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No response from him either.
“Gun it,” Ransom tells Jonah grimly. “They need backup.Now.”
The man we recruited to help us is behind the wheel, and he nods once and steps on the gas. We managed to run Olivia’s second security team off the road, although they gave us a run for our money. The side of the car we’re currently in is scraped all to hell, and there are bullet holes in the siding.
We speed past the destroyed black SUV that holds Olivia’s backup security team, leaving it to burn by the side of the road as we race toward where Malice and Vic were supposed to intercept her in the main car. It’s only about a half mile away from where we took out her backup, so it doesn’t take us long to reach the spot.
“Stay on your fucking guard,” Ransom mutters to Jonah as an SUV sitting in the middle of the road comes into view up ahead. “It could be a trap.”
Jonah grunts in response, slowing our car as both men hold weapons at the ready. I have a gun too, as well as a vest, but I didn’t have to shoot anyone during our attack on Olivia’s other guards. Still, I curl my fingers around the grip of my weapon, feeling sick from the overload of adrenaline.
There are three bodies on the ground, but it only takes a quick glance to confirm that none of them are Malice or Vic.
“Fucking…fuck!”
Ransom bellows the curse, shoving his door open as soon as we roll to a stop. Jonah gets out too, the two of them doing a sweep of the area with their weapons drawn. But even before Ransom shakes his head, some part of me already knows.
There’s no one else here.
No Olivia.
No Malice or Vic.
They’re gone.
“Fuck,” Ransom repeats, staring down at the bodies of the guards. “She had to have known we were coming. That’s why she wasn’t in the fucking car. It was a trap.” He whirls around to face Jonah, gun raised in his hand. “You sold us out.”
Jonah’s eyes go wide, and he raises his own gun in a heartbeat, the two men standing off.
“I didn’t,” he insists, his voice hard. “Listen, I want that bitch dead as much as you do. Maybe even more, because I already lost the person she was holding over my fucking head. I wouldn’t help her. Not for any price. I’d die first.”
“Why the hell should I believe that?” Ransom growls, adding a second hand to steady his gun. His eyes are wild with worry and grief and anger. I’ve never seen him like this before, but I recognize all the emotions on his face—because I feel them too.
We can’t let this be the end. We can’t lose Malice and Vic.
“Believe me, or don’t.” Jonah keeps his gaze locked on Ransom, his weapon steady and his eyes narrowed. “But I’d think twice before pulling that trigger, because I’m a good fucking shot. You shoot, and I shoot back. Best case, we both die. Is that what you want?”
“Maybe I fucking do. If you betrayed us, there’s nothing that could keep me from killing you.”
Jonah snorts, his top lip pulling back in a snarl. “If Olivia Stanton knew we were coming, it’s because one ofyoutold her, or she found some way to surveil you and figured out what your plan was. Hell, maybe this whole art show she was supposedly going to was a lie, something meant to draw you out.”
Ransom’s handsome face contorts with fury at Jonah’s words, and he shakes his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows. “Fuck.Fuck.”
“Ransom.” I swallow, taking a small step forward, desperate to defuse this situation. I’ve already lost two of my men, I can’t bear to see another shot right in front of me. “I believe him. I don’t think he’d sell us out.”
Ransom is breathing hard, and I can see indecision in his features as he fights some sort of internal battle. But finally, he lowers the gun just a little. Jonah mirrors the movement, the two of them slowly ending their standoff.
There’s a sudden noise in my ear, and I jump, slapping a hand to the earpiece situated there.
“Malice?” I blurt. “Vic! Are you there?”
There’s a quiet laugh in response, feminine and almost dainty, and my stomach curls.
Olivia.
“I’m sorry, darling. Your two little fuckboys are indisposed at the moment.”
Her voice filters into my ear like poison, and I know Ransom and Jonah must be able to hear her too, because they both stiffen.
