“Is that everything?” I ask Roxanne when she ties up the final lace of her boots.
Alice picked a casual look for Roxanne today with a free-flowing dress, a cropped jacket, tights, and boots that are more than capable of removing a guy’s nuts if he gets out of line.
I requested for her to wear the boots.
Rocco was adamant they needed to be steel caps.
Nodding, Roxanne licks her lips. She won’t say she’s scared because she knows I’d call off our ruse in an instant. Little threads are unraveling everywhere, so it will only be a matter of time before Fien’s captives are brought to justice, but Roxanne is also mindful that every hour I’m without Fien feels like a lifetime of punishment. For some insane reason, she wants to save me from the nightmare, and her motives have nothing to do with the fact she was swapped for Audrey. She’s so under my thumb, even if her parents had nothing to do with Audrey’s murder, she’d still offer to place her life on the line for Fien. No fear.
That thought alone has me doing something my crew would never expect to see me do. I don’t bid Roxanne farewell with a dip of my chin. I kiss her with everything I have. Teeth, lips, tongue, they all get in on the action. I pass on my appreciation for what she’s doing and the words she shared last night, then I promise her loyalty won’t go unnoticed.
Iwillprotect her better than I did Audrey.
Iwillkeep her safe.
She has my guarantee I won’t let anything happen to her.
By the time I pull back, Roxanne’s knees are wobbling, and Rocco is clapping. “I didn’t think you had it in you, D, but I was wrong. You cantotallymake me hard.”
I cut off the grab of his crotch with a stern sideways glance. I appreciate he’s trying to bring down the tension in the room with a little bit of humor, but now isn’t the time. I’m five seconds from throwing in the towel on an operation that could get me my daughter back. That’s unacceptable even to consider. However, it’s straight-up honest. I’ve never felt as conflicted as I do now. It feels as if I have Roxanne’s life in one hand and Fien’s in the other with no possibility of them both making it out of the carnage unscathed.
I’ve just got to try what Roxanne suggested. I have to put my faith in the people who have never given me any reason to doubt their loyalty. I won’t lie. The track is bumpy, but I’m giving it my best shot.
I return Roxanne’s focus to me by running my index finger down the little bump in her arm. The implant site of her tracker is still sensitive to touch, but since the tracker is the size of a grain of rice, it’s barely noticeable to the human eye. “If at any time you feel something is off, signal for us to move in. Rocco will be in the pharmacy next door. Clover and a team are one block over. I’ve got as many men on this as possible—”
“I know, Dimi,” she interrupts, smiling to assure me she got the gist of what my kiss was about. “We’ve got every base covered. Now we just need to get your daughter back.” She wipes off her sticky lip gloss from my mouth before she pivots to face Rocco. “Ready?”
Rocco’s face is well-known to our enemies, so he can’t drive Roxanne to her appointment, but he will tail her two-town trip. My enemies would expect her to have a constant shadow since I’m as neurotic as I am wealthy.
“I was born ready.” After gathering up a set of keys, Rocco heads for the back entrance, so he can be in his truck before Roxanne departs the main entrance, patting my shoulder on the way by. “She’s got this, D. She was run overtwice. She can handle anything.”
Once Smith gives Roxanne a final rundown on each camera button in her dress, she glances my way for the quickest second, waves like her heart isn’t thudding in her chest, then slips out the front door.
My brain switches from personal to business just as quickly. “Bring up the surveillance cameras in Dr. Bates’s office.”
One of the techies Smith brings in when he gets snowed under jumps to my command. I can’t recall his name. It starts with an H, I think.
Once Dr. Bates’s office is displayed on multiple screens in front of me, I shift on my feet to face Smith. “Are all communication methods hacked?”
He jerks up his chin. “We’ve got eyes and ears in each location and frequencies scanning remotely. Even if he uses a burner phone, we’ll know exactly what he sends and who he sends it to.”
“Will it give us a location?”
My jaw tightens when he shakes his head. “But that will come with time.”
It’s an effort not to sigh as I have no patience whatsoever. That’s why our plan today is slowly killing me. We have every intention to let Roxanne be kidnapped this morning, confident the group Dr. Bates is working with will take her straight to Rimi Castro. Then we’ll use the tracker in Roxanne’s arm to pinpoint her location, go in hard, then come out victorious.
Sounds easy enough, but very rarely does it pan out that way. And I’m not going to mention my intuition warning me to pull back on the reins, or I’ll instruct Smith to overtake the controls of Roxanne’s car she’s steering toward Hopeton.
We have control of everything except the one thing I want to control the most. I can slay my enemies, I can gut them until they’re spineless, worthless men, but I can’t seem to outrun them lately. I’m always one step behind, and more times than not, that minute gap is filled with the biggest chunk of anarchy.
It kills me to admit that. I’d give anything to change it. But I can’t. That isn’t the way things work in this industry. If you’re not giving it to someone up the ass, you’re taking it. I’m so fucking over it, but I have no choice but to play the game as it’s meant to be played. I can mix up the pieces as I did by bringing Rico onto my side of the board, I can strategize to ensure the princess is protected above the king, but I can’t alter the rules to suit myself. If I did, it wouldn’t just be me paying the penalty. Fien would, and so would Roxanne.
With that in mind, I get back to business. “How many patients does Dr. Bates have coming in today?”
“According to his schedule, over half a dozen.”
Sensing some unease in Smith’s reply, I ask, “And according to you?”
