Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
She nodded. “I do.”
Was he delusional in thinking he could convince her to do the work she loved here? He couldn’t begin to consider the future until he fixed the present.
Digging his fingers beneath the cargo mat, he lifted it up and… “Damn.” He pulled out a heavy bag of what looked like crystal meth. Grabbing the carpet again, he ripped it off and revealed three more weighty bags of drugs.
She sucked in a loud breath. “Is that…”
“Meth,” he said, placing the bag back down.
Hadley leaned heavily against the car. “Oh my God. I’ve been thinking ever since that call, and now I can put the pieces together.” She swiped her arm over her glistening forehead. “The day we left home, Dani didn’t want to go. She said her mother was coming to visit and I reminded her she’d just seen her mother the night before. I didn’t add that Patrice rarely kept her word. But it was weird, her telling Dani she’d come back the next night.”
“And now we know that she needed to return because she’d stashed these in your car. Probably for her drug-dealing boyfriend.”
“Holy shit. I drove here with bundles of meth in my car!” she said, her voice rising. “What if I’d been pulled over?”
Zach reached for her and yanked her against him, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Breathe. It’s almost over.”
“I’m going to kill Patrice,” Hadley said through gritted teeth.
Get in line, Zach thought. But neither would have that chance if things went as planned.
Before heading out, Zach checked his phone and read a quick rundown of the plan from Remy. His partner had pulled off miracles, utilizing his cop contacts and the feds, who’d met with Dario before Zach got to the city.
Dario had already planted a listening device on Zach when he’d hugged him earlier, having been given one by the cops before Zach got to the city. They’d be listening to everything that went down.
Zach was ready.
Now they just needed luck on their side.
* * *
Zach held one of Hadley’s reusable grocery bags with a package of drugs inside. The rest he left in the locked car, assuring her not to worry. He’d tried his damndest to get her to stay in Dario’s office, but she was going to be there for her sister. Besides, the dirtbag had called her. So, she was all in. If Zach hadn’t given in to her pleas, they’d still be arguing.
He held Hadley close with his free arm and they headed out, pausing by the office to let Dario know they were leaving. Once outside, her heart was pounding so hard she swore she heard the sound. Across the street was a heavily treed, abandoned-looking park with a chain link fence and signs dangling off it.
No sooner had they walked out to the sidewalk and turned than a man appeared around the nearest street corner. Wearing a baseball cap and a zippered hoodie, despite the heat, he approached them, and Zach stopped, keeping her close.
“What part of come alone did you not understand?” he asked, hands in his front pockets, his body jerking while he kept his distance.
“Where’s Dani?” Zach asked. He deliberately ignored the question.
He shrugged, taking a step back. Zach followed with Hadley, one step closer.
“You obviously already retrieved the merchandise, also not part of the plan. I said to meet me outside so I could go in and check the car. Where’s the rest of my shit?”
“You don’t expect me to carry it all out, do you? Now let me see Dani. Then I’ll give you the bag and the keys to get the rest,” Zach said.
The guy moved from foot to foot, antsy and jittery, his hands shaking. He was obviously hopped up on drugs.
“Lady, you are a pain in the ass,” he said, speaking to her and not Zach. “First, I couldn’t get the damn drugs because the Mob was coming and going from your house, then the cops were all over fucking place. Then I find out you left the damn state… with my product,” he said, voice rising.
Zach tried to push Hadley behind him, but she refused to move. She wanted her sister.
“Bitch! I was beaten because of you. The guy I owed wasn’t happy to find out I didn’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of shit, as promised.” He pulled off his hood to reveal fading bruises on his sallow skin. “You ever try driving to the city with a broken rib?”
Obviously he liked to talk, a byproduct of being hyped up. She swallowed hard, sensing Zach was letting him babble until he’d calmed down enough to focus.
“Come on. Make the trade like you promised,” Zach urged him.
“Hey, Patty! This asshole thinks he’s calling the shots,” the guy yelled out, laughing with a high pitched voice, tilting his head back toward the direction from which he’d came.