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His stony face softened. “Hey, don’t even go down that line of thinking. I can see it on your face. You are completely qualified and capable of getting her out of there.” Dex’s voice tightened. “Them, out of there. Because I’m not about to go through losing two more women in my life.” The pain in his voice tore into my tattered soul even more. But instead of making me weaker, the pain fueled my need for vengeance.

“You’ve never had this reaction before because you’ve never loved a woman before, Gunner,” Dex said. His words hitting me like a truck.

I probably looked like a gaping fish the way I was opening and closing my mouth. He’d said those words in the hallway, but I’d brushed them off in the heat of the moment. But he was right. I’d fallen for the Latin beauty whose mouth could cut down the most confident of men and whose heart bled for others so strongly she’d run off into the den of a psycho. Her beauty came from the strength to weather the storms life had thrown at her.

“Fuck, I love her,” I muttered. Emotions clogging my throat.

How could she feel she wasn’t worthy of love and affection? And why did I never tell her those things? Because now it might be too late. Dex’s deep rumble pulled me back to reality.

“How are we playing this, Gunner? Lotería is Mario’s territory, and we have done zero recon on the place. But, fuck, if we wait for them to move the girls, we may be too late.”

My hand hit the false bottom of the dresser drawer, pulling it off to reveal my stash of supplies. I liked to keep my shit hidden in a house full of people. Never knew when someone would get ballsy and go looking.

“Ryan’s.” I turned to face Dex, tossing him a couple of flash-bangs. “It’s Ryan’s territory. That asshole is just temporarily occupying it. And we are going to make a call.”

Dex’s brows shot up in surprise, not at the flash-bangs but at my words.

“To…”

A wicked grin worked its way up onto my face as I stripped off my shirt. “A chick named Scar, who just so happened to install all of Lotería’s security. She’s the same person who hacked in days ago to get us the evidence and video feed.”

I didn’t think Dex’s eyebrows could get any closer to his hairline, but they did. I hadn’t gotten around to filling him in on the specifics of the meeting. We talked about what we learned but not how Ryan’s contact had gotten it. To be honest, I didn’t fully understand Scar’s capabilities. But I knew she was talented. And based on who was at her safe house, she had connections.

“Eyes and ears on the inside. Wow, that’s a better contact than who I thought you were going with,” Dex said.

A grunt of agreement left my mouth as I walked over to my bed and reached underneath, pulling out a black case. “The interrogation room is behind a steel door with a biometric lock.” I pulled on a black long-sleeve shirt before putting on my cut again. “I’m guessing that fucker thinks he’s safe because of that. He probably figures when I come—because he knows I will—I’ll never actually make it to her. Unfortunately for him, I know just the person to override that lock.”

I slid the magazine into my Glock and tucked it into my holster before picking up another handgun and several extra mags and strapping them to every available spot on my body.

“Well, fuck, this whole mission just got interesting,” Dex replied.

Picking up Ryan’s burner, I ran through the call log to find what I was looking for.

“Gear up, Dex. We have shit to go fuck up,” I announced, having found it.

My brother’s grin was unhinged as he reached for the supplies on my bed. A whole tactical candy store to choose from.

Mario chose the wrong fucking woman to mess with. Because Dex and I weren’t the rescue party; we were the backup. And he should be scared of the fox he’d let into his henhouse; I had no doubt she would cause a massacre.

Ryan

The irony wasn’t lost that I was the first woman to have been tied up in the interrogation room I designed. The plus side was that all the elements made to intimidate didn’t affect me. The stark tiled walls and ceiling didn’t bother me, the drain made to wash down blood didn’t bother me, and the fact that I sat on a metal chair with my hands zip-tied behind my back under the fluorescent lights didn’t bother me.

“You good, girl?” I asked.

Mario had Nikki and I deposited in here and then left us alone—a stupid move. I peeked at the corner of the room; there was no green light on the camera there, so we weren’t being watched or listened to for the moment.

“I always knew I hated that fucker. But yeah, I’m good,” Nikki replied.

I peeked at her from the corner of my eye, unwilling to take my eyes off the door and camera.

“Injuries? And why the fuck didn’t you leave town like I told you?” I asked. I hadn’t been able to look at her when we were out in the main part of the club.

Nikki let out a deep sign, sounding utterly exhausted. Which made me wonder how long she’d been here with him.

“He found me, Ryan,” she said, sounding resigned.

Pain shot through my jaw as I clenched my teeth, upset that she’d had to endure Mario.