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I throw the paper at Storm. “She’s gone.”
He frowns, unfolds the paper. “Anything about where to find her?”
No. And fear curls low in my stomach, makes me wanna hurl.
“She’ll be fine,” Rook chimes in and flip him off. “What?”
“I have a fucking bad feeling about this,” I tell him and almost double over with it. Hell, I’m not a psychic, but when Storm took off last year, I kinda knew it in my bones when he got into trouble.
What I felt then is nowhere as bad as what I’m feeling now, and guilt makes it even worse. If anything happens to her… to them. I won’t know what to do with myself.
And then my prepaid phone, the one I used to call Layla, starts ringing and things go downhill from there.
***
“They fucking got her. Fuck them, fucking bastards.” I’m about to throw the phone at the wall, but Rook grabs my wrist and pulls me back. “I fucking knew it. I knew I’d get her killed.”
“Shut up, and sit down,” Rook commands, hauling me to the couch. I’m not a small guy, and Rook is a bit shorter, but he makes up for it in bulk. “We’ll figure this out.”
“Go to hell,” I say automatically, and Rook ignores me completely. He’s used to my moods.
“Tell us exactly what they said,” Storm says, and Raylin grabs her tablet from the table, as if she’s about to start taking notes.
I’d howl with laughter at the absurdity of it if my goddamn stomach wasn’t twisted up in a ball of dread.
“They’ll exchange her for me tonight.”
“Where?”
“Corner of Linkwood Road and West Cold Spring Lane.”
“What’s that? Random address?”
I shrug. No fucking clue. “Then they’ll call me again with new directions.”
“What’s around there? A park, right?”
“Dude, they could be anywhere,” Rook says and rubs his forehead with the back of his hand.
“What shall we do?” Raylin asks.
Rook turns to me. “Call your Chinese mafia buddies. I’ll call mine. We’ll—”
“No.”
“What?”
“I said no. I won’t put Layla and the baby’s life in danger.”
Raylin’s face softens.
Storm’s hardens. “You can’t just give yourself up, man. Goddammit, Hawk, stop with the suicidal shit.”
“It’s not suicidal. Can’t you fucking see? She’s my woman. And my baby. It’s the only thing I can do. Besides. I already told Lopez I’d go in as his bait. Nothing has changed.”
Except I don’t wanna do it anymore, and I am doing it anyway, plus it will have to be on the kidnappers’ terms, not mine.
Anyway, hell. My terms, their terms, what the fuck ever. As if that would have ever worked out. At least now I know I’m doing it for Layla.
