AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That depends on if you want to send a message to Rico.”
“No,” I said immediately. “We get the kid and get out. I’m not going to be the one to tell Skylar that her kid is still gone because we were too busy fucking around with her ex.”
“Whoa,” Pete interjected. “As much as I want to get Parker back, we can’t just rush in there. These guys don’t fuck around. I’ve seen their work before. They cut their losses if they don’t get what they want. If we storm in there and don’t know exactly where Parker is, they could decide he’s not worth the trouble and kill him.”
I glanced back at the building, knowing that if Parker was in there, he was terrified. I was so close. I could get him and run. But Pete was right. We couldn’t take that chance with his life. We needed a plan.
“Pete’s right,” I sighed. “We need more intel.”
If Rafe wanted to argue, he hid it well. “Then we need to go to my safe house.”
I gritted my teeth in annoyance that he had a safe house nearby. After all the time that I’d been here, this was the first I was hearing about this. I nodded to Johnny and we drove away from the apartments. As much as I didn’t trust Rafe right now, he had more intel than I did.
“Did you find out anything useful while you were in the neighborhood?”
“You mean in the past few weeks?” I asked sarcastically. “No, if anything, it proved what a useless waste of time the whole op was. Baz was never going to let me into the fold. In fact, he already knew I wasn’t who I said I was.”
“I figured that might happen,” he grumbled.
“Thanks for letting me know.”
“Where am I going?” Johnny asked, interrupting our argument.
We drove the rest of the way in silence aside from Rafe giving directions. As angry as I was at Rafe, I had to shove it aside until we found Parker. That kid was innocent. He didn’t deserve to be used as a bargaining chip. I had seen a lot of terrible shit working for Rafe. The scenarios of what could be happening to the kid right now almost made me throw up.
“You okay?” Johnny asked quietly.
“What?” I turned to face him, watching his eyes drop to my shaking hand.
I hadn’t even noticed, but as I took account of what was going on with my body, I could feel the usual withdrawal symptoms starting. It would only be a couple more hours before I needed a hit. Whatever we were planning, we had to do it fast.
“Fine,” I muttered, turning away from him.
Johnny pulled into a long driveway, past a fence that shut behind us. I immediately got out, stretching for the first time since we left that facility. The headache had receded slightly, but I could still feel it behind my eyes. At least with the sun setting, the light wouldn’t be as much of a problem.
I started to move, but a rush of dizziness washed over me, causingme to lean hard against the hood of the car. Within seconds, Jason was at my side, holding me up in case I fell.
“I’m fine,” I snapped, not wanting his concern right now.
“Yeah, you keep saying that, but you’re about to keel over.”
Dark spots flooded my vision the longer I stood there. The shakes I felt in my hand were now flooding my entire system, but this wasn’t because of the drugs.
“I need some water,” I croaked out.
“Let’s get you inside.”
“Just give me a minute,” I snapped as he tried to grab my arm.
Fuck, I wasn’t a kid. I was just dehydrated. I hadn’t noticed sooner because of the adrenaline flooding my system, but as I leaned against the car, it was clear as day. I took a deep breath, releasing it slowly as my heart rate started to slow. But even as I calmed my racing heart, my chest tightened painfully. Tingles pricked my fingers and nausea swirled in my stomach. Fuck, I was a mess.
I started to slide down the hood of the car, completely incapable of stopping my own momentum. I was going down, and as the darkness swarmed me, it wasn’t Hannah’s face I saw.
It was Skylar, and she was pleading for me to save her son.
“He’s back.”
I peeled my eyes open with a groan. I felt like I’d been hit with a truck, and that was putting it mildly. Johnny’s ugly face was the first I saw, followed by Libby. She was staring down at me like I was on death’s door. I was nowhere near that. I’d been there before, and this sure as fuck didn’t feel anything like the peace I felt the last time I saw those pearly gates.
