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Capone glanced at me. “Tank, I’m leaving you here with Rider, Smokey, and River. Keep our woman distracted until we get back, and keep Malorie the fuck away from her.”
“Understood,” I grunted. He didn’t even have to add that last tidbit. Malorie wouldn’t get within ten feet of her. “And you better be fucking careful,” I warned him. I didn’t like him taking only two of our guys with him, but I understood his need to keep April as safe as possible. I had that same urge running through my veins. Fuck, we all did.
He nodded once at me in understanding. “The rest of us have ten minutes to get a bag packed and be on the road once we’re out of this room. It’ll be a two-hour ride there, which means a four-hour round trip. I want everyone on their Ps and Qs. My goal is to find this son of a bitch and get answers out of him, but I’m not hopeful we’ll be able to. But I at least want eyes on him. Clear?”
Grunts of affirmation rang around the room. Capone slammed his gavel on the table, and we all filed out of the chapel. The clubhouse was otherwise quiet—so quiet, in fact, that I could hear the crickets chirping outside. Malorie was still asleep in one of the downstairs rooms, thinking she was perfectly safe, and when I stepped into Capone’s room with him, April was still curled up in bed, her lips softly parted in sleep.
I jerked to a halt when Capone slid his hand along the side of my neck and drew my lips to his for a soft, slow kiss. I sank into his embrace, my hands landing on his sides. My fingertips dug into his skin. “Do not let anything happen to them,” he murmured against my lips, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t disturb April.
I shook my head. “Never,” I quietly swore. “And you keep our boys safe out on that road.”
He rested his forehead against mine, and we both shut our eyes for a moment, drinking in our connection. “I’ll do my best,” he promised.
I knew that was all I could ask of him.
I could hear Malorie moving around downstairs, and a quick text to Rider let me know he and River had eyes on her. Smokey was sitting in Capone’s desk chair, vaping. I told him he could go outside and get his usual morning smoke, but he just shook his head, claiming while Capone and the rest of our men were gone, he wasn’t leaving April’s side.
I knew the change in his routine bothered him, which bothered me, but if he wanted to stay by her side, I wouldn’t push him.
April was still asleep, and I’d already gotten a text from Capone to let me know they made it safely and he was going radio silent until they hit the road again.
I fucking hated radio silence. Because I had no idea what the fuck was going on when they weren’t communicating. I wouldn’tknow if something happened until afterward. I wouldn’t know if they needed help. None of that.
April moaned in her sleep, her face scrunching up. Tears suddenly slid down her cheeks. I quickly lurched to a sitting position, already reaching out to grab her in my arms when she screamed. It was loud, piercing my eardrums, and full of anguish and pain. A chill raced down my spine at the sound.
That sound would haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.
Her eyes flew open as soon as soon as I grabbed her, and she sobbed, falling apart in my arms, her entire body shaking. Smokey was already crawling onto the mattress with us by the time I had her cradled on my lap, my arms bound tightly around her, squeezing her to me.
“Capone?” she cried, her hands twisting in my shirt as she searched the room. “Where’s Capone?”
I gripped the back of her head, holding her to my chest. Smokey wrapped himself around both of us, squishing her between us. “He’s on a run, darlin’,” I gently told her, somehow knowing it would only make things worse. But I wouldn’t lie to her.Couldn’tlie to her. Our man wasn’t here.
“Get him home,” she croaked, her crying only getting worse at the news. “He needs to be home. She—oh, God, she’s going to have him killed!” she wailed.
My heart stopped in my chest. She’d had one of her dreams, and while we’d been hoping for one, I didn’t want this kind. Not one where she was screaming for Capone and yelling about him getting killed.
I only prayed I could get in touch with him on time. That it hadn’t already happened. That maybe we could change fate.
Smokey reached for April’s phone and snatched it off the charger, knowing if Capone would answer anyone’s call while he was radio silent, it would be April’s. He promised her he wouldalwaysanswer if she called, and I knew that no matter what he might be in the middle of, he would.
Because for her—and only for her—we ran by a different set of codes.
Smokey put the phone on speaker, and I waited with bated breath, gently rocking our woman as the phone rang. If he didn’t answer, there was a chance she’d fucking lose it. Hell, I might, too. “April? What’s going on, baby girl?” Capone asked, his voice quiet.
She sobbed, and Capone growled. I imagined that sound had his soul raging. If I heard her crying and wasn’t near her, I’d probably lose my shit. “April, talk to me.”
“Come home,” she pleaded.
“Baby—”
“Youhaveto come home,” she cried. “Please, Capone. She’s—you’re going into a trap.”
I was pretty sure if I had eaten breakfast, I would’ve thrown it up. Not much bothered me anymore, but the thought of Capone and our boys going into a fucking trap—getting themselves hurt or killed—sliced through my gut like someone had stabbed me.
“Hawke,” Capone quietly snapped, “pull out. Now,” he ordered. “April called.”
That was all Hawke needed to hear to know they were going into something bad. Something dangerous.
