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I wonder which one she’d choose.
“Across the border,” I answer quietly, dipping my head. “Do as I say, and you will be fine.”
Her wide eyes stare at me, not believing a word I say. She shouldn’t. It was a lie.
She won’t be fine.
“I want to go home,” her voice shakes, and I grit my teeth against the natural instinct to protect her.
Which, at this point, I am not doing.
Just like I didn’t protect Chloe.
She’s the reason I joined the Dark Kings and went undercover. Yes, it was to help Connor find Carlos, but also because I have karma to pay back.
A need to protect those who have no one else.
It’s my job. I’ve always known that.
While I was in the Middle East fighting with Nathan and Connor, my father called to say that Chloe had disappeared.
Chloe is my cousin. My aunt’s daughter.
Was.
She was three years younger than me. When we were little, Chloe was an annoying little girl who followed me everywhere. By the time we were in our late teens, she was one of my best friends.
She was like the sister I never had. In fact, it didn’t matter if she was my sister or not, I was her protector.
Or her brick wall, as Chloe liked to call me.
Fair enough, I’m six-four and two hundred and forty pounds. Even back then, I was a big guy, putting on muscle fast being a college football player.
And yes, Chloe was a cheerleader.
Perfect blonde hair, toothy grin, blue eyes, and innocent. At least when it came to the darker side of life.
This was why I lost my fucking mind when, thirty days after her disappearance, the police advised us Chloe was taken by one of the cartels during a holiday in Florida.
A team of Homeland Security officers had tracked her and a dozen other women to a warehouse near the border, where they lost them. Two months later, there was word some of the girls were seen in Russia.
Working as sex slaves in an underground club.
By that point, I was full of fury.
My Chloe.
Connor had pinned me down and poured whisky down my throat for a goddamn hour to stop me from walking my way to Russia.
Deep down, I knew the truth. By the time any of us got to Chloe, she’d either be dead or so fucked up her life would never be the same.
I was right.
Three days later, I got the call. An undercover group of operatives busted the operation and retrieved the girls.
When they found Chloe, she was so doped up on drugs she died hours later. She’d been brutally raped, beaten, and drugged for months. She was malnourished and had multiple broken bones and they think she had a brain injury.
I screamed and cried until my throat was raw.
