasn’t taking any calls right now, but like the phone had rung and rung, and he hadn’t answered it. Which meant he either wasn’t with his phone or wasn’t able to answer it.

“Shit,” I breathed, hitting the button to end the call.

Saraya looked up at me, her eyes big and very serious, murky gray rather than bright green right now. “Think he already knows about Tinker?”

“Could be,” I allowed. “Those two have always been thick as thieves.”

And what if he did? If he did, I knew, our problems were even bigger than Brock simply being missing. He loved his brother more than he loved himself, and if he knew Devil had Tink...

“If he knows, he may already be out there doing something stupid,” I said, starting to move. “Or Devil might have him, too. He may have fallen into whatever trap Devil set for us. Gem, gather the guys. Tell them to get to Devil’s compound but stay far enough away that their cameras don’t pick them up. A mile away, at least. We’re going after Tinker. If shit goes bad, I want the guys to come in and control the situation.”

“And Brock?” Gemini asked.

No argument with my orders. Good. He knew how serious this was, then. And I noticed he also hadn’t argued with my implied decision that he wasn’t going to get to come. Also good. I didn’t need lip from Gemini right now. I needed him to watch my back and keep Saraya safe while I was gone.

“We don’t have time to find him right now,” I told him. “I don’t know where he is, but we don’t have time to search. We definitely don’t have time to wait around for him. Besides, if I know Brock, we’re going to end up running into him in Devil’s driveway.”

Gemini nodded and turned away, ready to go get the men, but I reached out and caught his arm before he could move. He turned to look at me, eyebrows lifted in question.

“Something else?”

I squeezed his arm firmly. He hadn’t been arguing with my orders, but I wanted to make sure he understood exactly what I was asking for. “You stay back,” I told him, my voice quiet. “You stay out of the way. You’re already wounded, and I’m not willing to lose you when they’ve already got Tinker. You understand me?”

He stared at me for a moment, searching my eyes like he was looking for something, but then he relaxed and nodded. “Got it, boss,” he said. “But you make sure you all get out of there alive. I’ll stay here and keep Saraya safe.”

I smiled grimly. “That’s all I can ask for. Good luck, brother.”

I watched him leave, then turned to Saraya and Mandy. “Mandy, we’ve got to get you ready. And while we do that, you tell me exactly what you think you’re going to do out there.”

THE PROBLEM WITH MANDY’S plan was that she was actually taller than Saraya. Not by a lot, but a couple inches, at least. She also wasn’t quite as curvy as Devil’s former old lady. She’d never have fit into Saraya’s clothes.

Not that Saraya had come with her wardrobe. The truth was, she’d been borrowing Mandy’s clothes since she arrived, not having brought any of her own. And that was how I knew that she and Mandy were definitely not the same size. Mandy’s stuff was tight around Saraya’s ass and chest but was at least three inches longer than it should be.

It fit Mandy, obviously, but what was going to happen when she showed up pretending to be Saraya and Devil immediately recognized her as the wrong size and shape? As much as I hated the thought—as much as it made me burn with jealousy—he had to know Saraya’s curves by heart.

He’d spot a thinner, more willowy body as a fake in a heartbeat, and that was a problem, because our plan depended on Mandy being able to get Devil out of whatever house he was in and into an open space. The positive side was that she had about a million reasons to succeed. His men had hurt Gemini. They’d come after me—and then they’d kidnapped Tinker.

And that didn’t even touch the rumor that Mandy herself had dated Devil before Saraya was in the picture. I had no idea if that was true, but if it was, and he’d been as horrible to Mandy as he’d been to Saraya, it gave her one more piece of motivation for luring him out so we could kill him.

I just didn’t think it was going to work, though, if he could see her too well. And in that moment, I started wondering if we needed a different plan.