Final scene of book one
LUCIFER
I push off the dumpster and hold out my hand. “Let me have the phone.”
Ana doesn’t resist. She hands the cell to me, and I answer the call, already knowing who to expect. The man I spoke to once before. The man who killed Jake. “What do you want?” I ask.
“The package,” the man says.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And yet, we both know you do. Let. Me. Be. Clear. There are powerful people who want that package. My boss is one of those men. Unless you give it to me in the next twenty-four hours, everyone you have ever known is dead.”
My eyes narrow. “I don’t have it. I don’t know what it is. It must be worth a lot of money for you to be such a drama queen.”
“Don’t play with me.”
“I don’t play unless I’m paid. I don’t have it, but I’ll find it for a price. One million. One week.”
It’s not what he expects. He’s silent a beat that turns into three. That’s two too many for him to know what the fuck to do right now. “Two days and I let your people live.”
“Then I guess I’ll hang up and your very powerful man will kill you for failing him.”
“Wait,” he says. “Two days and a million dollars.”
“A week and two million. I don’t know what the fuck it is or where to start looking.”
“Five days and one million dollars. And if you go one minute over, I’ll kill them all anyway. Don’t underestimate me. We’re as good as your little Walker team, but we don’t play by the rules. Meet me at your little bitch’s property, The Ranch. Five days,” he repeats. “Don’t be late.” He disconnects.
If he were as good as he said he is, he’d know his target. He’d know I won’t play for pay with the man who killed Jake and threatened Ana. But this works. I bought time to find him and kill him and I will. I hit a few buttons on the phone, text the information on it to Blake, then throw the phone in the trash. That prick won’t be contacting me or tracking us. I grab Ana’s hand and start running.
Chapter One
Luke
“Only by confronting your inner demons can you ever hope to conquer them.” —Ellen Hopkins
With every step we take about placing critical distance between us and the phone I just chunked in a dumpster, and therefore the enemy hunting us. I hold onto Ana’s hand, aware of Darius’s blood covering her, just as I am the fact that she was too close to that traitorous prick when he was shot. It could have been her. She could be dead right now, and I’m all kinds of kicking myself for allowing her to meet him and especially behind that damn store. I would die for this woman a million times over and yet I allowed her to risk her life tonight. I didn’t find her, save her, and kiss her back into my life to see her die.
What the hell was I thinking?
She might be capable of kicking most men’s asses, but she can die as easily as every other flesh and blood human. I should have stood in the way. I should have just tied her to a damn bed, fucked her for twenty-four hours, and let Savage and Adam deal with Darius. If only I could turn back time and erase my stupidity.
Right now, my stupidity aside, I need to get her to safety, but with Darius’s blood all over her, we’re limited as to where we go until we deal with it. In other words, my first choice—melting into a crowd, where there is safety in numbers, and in the presence of cameras—is not an option. We’re left with the path of least resistance—the one that won’t have people gaping, favoring the shadows and back alleyways, which is not the fastest, or by far the most public. For now, we’re in the business district of downtown Denver, where daytime brings with it the hustle and bustle of evening, and the sunset transforms it into a ghost town.
A place where anyone who moves is an easy target. A place where I once again have to allow her to be a target.
Men like the one who killed Jake and threatened Ana, devour fools who allow themselves to be easy marks. He’s going to hope we’re fools and send a team in this direction. He’s the one acting a fool by thinking for one second I’d work for him. Since I already know he’s not a fool, that leaves only one other option. He’s a desperate fuck, desperate to please the real boss. Someone is pulling his chain and hard.
Right now, I focus on a homeless man lying on the ground, buried in blankets, seemingly passed out. There’s a bottle of water sitting next to him I trade for a twenty-dollar bill and keep walking. A few blocks later, and only when I’m certain we aren’t being followed, I lead Ana toward a high-rise building. Once we’re there, we shelter behind a concrete wall framing a dock area and another dumpster, illuminated by a street light.