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She looks at me, at Outlaw, at Thunder and Lightning, before she settles on Carnell, the cop in the room. “Are they telling the truth?”
“I wish they weren't. I'm sorry you’re caught up in this, but I can't let this opportunity slip through my fingers.” Carnell pushes off the desk to pace. “For the first time, I’ve got something that he truly wants and cares about, and that's you.”
“I don't know if I can be a part of this.” Harper looks away, obviously conflicted. I wish I knew what the fuck was going on in that pretty head of hers. She's not stupid, but even if she hated his fucking guts, Mesner still has a grip on her through her mother.
“You already are,” Carnell says with what sounds like honest sympathy. “As far as Mesner’s concerned, you were kidnapped as part of a plot to hit him where it hurts. He’ll be waiting for someone to get in touch with a ransom message or some sort of demand.”
“Which is where we come in,” Thunder says, nodding.
“Exactly. I've been after Mesner for years and years. “Carnell’s eyes turn fiery and his voice goes tight with sudden passion. He fucking wants this. “But it stops here. So here's the deal. You contact him and set up a meeting. I’ll handle the details. What I need is for you to get him talking so we have enough to bring him in and start taking him down. Do that and you're free to ride home. But if you fuck with me, I'm going to bring down the full fury of the law. I have the resources to put all of you behind bars for a long, long time. And don't think running away is going to save you. Is that clear?”
Lightning and I nod. “Crystal,” I say.
Carnell turns to Harper. “And Miss, I hate putting you in this position, but your father is a very dangerous man, who has more lives than I can imagine on his conscience. I realize this might be hard for you, but he belongs in a cell. Is this going to be a problem?”
“Was that a threat? Because I don’t like your fucking implication that she’s an issue to be taken care of.” We barely know her, and she’s not my woman to defend, but Harper wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for us, and I’m not the kind of man who can forget that.
Harper tucks her hair behind her ears, looking down at the comforter. “I don't know…”
I can't fucking imagine how it feels to think that she finally found the solution to everything wrong in her life, and then it just turns to more and more shit for each day that passes. I cross over and crouch down next to the side of the bed, taking her hand. Her fingers are so fucking small, with those perfect pink wedding nails. “Nobody’s going to force you to do anything. You got me?”
Her fingers close around mine and squeeze.
Carnell sighs. “If she won’t play, maybe we can hook him with just the four of you, but we don’t have time to waste. It’s already past when he’d be expecting contact. I need at least a couple of you to come with me, so we can plan this out.”
Thunder nods at me. “Me and Lightning will stick around and keep an eye on Harper, make sure she's okay.”
“Good. I’ll take Outlaw. We’ll be back ASAP.” I don’t like splitting up, but as team lead, I need to deal with Carnell and his fucking plan. Outlaw will have my back, and I trust Thunder to keep things from going off the rails.
As we follow Carnell out, I wonder what the fuck we've gotten ourselves into. I trust Carnell about as far as I can fucking throw him, and I have absolutely no fucking faith in his plan being able to draw Mesner out, but we don't have much fucking choice.
If he betrays us, I'm gonna fucking make sure he goes down with us.
10
HARPER
“You okay?” Lightning settles on the same bed as me.
I don’t know when I stopped being scared and started to think of them as being almost on my side, but having him here is actually comforting. Which is stupid, right? I heard Shadow ask that guy if he wanted them to kill Vincent with the kind of tone someone else might ask if they should be the one to order pizza. But if my father is really some kind of dangerous drug lord… maybe it’s best to have guys like these bikers on my side.
“I don't know. Not really, but it's a lot to take in.” I draw a deep breath, and let it out slowly. In, and out. “Up until a few months ago, my life was working at a nursing home and taking care of Mom. There was literally nothing special about me. I got average grades, shared a middle of the road apartment with my mother and got my drama from TV like everyone else. Now I’m hiding out in a motel while a cop and a bunch of bikers plot to bring down my father who is apparently a horrible drug kingpin.”
