Page 114 of Direct Action

“Just kill me,” I pleaded.

Dex’s eyes swept over my body.

“And deprive Zack his pretty pet and myself the fuck ton of money you’ll make me? No, sweetheart, I think not.”

“I hate you,” I spat.

Dex’s lips twitched, showing the first sign of emotion since I’d first seen him at the Vault.

“I have no doubt.”

With that he walked out of the room, leaving me hanging naked by my bound wrists from a hook.

I looked up, and they came into view through the glass.

Six men.

Waiting to place their bids.

I closed my eyes and prayed.

“Still no signal,” Aiden said from the passenger seat. “But Shep tracked the vans that left to general locations using traffic cams. The florist van was last spotted three blocks from the flower shop. Obviously, he couldn’t dive deep, but he says the florist looks legit and the plates match. The other van’s plates belong to a Honda Accord, and he couldn’t find any trace of a rental company in the area called Tents and Events. Make a left up here.”

I switched lanes and waited for him to continue. We were out of the canyon where the mansion was situated in the valley. We’d passed through a residential area with graceful old homes and were now headed northwest toward Utah Lake, if the street signs were anything to go by.

“Last known location for the van was pulled from a camera owned by a quarry on Sixteen Hundred North Street. Van’s headed east into an industrial area. The road dead-ends at a marina. Before that, there are a lot of warehouses, but there’s only one that’s currently not rented. An old water-treatment facility.”

I pressed my foot on the gas and asked, “How far away?”

“Fifteen minutes. Maybe more depending on lights.”

We’d be there in ten.

No way in fuck I was making Chloe wait a second longer than need be.

“Need you to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

“You get Chloe and get the fuck out.”

Aiden remained silent.

“Promise me, brother. Chloe is priority. You get her out.”

“You got it.”

“I’m gonna make a mess,” I warned.

“Know you are, brother, and I got you with that too.”

“Every motherfucker we find is mine.”

With a heavy sigh, Aiden agreed to that, too, with a caveat. “As long as it’s not you or them, you got that too.”

The rest of the drive was done in silence, save Aiden giving me directions.

I didn’t need or want reassurances. I didn’t want empty platitudes. I needed silence to beat back the fear that was threatening to overpower my rage.