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“Chloe…” I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration.
“Please,” she begged. “Two minutes. I promise. For Phoebe?”
I blew out a long breath. “Fine. Two minutes.” Jaxon excused himself back to his computer, and I turned to face her. “Two minutes. Talk.”
Immediately, her expression changed from the destroyed older sister to a hardened and determined woman. “I’ll talk fast, so listen carefully,” she whispered. “Predator Confidential just got a call on their tip line. They have a location on my father.”
“What?”
“Shhh!” She held up her hand, nodding toward the officers and agents. “They don’t know yet.”
I lowered my eyelids. “And you do?”
She lifted her chin, an act of defiance Phoebe had perfected. “Let’s just say over the years, the Predator people and I became friendly. Especially the tip line operators. I may’ve called in a favor last night.”
“Jesus, is everyone around here owed favors?” I lifted an eyebrow, and Chloe shrugged. “What’s the plan?”
“That’s why I’m telling you,” she answered, poking my chest. “You took my sister away from me and now she’s gone. All I have left is my niece. My whole family is dead, Julian.” She pointed toward the agents. “They want him arrested. I don’t think it’s presumptive of me to say neither of us want that.”
“I want him dead.”
“So do I.” She tilted her head toward Hough. “Once they leave, so do we.”
I laughed. “You’re not going with me.”
“The hell I’m not! Look, Julian, this bastard terrorized us our entire lives. If you think you’re leaving me behind, I’ll rat you out in a heartbeat.”
“Fine,” I muttered. “Get the location.” I glanced at Zane as he sat beside Faith on the couch. “I’ll get ammo.”
***
At eleven fifteen that night, Chloe and I met in the living room. As I took the last two steps, I stopped and stared at Faith as she sat on the couch, her hands folded in her lap.
“I thought you left.”
“I’m coming too,” she said, her voice hoarse from crying.
“Mother of fuck! Chloe? What the hell? You told her?”
Chloe rounded the corner, dressed completely head to toe in black. “Yes, I told her. We need someone with us who might throw my father off balance.” She pointed to Faith. “He hasn’t laid eyes on her since she interrupted his attack four years ago. You don’t think a ghost from the past won’t knock him off his game a little?”
She had a point. “What if she gets hurt?”
“I won’t get hurt.” Faith’s head lifted. Instead of the tortured victim I’d seen in the past few weeks, a coldness frosted her eyes. “We’re getting Iris, we’re finding Phoebe, and we’re getting the fuck out. In that order.” I stepped back at the ferocity in her voice. “Besides, Armando has a complete gun collection. Where the hell did you think we’d get all the ammo?”
She’d barely gotten the words out when Zane stepped out of the shadows from the kitchen, a Glock semiautomatic in each hand. He twirled them on his fingers then aimed them both upward. “Anyone need a fucker to die tonight?”
“Where’d you get those?” I asked.
Zane scratched his beard with the tip of a gun. “Don’t ask questions you aren’t prepared to hear the answers to, Jag.” He walked over to Faith and she stood to meet him. “I think Jag’s right. You should stay here.”
Faith’s lips tightened. “This…man murdered one of my college friends. I watched him bleed out and die in front of me, Zane. Now he’s murdered my best friend and has an innocent baby. I won’t sit by and let Iris die.”
Zane palmed her cheek with the gun still in his hand. Faith rewarded him with a small smile and he impulsively kissed her. I turned my head. I couldn’t watch the display of affection. It reminded me of the first moment I’d kissed the most amazing lips I’d ever known.
We loaded the car, and the memory faded as Zane drove down a winding path away from the Hollywood Hills.
“So, Fancy-Pants, what’s with you?”
