Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Instead, I just murmured, “You almost done?”
She pursed her lips and nodded, picking up the pace as she finished checking me out. I helped her bag my stuff, and then I loaded everything into the car that the Hounds of Hellfire president had gotten for us before we moved into the apartment. I drove straight home and hurried inside.
“I’m home,” I called, kicking the door shut behind me before heading toward the kitchen to drop the bags on the counter. “And you won’t believe what happened while I was at the store. They definitely need better customer service training with the way the cashier who helped me talks to shoppers.”
There was no answer, and I assumed my mom had fallen asleep in her bedroom. Working nights wreaked havoc on her schedule, and she squeezed in extra sleep whenever she could. So after putting away the groceries, I tiptoed down the hallway until I noticed her door was open. “Mom?”
Finding her bed a wreck and the lamp on the floor, I gasped. “No. No. No.”
I searched the apartment, but she was gone. And now that I was paying closer attention, I noticed little things that I had missed when I first got back. Her winter coat was on the floor beneath the hooks we used to hang them by the door. The end table next to the couch had been pushed forward about a foot, and the book she’d been reading last night was on the floor in front of it.
Her purse still hung on its hook, and I had our car. So there was only one explanation that made sense…someone had taken my mom.
I hadn’t seen or heard from Stone in all that time, but he was the first person I thought of. There were a couple of Hounds of Hellfire prospects who lived in the same building, but I didn’t even stop to consider going to one of them. Or the Hounds of Hellfire clubhouse.
Instead, I ran into my room and packed a few changes of clothes and my toiletries. Then I dug through my mom’s purse for the cash from her tips last night. Only I found more than I was looking for and not in a good way.
There were four threatening notes shoved all the way at the bottom. They all had the same theme—keep your mouth shut if you want to live. The last one I read scared me the most.
Whores like you can’t be trusted. Such a shame that your daughter will have to pay for your mistakes.
I was being threatened, but she hadn’t said a word to me about the notes. And my guess was that she hadn’t told the Hounds of Hellfire either. At the very least, they would have wanted to help track down whoever sent them. More likely, they would’ve moved us again.
I didn’t know what she’d been thinking, and the only way I’d ever find out was if I got her back. I needed help for that, so I turned the three-hour drive to Old Bridge into a little over two as I broke every speed limit.
A prospect was manning the entrance to the compound. His eyes went wide when I stopped within an inch of the gate. Rolling down my window, I didn’t give him the chance to say anything before I demanded, “Get Stone. Now!”
“Who do you think you are to tell me what—”
Undoing my seat belt, I flung my car door open and jumped out. “I’m under Iron Rogues protection. If you turn me away, you’ll never get patched in.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, eyeing me speculatively. Then he pulled out his cell and stabbed his finger against the screen. It wasn’t long before someone picked up, and he growled, “Need you to come out to the gate. A girl here says she’s under our protection and needs help. She’s asking for you.”
A few minutes later, the gate opened, and the prospect waved me through. As I approached the clubhouse, the man I’d been dreaming of for two long years stalked out. I was back with Stone. Finally.
3
STONE
“Talked to Francesco last night,” I informed Maverick as I pushed a glass of whiskey toward him.
I’d been pouring one for myself when he entered the lounge and came to sit at the bar.
Since we were alone, it was safe to discuss club business outside his office.
When I returned from New York, Fox had given me permission to make taking out the threat to Britta my number one priority. I’d been working day and night for three months to handle this shit.
Finally, we were making some headway.
“His man finally get in the right circle?” Mav asked.
I nodded before tipping my glass back and swallowing half the contents.
“The family staged it to look like Carlos took out Francesco’s number two, including his wife and kids. Darius”—who we’d discovered was working directly for the crime boss’s head of security—“took it as a sign of loyalty and introduced him to…get this…” I emptied my glass before dropping my bomb on Mav. “Portia.”