Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 108988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Was that what I was doing?
I got up out of bed, heading for the door, when a pile of things on my desk caught my eye.
My heart stilled, and my mouth opened an inch.
A phone. A wallet. A set of keys. All mine. Like, not new items. They were mine from when I’d been taken last night.
I was staggered.
Creighton left them.
That meant he’d been given them.
He knew. Had he known the whole time? Before he saw me? After he saw me?
I snatched my phone up and googled for the crime report for the area where I worked. When it came up and I scrolled through it, tension eased in my chest. No shootings. No bodies found. No fires.
Creighton hadn’t retaliated yet, but he would.
God help us when that happened.
I sent a quick text to Spence.
Me: Effective immediately, I quit.
Chapter Twenty-One
Creighton
I was in an SUV, staring outside at an older woman leaving a house with a younger man. He was younger than her, but he had a hardened look to him. Black curly hair. Face hadn’t been shaved in a couple days. He had a thick upper lip. Very intense dark eyes. His face was a little boxy, too boxy to be considered handsome, but there was a ruggedness to him. Some women and men would like that hard look on him. He had her purse in one hand and his arm up so she could use it for balance.
I knew this woman.
The man was a surprise, and I wondered why he hadn’t initially been included in my first round of reports on my enemies. This was Tristian West’s mother-in-law. Judging by the same chin, similar bone structure, and the fact they both walked the same, this was the brother-in-law as well. “This is Isaac Montell?” I asked Lassiter, who was watching them with me.
He glanced my way, his eyebrows pinching together. His Viking braids were hidden underneath a black ball cap. I couldn’t read him either because his sunglasses hid his eyes. “You’re more on edge than normal. Something happen with Blake?”
I pressed my mouth together. “Why would you automatically assume there’s something wrong with Blake?”
He laughed. “Are you serious? She’s the only thing that affects you.”
Thing.
I wasn’t amused. “She’s not a thing, Last.”
He got quiet. “You know what I mean. What happened?”
I ignored that and said, “Show me the other two.” I gestured to the file on his lap.
He handed over images of two more individuals.
I knew these faces. I’d seen them before, and I shuffled through the information in my head until I placed their names to the images. Pialto Rodriguez and Sophie Iriston. They were employees and considered “like family” to Ashton Walden’s woman.
Good. I liked these prospects.
I gave the file back to him and nodded toward West’s mother- and brother-in-law. “Take them.”
His head jerked up, taking me in for a moment before looking back at the window. Jess West’s mother and brother were now getting inside a car. Two other men were tailing them at a decent distance. Security.
We could always get around security. I had enough men to literally swarm the guards, stalling them, and the mother and brother could get snatched up.
“Who?” Lassiter clipped out.
I nodded toward the car that was now passing us. Both occupants didn’t look at us. They were oblivious. Their guards followed in a second car, and they saw us, both of their eyes widening.
Lassiter cursed but pulled out from our parking spot. He gunned the engine as three more guards came running from the house. They jumped into two trucks.
I had my gun out, but I didn’t think it was needed. I held it against my leg, ready. Just in case.
Lassiter was on his phone, relaying information to my tech team, who would then find my closest men. They would intersect anyone coming after us. We traveled three more blocks. The two trucks were getting closer, but more vehicles suddenly appeared. They swerved to get between us and them. Those were my men. Lassiter raised a hand to one of the drivers.
Three more blocks and West’s men turned back. We were too close to my territory.
We went to Nightclub 2.
Levi was at the back door. When he saw us, he broke into a wide grin. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he began heading our way.
“I’ll organize the kidnapping,” Lassiter said, reaching for his door handle.
“I want all of them.”
His hand pulled back. “All of them?” His face went slack. “Easter’s two close friends and Jess Montell’s mother and brother?”
“I believe she goes by Jess West now.”
“I don’t care. All of them? An older woman who’s fighting cancer and two coworkers.”
“They took Blake.” I was in his face in a second.
He went still. “They took Blake?”
“The fun is over. Blake’s fine, but I’m not. Take them. All four of them.”