Page 43 of Ruin

The thought that we might be arrested made me even angrier.

What the hell was Saraya thinking? That she would turn herself over to Devil and it would all just be over? Did she actually think he’d ever stop what he was doing, or end the feud between us? That her presence would just magically erase him killing Tinker and getting Mandy and everyone else arrested?

Did she realize that he would probably kill her for having escaped him in the first place and then staying with me?

I revved the engine and increased my speed, my anger turning slowly to concern bordering on panic. I knew Devil well enough to know he’d never let her survive. He had to be furious at her for having left him that day when the prospect was driving her to wherever he was driving her to. I’d known enough abusers to know that they hated being called out on their shit and always took that hatred out on the person they were abusing in the first place.

It was the reason women never ran unless they had a solid plan already laid out. Try to run and fail and they’d kill you for it.

It was exactly what was going to happen to Saraya if Devil got his hands on her again.

Before, when he’d demanded her back, I’d said no because I wanted to keep her for myself. I had her in a safe spot and wanted to make sure she stayed there, but it had always been for selfish reasons. Always for me. Now my thinking shifted tracks, and I saw it from her point of view.

If she offered herself up to him, he’d take her back easily enough. Maybe even try to charm her and make a joke of it.

And then he’d beat her to death the first chance he got.

We had to find her before he even knew she was looking for him. The problem was, I didn’t have a damn clue about where to look. I didn’t know Devil’s schedule enough to know where he’d be at any given time.

And she did.

LUCKILY, I KNEW ONE person who might know Devil as well as Saraya did—or at least a version of him. She was in lockup right now, but that had never meant we couldn’t get in to see someone.

It just meant we had to use someone the cops weren’t looking for.

“Are you serious right now?” Adams asked, his hands running through his well-oiled hair and his eyes turning from me to Remy and back again. “You want me to go to the jailhouse, see Mandy, and ask her if she knows anything that might help you locate the man who wants to kill you. Before his ex-girlfriend—and the girl you’re currently fucking—finds him and turns herself in.”

I nodded sharply, deciding to ignore the cutting sarcasm in his tone. “That about covers it. And we need you to do it now.”

He actually laughed at that. “You realize I have to make an appointment to be allowed to see her, right?”

I gave him the most condescending look I could muster on short notice. “Adams. You’re a lawyer. You’re one of the biggest lawyers in town. I’m guessing you could walk in there and demand that they cook you donuts while doing a Mexican hat dance and they’d probably do exactly what you wanted.”

His eyes turned serious and his smile faded as he leaned toward me. “Only because I grease the right palms, Knight. Something I’d seriously recommend you start doing, too. Especially if your crew is going to keep getting in trouble like this.”

I didn’t respond. I didn’t bother to tell him that I’d never in a million years bribe the cops to look the other way when we did something. It just didn’t work for my particular brand of morals. I’d told him all of that before.

And he’d told me that my morals needed to be a little bit more flexible if I expected to get on in life.

But he’d also taken us on as clients, and neither of us had ever looked back—which was why I knew he’d get his ass to the jailhouse and do whatever it took to get in there and see Mandy. I just hoped she knew something useful. Because we’d been out here for an hour already, driving the streets on the off chance that we’d see Saraya or the bike she’d stolen, and we hadn’t had any luck.

I was starting to feel desperate. And that wasn’t an emotion I dealt with very well.

“Right,” I told him, handing him a burner phone. “Call me the minute you have an answer. Call me even if you don’t have an answer. And give Mandy a hug for me.”

“I’m not allowed to touch her. They keep us on opposite sides of the glass.”

“Then tell her I’m sending her a hug, asshole.” I slapped one hand down on his shoulder. “And thank you. We don’t have a lot of people we can count on right now, so I’m even luckier than usual to have you.”

“Just as long as you remember that when my bill arrives,” he answered.

We both turned and walked in opposite directions, the meeting finished, and by the time I got back to Remy and Brock in the alley where I’d left them, I had my next order of business in mind.

“We get to everyone we think we can trust in town,” I told them both. “We call in every favor we’re owed. First person to give us her location gets a big reward.”

Brock and Remy nodded, neither of them needing anything more than that, and the three of us jumped on our bikes, Brock and Remy flanking me and letting me lead. I was already going through my contacts, trying to figure out who might have seen her and how to get to them.

I was also trying to figure out who the cops might have under surveillance, just waiting for us to show up.