Page 109 of One Filthy Kiss

Tick, tick, tick.

Time’s up.

“We’re done here, and now, I’m going to do what my team failed to do: I’m going to save the woman I love and rip the bastardo limb from fucking limb while he begs me for mercy.”

I signal for Bruno and his men to follow me outside. The Fish must’ve had some form of transport waiting to take Meggie and Amber away from here, and Stowe is littered with CCTV cameras. Time is running out for him too.

“I can help you with that, Gio.”

Deep breath. I have a job to do, and my brother’s attention seeking is preventing me from seeing it through.

“The problem with jogging down the mountain,” he continues, “is that it’s slower than four wheels. By the time I got here, our friend was already dead.” He raises an eyebrow towards Luca Bonetti’s body. “Process of elimination. HoweverThe Fishgot here, the only vehicle that was still lukewarm when I arrived, was the one Meggie used to escape Tombstone. The one that, unless I’m mistaken, is currently missing.”

“And?” I’m giving him one last chance before I hit him so hard he’ll need to replace his perfect teeth.

“The same car that I had the foresight to attach a good old-fashioned tracker to.”

He waits for the announcement to sink in.

“You know where they are?”

“Brother, I thought you’d never ask.”

Bruno takes over the driving.

Enzo is tracking the vehicle on his handheld device.

More men joined us in Stowe, alerted to The Fish’s trail of horror by Bruno after we discovered Ric’s body. He trusts them. Right now, I’m no longer certain that I’m capable of trusting anyone other than Meggie, and I feel cast adrift, floundering on a raft of rage and betrayal.

Trust and loyalty are the foundations of any family. Ric was more than simply my head of security. He was my Consigliere. My advisor. My friend. It will take years to build up that kind of relationship with anyone else, and there’s still a small, fractured part of me that wonders if this is Enzo’s opportunity to step in and claim his rightful position as Underboss.

But everything fades into insignificance compared to the loss of Meggie.

If I could climb the mountain faster on foot, I would relish the burn in my hamstrings as I make the ascent. It would give me something to focus on.

Feel pain or inflict it. And right now, I’m doing neither.

The climb becomes steeper. The road becomes narrower. And my gut is twisting itself into knots. This doesn’t feel right.

According to Gio’s GPS, the car stolen by The Fish has stopped at a point on the mountain slope. Which means that he’s waiting for us to rock up so that he can pick us off with one blast of an explosive device, which would in turn cut him off from making his getaway. Or, he has already moved on.

The second option is the one that makes me uneasy.

There is only one reason why he would ditch the car and move on before we could get to him: he got what he came for.Meggie assumed from the start that he would come back one day for Amber, but what if she was wrong?

What if Meggie was the one that he wanted all along?

I clench and unclench my fists. Five years ago, he murdered their mom. Meggie managed to escape and carve a life for herself and her little sister somewhere in East London, and as far as she was aware, he appeared to vanish from their lives.

Until she came to LA.

Why now? Why did the fucker surface now when it would’ve been easier for him to kidnap his daughter in London where Meggie’s support network is practically non-existent? Why did he wait until they were under my protection before making his move?

It all boils down to one simple answer: I’m the one he wants.

The closer we get to the flickering signal on Enzo’s handheld, the more certain I am that this is a trap. But if Meggie and Amber are a part of it, then I would happily walk straight into the guy’s web without a lifeline.

“There’s a shack up ahead.” Bruno pulls the car off the uneven track and kills the engine and headlamps.