Page 68 of Love At Close Range

“Ree!” I was on my feet immediately. “Reiana, talk to me.” I yelled through the phone.

She didn’t answer, but I could hear enough to know she was fighting somebody. Men were yelling over each other and my son sounded scared. Rook was already watching me when I looked at him. “Pull up their locations… both of them,” I ordered as I grabbed my gun from the drawer beside me.

He moved to the computer while I kept the phone pressed against my ear. Reiana screamed Rhyse’s name again then something hit the ground before the line went dead.

I called her back, but it rang until voicemail picked up. Rhyse’s phone went unanswered too.

“What you got?” I asked.

“Reiana’s phone is pinging on a street that looks not far from a school, but it’s not moving.” Rook turned the screen toward me. “Looks like it’s just sitting there.”

Whatever happened had happened there, but I knew damn well they weren’t standing around waiting for me. My mind went straight to the AirTag I had put inside of Rhyse’s wallet not long after finding out he was mine. I was praying that he remembered I told him to always keep his wallet on him because that’s what real men do.

I pulled my phone out and opened the tracker, waiting for the location to load. A few seconds later, the AirTag connected and a second location popped up on the screen.

“I got something,” I said, watching the dot travel across the map as I grabbed my keys.

“I’m coming with you,” Rook said as he grabbed his keys.

I didn’t argue because there was no need to. Rook was my brother so this was his family too.

Cannon Hills to Arbor Point was a little over two hours on a normal day, and there wasn’t enough speeding in the world to turn that into a one-hour drive without getting us killed before we ever reached them. I drove as fast as I could to get to them before something happened. I had a feeling this had every bit to do with that bitch nigga, Dorian, and once I get my family back, he’d better start sending up Hail Mary’s or whatever the fuck he does to get his soul right because I’m killing him as soon as I get them safely.

“Aye, they stopped moving,” Rook mentioned, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Looks like they’re at the old warehouse district off Mason Yard,” Rook said, checking the location again.

Whoever took Reiana and Rhyse hadn’t grabbed them to kill them right away, so they’re probably being used as leverage because of whatever was going on between Cyrus and Dorian, which meant Cyrus needed them alive until he got what he wanted.

A little over two hours after we left Cannon Hills, I headed toward Mason Yard and followed the location until the warehouse came into view. I drove past it first, circled around, then pulled into an empty lot far enough down that my truck couldn’t be seen from the building.

I checked Rhyse’s location one more time before putting my phone away. They had been inside that warehouse for almost two hours while I was trying to get to them, and thinking about that shit wasn’t gone do shit except fuck with my head.

Once we checked our guns, we left the truck and approached from the side of the building, staying out of view. One of the side doors wasn’t completely shut, and I could hear voices somewhere deeper inside before we even entered.

A man stood near the end of the first hallway looking down at his phone. I waited until he turned slightly before moving on him. He never got the chance to reach for the gun at his waist or make enough noise to warn anybody else before I sent a slug through his head.

“Man, fuck this shit,” somebody complained from the next room. “How long we supposed to sit here?” We heard as we stepped over the dead body and toward the voices.

“’Til he calls back,” one of the guys responded.

“Well, he need to call the fuck back. I’ain sign up to be no babysitter,” the other complained.

They weren’t expecting anybody to come… at least not me, so that worked in my favor since they weren’t on point. Right before I made my move, I heard Rhyse’s voice.

“Ma, I’m hungry,” he whined.

“I know, baby,” Reiana answered quietly.

“I wanna go home,” he said.

“I wanna go home, too,” Reiana spoke. I could hear the fear and irritation in her voice and that was pissing me off.

“Do you think Dad is really going to find us?” Rhyse asked, causing my chest to ache.

“I hope so, baby,” Reiana assured him as best as she could.

That did it for me. With Rook covering me, I eased through the opening of the door and saw Reiana on the floor beside an old table with Rhyse tucked tight against her side. The cut near her temple had dried, and her hair was out of place from whatever fight she had put up when they took them. Rhyse looked tired and scared as he snuggled up against his mother.

I looked around the room and noticed it was five men in total. Two were near them and those were the first two muthafuckas that had to go. I looked at Rook and pointed toward the man closest to him before shifting my eyes toward the other. Once we had a clear shot, the first two dropped. Reiana immediately grabbed Rhyse and pulled him lower behind the table as the other men reached for their weapons.