Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
“Those three are the weakest partners we have. I’ve always thought they were weird picks on your father’s part. They’re slimy. I’d have Dash tell your people about them.”
Once again, he’s not wrong. I snag my phone and text both Dash and Dierk at the same time with the names and the details of my concerns. When I’m done, I set my phone on the table and glance up to find Dash walking toward the bathroom. That’s when my phone buzzes with a text message and my adrenaline surges. Logically, it’s Dierk replying to my message, but for reasons I cannot explain, I know it’s more. I know this message is about Bella.
Dread crawls through me, no, it slithers through me, a poisonous snake ready to strike.
I pick up my phone to find a text from an unknown caller. I suck in a thick breath when I open it to find a photo of Bella, anger etched on her beautiful face, alight in her eyes, as if she hates being used, and underneath the image, the message reads: She’s an intelligent, beautiful woman. You’re a lucky man, Tyler Hawk. That doesn’t have to change.
I don’t give my emotions time to consume me or evolve. I screenshot the message and send it to Dash and Dierk, with the number on the caller ID. I’m sure it’s a burner phone, but sometimes they can be traced to a purchase point where cameras exist.
“What just happened?” Gavin asks.
It’s as if he’s speaking inside a tunnel. His voice is distant, an echo in a far-off place as my mind chases something I cannot quite put my finger on. I reply to the message: What kind of game is this? What do you want?
More soon, is the reply.
Nothing more.
I try to dial the number and it goes straight to voicemail. I curse and stand up. Gavin stands with me, and asks again, “What just happened?”
I hand him my phone, barely seeing him. I’m replaying the exchange in my mind. She’s alive, I think. That is, if that picture was just taken. The message indicates she is.
“I know where this is,” Gavin announces. “I know the seat.”
I blink him into view. “What? What are you talking about?”
“It’s a bar a few blocks from here. Tyler, I know where this is.”
My scalp throbs with the insistence of the blood rushing through me. “Take me there. Now.”
Chapter Eighteen
Tyler
I’m at the door of Cupcakes and Books about to exit when Dash catches up to me. “Where are you going?”
“Check your messages,” I say, irritated at his question and the delay he’s causing. “We’re going to get Bella.”
“I recognized the location that picture of Bella was taken in,” Gavin chimes in to explain, as if I wasn’t about to plant my fist in his face fifteen minutes ago. The man is nothing if not resilient. “Really a picture on the back wall. If she’d been angled another direction, I’d have never figured it out.”
“Which wasn’t an accident. That picture on the wall wasn’t in the first photo. That’s because they didn’t want us to find them, but now they do. Our tech guys can do image searches and find a place of just that much. They know that, whoever the fuck they are. Which could mean all kinds of things, and not many of them are good. Dierk’s men are meeting us there.” He motions to Gavin. “You stay. We don’t need you getting shot and then suing us.”
“If I sue you, I lose my job,” Gavin replies. “That’s not on the agenda. I’m not staying behind. I know the exact location. Do you?”
Dash’s lips thin. “When we get there, you stay outside.” He eyes us both. “We walk. Don’t run, and that means you, Tyler. I know you want to get her back and so do I, but if we spook them, they’ll flee with her or worse, kill her.”
“Stop suggesting they’ll kill her.” I glance between them. “Both of you.”
“You think I want to hear that any more than you?” Dash snaps back. “But it’s reality.”
“We need to move,” I say and reach for the door.
He catches my arm. “Wait. Listen to me.”
“Get your hands off me, Dash, or I swear to God, I will flatten you. I’m hanging on by a thread here.”
“Hang on tighter and just wait.” His hand falls away from my arm and not a second too soon. “They expect us,” he adds. “If we walk together, we draw attention we don’t want. Gavin leads the way. I’ll fall back and follow him. Tyler, you’re on the opposite side of the street.” He glances toward Gavin. “When you reach the destination stop at the door and pretend to change your mind and walk onward. Are we on the same page?”
Gavin nods, while I’m repeating in my head, “They’ll flee with her or worse, kill her.” “What’s the name of the bar?” I ask.