Vengeance (The Protectors 5)

Once we were inside, he shoved me down on the couch, causing Tink to take off for the safety of the bedroom in the process. “Memphis, I need Tristan and Brennan’s phone numbers so Daisy can trace their phones.”

I felt numb as I handed him my phone, making sure to unlock it. My mind was telling me to get off my ass and do something, but I couldn’t function, couldn’t do anything because of the mind-numbing terror that was crashing through me. An image of Janie being violated tore through me and I covered my face with my hands.

How had I let this happen?

“Knock it the fuck off, Memphis!” Ronan snarled and then he was dragging me to my feet. “This is not your fault!”

Ronan was the only other living soul who knew about Drake and what he’d done, but his words rang hollow anyway.

“I can’t lose them, Ronan,” I whispered.

“You won’t!” he said firmly and then he was on the phone again. I stood perfectly still as I tried to calm myself. I couldn’t help my men if I couldn’t fucking function.

“Yeah, thanks – let me know anything else you find,” Ronan said.

“What?” I asked, hating the look of concern that fell over Ronan’s features.

“The number that sent the pics is for a burner phone that was paid for with cash. Brennan and Tristan’s phones are off and the last place they were on is near a private school on the north side of the city.”

“Tristan’s brother, Tanner…he goes to some kind of day camp. Today was the last day so Tristan and Brennan were going to pick him up and take him for ice cream and then take him home.” I swallowed hard. “Fuck, we need to call Dom.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Ronan said and then he was forcing me to sit again. “Memphis, think. Where would he take them?”

I shook my head. My mind was racing and I couldn’t focus on anything but what my men and that little boy might be going through at that very moment. Before I could say anything, there was a knock at the door. I expected it to be Hawke, even though it seemed too soon for him to be arriving from the other side of town.

Ronan looked through the peep hole, let out a violent curse and then opened the door. A very worried looking Dom entered, glanced briefly at Ronan and then made a beeline for me.

“Are they here?” he asked. “Tristan and Brennan?” he clarified. “They picked up Tanner from day camp almost five hours ago, but they never brought him home. He had a dentist appointment so they were supposed to have him back by three.”

I shook my head, unable to find my voice. Dom looked back and forth between me and Ronan and he must have picked up on something because his voice broke a little when he said, “They’re not answering their phones.”

“Dom,” Ronan said as he pushed between me and Dom. “Someone’s taken them.”

Dom was rendered silent for all of five seconds before he screamed, “Where are my sons and my nephew?”

I wanted to curl in on myself, but the sound of Dom’s frantic voice as he began yelling at both me and Ronan finally did what nothing else could. I grabbed the man by the collar and propelled him backwards until his back hit the wall. “Calm the fuck down and help me get them back!” I bit out. “When this is all done and they’re home where they belong, you can scream at me, kick my ass, do whatever the fuck you want – but right now I need you! They need you!”

Dom’s massive hands were wrapped around my wrists where I was holding on to him and I knew that if he chose to fight me, he would do a lot of damage and waste valuable time.

“Tell me what you need me to do,” he finally said, fear written into every line of his face.

“Get two or three of your best guys here now,” I said. “Guys who can get their hands dirty,” I added, hoping like hell he’d understand what I meant.

Because no way was I letting Drake go to jail a second time.

“What about the guys protecting Brennan and Tristan?” Dom asked as he pulled out his phone.

“I pulled their protection last week,” I said grimly.

To Dom’s credit, he managed to find the number he was looking for while he said, “These guys who have them, they’ll want money, right? To pay off whatever debt Tristan’s piece of shit birth father owed them?”

“Dom,” I said quietly and he lifted his eyes. “Loan sharks don’t have them. The guy who has them…it’s personal. He took them to get to me.”

Dom froze for a moment as my words sank in and I swore I saw a flash of realization cross his features. But instead of asking me more questions, he nodded shakily and blinked away the tears that threatened before turning his attention back to his phone. I left him to his phone calls and went to Ronan. “I need to look at the picture again.”