Page 116 of Devour

I grip the back of the nearest chair. If I don’t hold onto something, I’m going through Priest to get to him. Dane was using Justin as fucking bait while Saylor was down the hall from him every night. If I’d have been able to deal with Justin sooner, I could have protected Saylor from everything that happened tonight. “How long have you fucking known?”

“I sent him with you and Priest to that warehouse so we could see what he’d do. And I knew for certain when you told me about the backup that I’d supposedly sent. I never sent anyone, Axl. Justin told those men we were watching the building, and they moved the girls before we could get to them.”

I bring my fist down into the chair, breaking it. Priest and I stood there that night and watched them load those girls into an SUV. We let them drive away. We let them be taken right back to fucking hell because Justin made a phone call.

“Fuck.” I run my hands down my face. “You let him run so you could follow the trail, and my girl paid for it.”

“Your girl wasn’t on my radar as a victim, Axl. She was a Dove under Talon protection. Under your protection. I had no reason to believe—”

“Don’t.” I point at him, and Priest shifts between us. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence. He got to keep living and working beside us. In the same house with the other women with a Dove of his own.”

Dane raises his hands to calm me down. “I put him and Ryan together on a dead-end assignment to keep them away from the investigation.”

“Is Ryan involved in the trafficking ring too?”

He crosses his arms over his chest and nods. “Yes, Axl. He is.”

Two of these fucks. Living in the same house as my girl. Sleeping down the goddamn hall.

“Of fucking course.” I laugh, and there isn’t a goddamn thing funny about it. “You know everything, Dane. You just don’t do shit about it until it fits your fucking timeline.”

“I’m trying to dismantle something that’s a threat to all of us, Axl. And if I’d pulled the trigger too early, we’d have lost the trail to everyone above them. You know how deep this goes. And your girl will be in even more danger if we don’t figure this out.”

I shake my head and pace the room, trying to channel the rage I have for all of this shit right now. “Do you know where Justin is? Because I don’t give a shit what game you’re playing, he’s fucking dead.”

“Not yet.” Dane’s voice has an edge to it now. He doesn’t like being pushed, and I don’t give a fuck. “But we will. He’s not getting out of this, Axl. I give you my word on that.”

“Your word.” I stop pacing and turn to face him. “Your word doesn’t mean shit to me right now. You’ve had eyes on this asshole for months, and my girl is in a hospital bed down the hall, barely alive, raped, and just lost our child.”

Priest spins around to face me. “What?”

I hold my hand up to him and shake my head. I don’t need anyone’s comfort. Saylor is the only one that matters. She’s all I need right now, and I need to make sure she’s safe.

“No one understands that rage you have better than me and my sons, Axl. I promise I didn’t know anything about what Justin was doing to Saylor.” Dane steps closer and clasps my shoulder. I let him do it. “You helped save my wife. I would never sacrifice Saylor, and we’re going to help keep your girl safe. My sons are working to track Justin now, and you get to decide what happens to him.”

“No.” I shake my head. “Saylor gets to decide.” That’s the least I can do for her after all of this bullshit. She gets to take her revenge however she wants it. And if she wants me to do it for her, I’ll take care of it.

The door opens behind Priest. The doctor who spoke with Saylor and me earlier steps in holding a tablet. He looks at the three of us, and he knows he’s walked into the wrong room at the wrong time.

“I have the full tox screen results on Saylor Carter. She was resting when I checked on her, but I didn’t think this could wait.” He looks at Dane first, then me. “There’s something you need to see.”

“We already know she was drugged,” I say, annoyed. “So her tox screen would show drugs.”

The doctor shakes his head. “That’s what I need to talk to you about.” He sets the tablet on the table and turns it so Dane and I can see the screen. “Her bloodwork came back with the expected traces—benzodiazepines and alcohol, the combination you’d see in an overdose scenario. But there was a second compound.”

“A second compound?” Dane repeats.

“A counteragent. It appears to have been administered at the same time as the sedatives. It’s designed to prevent full respiratory failure. It keeps the body sedated but breathing, even if very shallow. Whoever did this to her didn’t appear to actually want her dead.” He taps the screen. “I thought you’d want to know.”

I stare at the tablet and then throw it at the wall. It bounces off and cracks when it hits the floor. Why in the fuck would Justin do that? He made her film her suicide note.

Fuck that mother fucker.

“He wanted me to think she was dead.” I say the words more to myself, puzzling out the why. “But he knew I would get her help. That I would bring her—”

“Here to this building.” Dane is thinking the same thing I am. I can see it on his face. He pulls out his phone to make a call. “Thorne, I need additional security to the medical unit now. And I need you to check all camera footage from the past several hours. Look for anything out of place. This is fucking urgent.”

Dane and I look at each other. Every fucking thing that was between us five minutes ago is gone. It doesn’t matter right now. This was all part of whatever plan is going down.