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It became a race to get home. A strange, shitty feeling to watch men carry away the girl I need, the one I can’t get out of my head. I’ll burn this fucking city to the ground if I have to. Whatever I must do to get her back, I will, and I’d do it gladly, provided it’s she and I standing together at the end of this.
This can’t be the end of our story. There’s so much more we can do together. So much more to see. Besides, after a few hours of browsing various jewelry stores downtown, I finally found a ring that had Thea’s name on it.
Yes, I bought her a ring. My brother was right. I can’t let her go. I can end her official confinement, but I can’t let her walk out of my life. I need her and I hope this ring shows it.
Building security is in my condo by the time I arrive. I pad their salaries so they’ll look the other way, so all it takes is a quick word from me to get them gone. I rush into my condo, looking for anything that might be a clue, a sign to point the way and tell me where the goons took Thea. I’m growing frantic until I spot a scribbled note in the kitchen.
An address, hastily written down and left for me. Below the address is a short note that says: Come alone.
I’m not stupid. I know if I go alone I’ll be overpowered sooner or later—the address points to a part of the city that’s not in my territory. It belongs to Cormac. It means there might be a mini army waiting for me, standing between me and Thea. I’d take as many of them down as I could, but realistically, it only takes one bullet in the right place to put me down.
Fuck that. I’m not going alone.
I grab the note, crumple it up, and put it in my pocket. I’m out the door immediately after that, and as I head to my car, I make a few calls. I’ll get the whole fucking crew mobilized, but before I go to the address in the note, there’s one stop I have to make.
On the way to my pitstop, I blow countless traffic laws. Speeding, red lights; whatever I can to get there quicker while not getting into an accident. It’s only a ten-minute drive from my place, but I spot my brother’s car in the parking lot when I arrive. Roark must’ve been in the area to have beaten me here.
I head up the steps and buzz myself in with a keycard. A nice, newer building, five stories high. More condos. It’s one my family’s money helped pay for a few years ago, so we’re part owners. I don’t do anything daily; there’s a property management company for that, but I do rake in some of the profits, as does my brother. We like to keep one of the units empty in case we need it.
I head to that unit and find my brother waiting for me, along with the guards we’ve stationed there just to make sure our person of interest doesn’t escape. Roark is sitting on a barstool at the island in the kitchen, sipping a coffee as he reads something on his phone, but the moment he spots me, he abandons both and stands.
With a harsh glance to the two guards playing cards outside of our prisoner’s door, Roark tells them, “Out in the hall, now.” The two men aren’t too thrilled with having their card game interrupted, but they do as they’re told, which gives my brother and I a semblance of privacy.
“You got an address?” Roark asks me, and I wordlessly pull out the crumpled note and hand it to him. He takes it and harrumphs when he sees where it is. “That fucking O’Connor. Do you think word got to him naturally or you have a traitor?”
“I don’t know. Right now, I need to get her back, and then we can cull ranks,” I tell him, and he nods in agreement. Anyone who would betray us to Cormac O’Connor doesn’t deserve to live. If you’re not loyal, what good are you?
“Well, my men are ready,” Roark says as he hands me the note. “One thing: I don’t get why we’re here.” His dark eyes flick to the nearby door, where our prisoner is currently. “What good will he do us?”
“Besides you,” I start, pushing off the island and heading to said door, Roark right behind me, “he’s the only one I can truly trust, the one other person in this city who would do anything to make sure Thea comes out of this alive.” I set my hand on the bolt that locks the door from the outside.
Roark sighs. “Fine. Unleash the beast.”
Unleash the beast. Not something I’d say to describe the man within, and if the circumstances were different, I would’ve laughed at the way my brother deadpanned it. But the situation is dire, and so I do not laugh as I unlock the door and push inside.
Roark and I crowd the doorway, so we both are able to peer inside and see our beast pretending like he’s in an action flick and surrounded by half a dozen enemies, throwing punches in the air left and right. It’s made more ridiculous given how incredibly unimpressive Max Hill is as a whole. At a whopping five feet tall, the twenty-year-old is the opposite of a beast.
And the fool is wearing nothing but boxers and a white T-shirt over his skinny frame.
“Oh, hi.” Max plays it cool, running a hand through his hair. His eyes are a few shades lighter than Thea’s, and in spite of his predicament, they appear hopeful. “What’s up?” Now those hands of his rest on his hips. “You here to kill me or something?” Spoken so off-handedly, like it’s a joke, only it’s not.
Roark mutters, “I wish.”
I, on the other hand, give my brother a harsh look before returning my stare to Max. “I need your help, actually. I would dangle your freedom in front of you, but I have the feeling once you know what’s at stake, you’ll help me regardless.”
The look Max gives me is one of suspicion, and he folds his arms over his scrawny chest. “What do you need help with? I should warn you, I’m only good at a few things. Yo-yoing, cooking food in the microwave, and talking—”
My brother groans, while I choose to ignore the randomness of his skills and say, “It’s that last one I need.” I wait a moment before I add, “Cormac O’Connor kidnapped Thea while I was away. He’s using her to lure me into his territory where I assume he’ll try to kill me.”
“Or torture,” Roark helpfully chimes in.
The expression on Max’s face morphs from one of curiosity to one of swift concern. “Cormac has Thea? How? Why? Shit, what are we waiting for? We gotta go!” He darts toward Roark and I, but we don’t step aside and let him pass.
“I think,” Roark says dryly, “you might be missing something.”
Max takes a step back and glances down at himself, finally realizing he’s not wearing any pants, and then he gives us a sheepish grin. “Oh, right. Let me throw some pants on before we fight evil today.” He laughs at himself before doing just that.
Soon enough the three of us are in my car, on our way. Roark is busy rallying his men as I drive. Max sits in the center seat in the back, though he leans forward to try to be in between us. He glances between me and my brother before asking, “What’s the plan? What do you need me to do? Are you giving me a gun or—”
