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Sienna shoved in front of me. “How do you know it was Kenzie?”
“There was a baby strapped to her chest.”
“Oh my— Sunny, she wouldn’t do that,” Sienna cried. “Drive with Laurel out of a car seat? She’d never put her at risk.”
I grabbed River’s collar. “Did you see who was driving?”
“No, but he drove out of your garage and now it’s sitting open for anyone to fucking come in! Someone had to open the gate and hasn’t come back to close it. It was one of your guys! So who’s missing?!”
“Thatcher, who’s working the gate today?”
“None of my men would—”
“Who’s working the fucking gate?!”
Muscles popped in his neck. Thatcher forced out, “Coates.”
“Find and bring him to me. If he’s not in my face giving me an explanation in the next thirty minutes, the next call I put out on him is a hit. Pull up the security tapes in the garage,” I ordered, already striding off to the garage entrance. “Call Kenzie and don’t stop calling until someone picks up.”
I threw open the door. It banged into the opposite wall, revealing that for the first time in his miserable life, my uncle wasn’t a liar.
The gate was wide open, and no one was in the guard booth.
MACKENZIE
“—next time she was alone. Wexler was always with me...”
Colors faded in and out. Red... gray... black... and nothing.
“Cut it fucking close, didn’t you?”
I lifted my head and pain spiked my skull, tearing a groan from my lips. Where am I? What’s going on?
“Whatever, man. You wanted the girl, I got her. Give me my money.”
The colors stopped whirling, forming a bland, textured picture. The floor. I was lying on a gray carpeted floor, and the red... was mine.
My head throbbed the memory of my last moments.
Laurel? Where’s my baby?
“Lau... rel?”
“Baby? Hey, baby. I think she’s waking up.”
“It’s about time. Get her up.”
The room spun as rough hands hauled me to my feet. Bile lurched up my throat, threatening to eject as pain and dizziness tossed my stomach. I was tossed on something soft. Slowly, the room came into focus.
Coates backed away from me, his manhandling done. We looked to be in an office or back room. A dirty, disgusting room with a used condom lying at my feet. Grimacing, I shifted away and was treated to the rest of the horrible place.
A thin woman with straggly hair bent over a table, snorting lines of coke. Beside her sat two men cleaning and reassembling their weapons. Half-naked women covered the walls and an overturned trash bin served as the only decoration. What was I doing here?
I grabbed for Coates and found I couldn’t. My hands were cuffed.
“Why am I here?” I rasped. “Where’s Laurel?”
Coates stepped aside. Another couch sat on the other side of the table, and tummy down on it lay Laurel. She looked around—confused and distressed at the strange, dank surroundings.
“Laurel!” I jumped up and someone grabbed my shoulder, throwing me back down.
“Ah ah.” A chilling, familiar voice slid in my ear. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Luca moved in front of me and his two goons took his place, holding me down. He crouched just out of reach of my kick. “You have no idea the trouble you’ve caused me, Kenzie. It got too hot in New York—the feds were looking for me. So, I changed my name, came here, and rebuilt my business. Everything was going just fine... until you.”
Luca’s mouth twisted, marring what I once thought was a handsome face. I was blind before, because Luca Adams was the most hideous beast to ever crawl out of a womb.
“You sicced Sunny on me. I’m guessing he hooked up with street trash like you for the same reason I tried to turn you out. You’re just so damn tasty.”
Luca stroked my cheek. I snapped at the finger. “Don’t fucking touch me,” I growled. “I don’t know why you brought me here, and I don’t care because you’re going to let us go right now.”
Luca was laughing before I finished my sentence. “Aren’t you adorable? Giving orders like you’re in charge here. I’m not letting you go. Why would I do that when I tried so hard to find you? To save you.” He smiled into my eyes. “Your friends, the Savage Princes, are marked for death. They’ve gotten lucky once or twice, but it’s only a matter of time before he brings the Fairfield down on their heads. You should thank me for negotiating a trade for your life in exchange for theirs.
“A trade you’re lucky I made for you. I know the Merchants turned their eyes on me because of you. Sunny couldn’t be fucked to check up on me after his first warning, but after the two of you attacked me in that factory, their men have crawled the city looking for me. They interrogated my girls. They’ve gone after my clients. They’ve made it impossible to do business.”
