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Lowering me to the floor, he cupped my chin in his hand, and kissed my tears away. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I managed a tremulous smile.
“You didn’t get into any trouble?” He raised a sceptical brow.
“Um…there was this one guy that came from nowhere and grabbed me. But it was all okay. I took him down.”
“With a bit of help from yours truly.” Mack swaggered over, throwing me a wink.
“Yeah.” I grinned at him, then took in the look on my boyfriend’s face, the muscle ticking in his jaw. “Honestly, it was fine. He didn’t see who I was or hear me speak.”
“Knocked him out with a rock, didn’t I?” Mack interjected, before he moved away from us to unlock the garage door we’d parked in front of.
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“That wasn’t the part I was worried about.” Caiden pulled me closer. “I couldn’t handle anything happening to you.”
I threaded my arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss, and he relaxed against me. “I’m fine. He didn’t get a chance to hurt me properly. How did it go with getting Allan and Joseph?”
He gave me a brief rundown as we waited outside the garage while the van reversed in, ready to unload our passengers. When it reappeared, Obie driving away with a nod at us, Mack drove his car inside, and Cade took my hand. We followed Mack into the garage, dimly illuminated by a single bulb hanging from the ceiling. The door closed behind us, and I turned my attention to the figures at the far side.
I sucked in a shocked breath at the bound, hooded figures slumped on the floor, their backs propped up against the wall. I shouldn’t have been surprised, since they’d have to be restrained, but this was suddenly starting to feel like I was in an episode of Criminal Minds or something.
“We didn’t hurt them,” Cade murmured in my ear, then flashed me a frankly evil-looking grin. “Not yet, at least. I can’t say Hyde won’t be getting hurt tonight.”
I rolled my eyes at him, and he dropped a kiss on my forehead. “He deserves everything that’s coming to him.”
“I know,” I conceded. “But can we at least try and get some useful information out of him at the same time?”
“That, I can promise you. Come on.” He led me over to the others. “Ready?”
We ended up in what looked like some kind of small warehouse. “Supplies,” Mack told me, when he caught my curious glance at the shelves running all down the walls, piled high with boxes. I nodded, accepting his answer, because he clearly wasn’t about to elaborate, and followed him over to the door at the side of the warehouse. The door led to an office-style room with a window overlooking the main floor of the building. The first thing I noticed as we entered was the recording equipment set up on a desk, along with three chairs. A large, slightly battered monitor sat on the desk, a blinking cursor on the screen. There was a group of phones laid out haphazardly in front of the monitor, and I recognised mine and Caiden’s.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Honestly, I hadn’t realised how much I’d taken my phone for granted until I couldn’t use it to contact Caiden.
Mack touched my arm, interrupting my thoughts. He nodded in the direction of a thing that looked like a cross between a chair and a bed, which was sat in the corner of the room. “Might be a long night. Brought that over from my shop in case anyone needs to catch some sleep. There’s drinks and snacks in the top drawer, too.”
I smiled at his thoughtfulness. “Thanks.”
“No problem. I’ll leave you to it.” He disappeared out of the door.
I walked to the edge of the room and stood in the doorway, watching as Caiden and Zayde manhandled Joseph into a chair in the centre of the warehouse space, tying him to it, then pulling up a couple of chairs in front of him. He still had the hood covering his head, but he was facing away from me anyway.
Cassius and Weston brought Allan in, seating him in a chair in the far corner of the warehouse, facing the wall. They came over to join me in the office, and we watched as Zayde and Caiden strapped him to the seat.
Caiden stood behind Allan, removing the hood, and Zayde placed a pair of headphones on him. Working quickly as a team, silently communicating, Caiden passed him what looked like a roll of tape, and Zayde used his knife to slice off a strip, before carefully taping over his mouth. At least, I assume that was what he was doing.
“The headphones are noise-cancelling.” Weston answered my unspoken question. “It’ll stop him hearing anything Hyde decides to share with us.”
“Or stop him hearing the screams.” Cassius smirked. “Just kidding…maybe.”
Job done, Caiden and Zayde joined us, and I was taken aback by the dark look in Caiden’s eyes as his gaze found mine. “Listen, baby. We’re gonna question Joseph now. We might do or say things that you won’t like, depending how agreeable he is. I want you to remember that this is necessary. We’re almost out of time, and we need answers.”
Stepping forwards, I reached up to kiss him softly. “You don’t need to explain. I understand. Do what you have to.”
He tugged me into his arms. “I just don’t want you to look at me differently if I end up having to do something you don’t like.”
“I love you. I won’t look at you differently.” I moved my mouth to his ear. “If you wanna rough Joseph up a bit for me, I won’t mind.”
