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“He’s always annoyingly vague and asks questions that make you wonder what the fuck he’s going on about.” She looked over toward where he’d left the room before lowering her voice. “The annoying part is usually he’s on to something, and normally he’s right. Fucker.”

The statue in the chair made a sound that I thought was a laugh, be he covered it up with a cough. Scar’s head whipped toward the noise.

“Told you the big guy laughed. You just hadn’t said anything funny until now,” Mr. Katana said, getting a glare from both of them.

“Anyway…” she said as she pulled out her phone and typed in something. “I don’t know where Sergio is. I’ve been watching for any activity, but it’s radio silence. His phone hasn’t moved from his place in Sinaloa. And that fucker is either a genius or too old, but he doesn’t have cameras at his compound. Nothing to hack if there’s nothing there. I pulled this feed from Lotería’s security system this morning.”

She pushed the phone toward me, a video playing on the screen. Mario was ransacking my office and breaking whatever he could get his hands on.

“I’m guessing he knows you’re missing. And he doesn’t look too happy about it, Ryan,” she stated, pulling the phone back.

Gunner pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Fuck. What are we going to do now?” He turned to look at me, his fingers curling around my shoulders. “You are going to have to leave town. Go to another one of Scar’s safe houses or wherever you told Nikki to go. But you can’t stay in Tucson.”

“The fuck I can’t, Gunner. I’m not letting Mario—or Sergio—get away with this. He was auctioning off women in my club. The club I built as a haven for women, and he tarnished that.” Angry tears welled in my eyes, my voice cracking under the emotion. “He knew, Gunner. He knew I saved women, housed them and employed them if they wanted it.”

The room blurred as my tears reached the breeching point before rolling down my cheeks. I looked away, unable to look at anyone in the room. Ashamed that I was unable to keep a lid on my emotions.

Strong arms surrounded me. Gunner’s hard chest felt like coming home, and a new set of emotions rose inside me.

“Lotería was a haven because of you. The building had nothing to do with that. You are not responsible for the actions of others. His sins are not your own, and you are not guilty of them. Do not punish yourself for something that was never your doing.”

A sniffle came from Scar’s direction, and I saw her discreetly wiping away a rogue tear. If only Gunner realized how healing his words had been to more than just me. From over her shoulder, I saw Callahan staring down Scar. I wasn’t the only one who had caught her reaction.

Gunner

My heart was beating so fast it felt like it would pop right out of my chest.

I wanted to put Ryan on the back of my bike and ride away with her, abandon everything, and disappear. But that wasn’t an option—for either of us. My fingers raked through my hair as I watched Ryan from across the room.

“What’s the plan, brother?” Dex’s voice cut through the fog.

“I’ve got no fucking clue. But we’ve got proof of Mario trafficking women.” I caught the tightening of Dex’s fists. “You’ll need some more alcohol for the next part,” I commented, using the end of my beer to point to his drink. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as he chugged.

“Babe,” I called out, catching her attention. “Get your cute ass over here…and bring the tequila.”

After meeting with Scar, we rode back to the clubhouse. The beautiful thing about being on a bike was that I didn’t have to figure out how to fill the silence—because I was in my fucking head after all I’d learned.

The bottle slammed down on the table, followed by her ass in my lap seconds later. Good Lord, how was I supposed to focus with her soft curves pressed against me?

“What’s the plan, boys?” she asked, taking a swig from the bottle, her eyes pinging between Dex and me.

“I thought you were the woman in charge here, chica. Shouldn’t you be answering that question?” Dex asked. His tone was light and playful, but I could see the tension in his back and how his eyes had that caged animal look. This was a sore subject for him, but he would need to pull it together.

“Well, my plan got denied. Grumpy here said we couldn’t go in and shoot the bastard in the head.”

My eyes rolled at the sass in her voice. “Ryan, we can’t just march into Lotería and shoot people and just hope it will work out.” My fingers came up and pinched the bridge of my nose as she and Dex shrugged their shoulders as if to ask, why not?

“Not happening. You two hear me?” I exclaimed, not trusting either of them.

My question was answered with disheartened yeses.

I shifted in my seat, trying to put more space between Ryan’s ass cheeks and my dick. My hard-on was going to be the fourth member of this meeting at this point. As it was, the scent of Ryan’s coconut shampoo was tempting me to bury my nose in the crook of her neck.

“Ryan, do you know anything about the Circle Scar mentioned?” I asked, hoping the grim conversation we needed to have would calm my dick down. The way her back went rigid told me she knew at least something on the subject.

“Yeah.” She took another pull from the bottle, her eyes staring off. Wherever her mind was, it wasn’t here. With a slight shake of her head, she started speaking again. “I don’t know too much. They’re too high up on the criminal ladder for me to interact with, but the Circle is the elite of the elite. Old dirty money.”

Her eyes met mine. “My hands are so clean they’re sterile compared to theirs. Sergio knows a few of them but never wanted to associate with them too closely. You get an invitation if you kill enough people, make enough money, or commit enough evil acts…like selling skin.”