A Worthy Opponent (Wicked Villains 3)

I draw myself up. “We can’t go in with force. He’ll kill Hook.”

Nigel shakes his head. “You’re not wrong, but we need more backup than just me.”

“More than just us.” I start walking before he can argue. The lack of time will work on my side for this debate. Nigel can’t force me back to the safety of Hook’s building, and he can’t spare anyone to haul me there. “It’s on this block.” I rattle off the address where I found the woman before. It’s possible they’ve moved, but the set up seemed pretty permanent when I snuck in.

I still can’t believe I had the courage to do that. Or that I’m about to do it again.

Nigel falls into step beside me. His phone buzzes nearly constantly, and his expression is a mask of concentration. “You are not going into that building. I’ve rerouted the two remaining teams to set up a perimeter. Colin and I will go in after him.”

I don’t bother arguing. I’ll agree to anything that ups Hook’s chances of survival, including being sidelined—as long as I’m in the vicinity. Inside that building, I’m a liability. I won’t get anyone killed for my pride.

It takes us a mere ten minutes to reach the location I found before. Nigel glances at his phone one last time and hauls me down an alley and through a back door into what appears to be an abandoned laundromat. He moves to the taped-over window and carefully peels back a section of it. The glass is grimy, but I can clearly see the apartments where I found the woman. “Yes, that’s it.”

“Good.”

Fewer than five minutes later, seven people pile into this building. I don’t know what I expected when Hook said he’d have three teams on me. Maybe pseudo soldiers? The five men and two women are all dressed in street clothes and are completely indistinguishable from the normal foot traffic in this territory. They must have been spread out around me the entire time, and I had no idea.

“Tell them what you know, Tink.”

My heart beats too fast I as clear my throat. “The third-floor apartment overlooking the street.” I jerk my thumb to indicate the one behind us. “My information is a couple months old. I didn’t see any of Peter’s people in the building when I was there last, but we have to assume they’re inside now, and—”

My phone rings, cutting me off.

I almost ignore it, but something has me pulling it out of my purse. Unknown number. I go cold and swipe my thumb over the screen. “Hello?”

“Hey, baby.”

I swing around to look at Nigel. He motions for me to put it on speaker. Part of me doesn’t want to obey, doesn’t want to give Peter that power, but it’ll be easier for everyone if they can hear both sides of the conversation. I carefully hold my phone away from my face and put it on speaker. “Give him back.”

“Come and get him.” He sounds happy. Too happy. He’s riding high now, but anything going wrong will send him crashing down in an instant. I’ve seen how that pseudo-joy can flip on a switch. “Don’t take too long, though. You know how I get bored.”

“Peter.” His name tastes like the ash of broken promises. “This won’t end the way you want it to.”

“Yes, baby, it will. I have Hook. You’re too soft to let him hang for you, so you’ll be arriving shortly. You know the place; you tried to take something of mine a few months back. Don’t make me wait.” He hangs up before I can form a response.

Nigel’s already shaking his head. “Absolutely not.”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“Yes, we do. And the choice is to not walk into Peter’s blatantly stated trap.”

I shove my phone into my pocket and glare. “If we don’t go, Hook will die.” Hook will die. I just found him, just allowed myself to hope we might have future and a life together. A family, whatever that looks like for us.

Now Peter wants to take it from me. From us.

Just like he’s taken everything I’ve ever valued. My pride. My strength. My self-confidence. My freedom. I fought and clawed and reclaimed those things for myself, day after day, year after year.

I’ll take back Hook, too.

“You have ten minutes to come up with a plan. After that, I’m walking in there.” I hold Nigel’s gaze, letting him know that this is no bluff. We need to move, and we need to move now. Every minute Hook spends with him is a minute Peter might lose his temper and snap.

Nigel curses and turns to the men standing around. I step back, letting them handle this part. I’ve never infiltrated a building, have never orchestrated a coordinated attack on an enemy. This isn’t my wheelhouse.