Until Fools Find Gold (Providence Gold 1)

“Like underground bunkers in the middle of the desert, literally,” he explained, his eyes hardening no doubt at the memory of the times he’d used them or seen them being used.

“I don’t think taking him from Denver back to Vegas is a wise idea. We’re increasing the risk of someone seeing him with us and there being a trail,” Levi sighed, closing his eyes in frustration. I was inclined to agree with him.

“True,” Sven nodded, a smile kicking up one side of his mouth. “So, it’s just as well he knows a guy who has a similar place in Colorado - just as secluded.”

“Gentlemen, the Captain says we’ll be beginning our descent in just a minute. Is there anything else that I can get you?” The woman who worked for my family on the plane, Janice, asked as she walked toward us.

“We’re fine, but if you could thank him for us that would be great,” I said smiling at her. She’d worked for us for ten years now and was hitting her fifties. When it was me or one of my siblings on the plane, she played a mean game of poker with us.

Always the professional, unless she was beating you out of your money with her cards, she nodded and moved to her chair to secure herself for landing.

“A car is waiting,” Archer was the one to inform us as he looked at the screen of his phone. “I called ahead to a buddy who owns a service there, and he’s loaned us one of his SUV’s. His guy will be waiting with the keys.”

It only took us a maximum of ten minutes to land and taxi to the private terminal, but it felt like it was hours.

The whole time I grew more and more anxious wondering if Luna was okay or if she was in pain. The thought of her being hurt and scared ate away at me like acid in my chest.

If she was hurt, there wasn’t a man alive who would stop me from killing the bastard who’d done it.15 LunaI wasn’t a stranger to pain. Either by my own stupidity or through my father’s abuse, I’d experienced enough of it throughout my life, but fuck me this hurt. It hurt so bad that even my shoulders and elbows hurt. Why did a messed-up jaw make them hurt, too?

When I’d woken up from the box and whatever they’d put into it, I was in a room and chained to a bed. There wasn’t a lot of light apart from the dull bulb in the ceiling, but from what I could see, aside from the bed I was lying on, the room was empty and had just walls with no windows. It was cold and damp, but someone had kindly placed a blanket over me which smelled like what I’d imagine moldy ass would smell like.

The same kind soul who’d given me the rank ass blankie had also kindly cuffed my hands to the bed above me. This caused me no end of issues, the main ones being obvious. But my bladder was close to exploding and with a busted jaw I could hardly move, and my arms stuck, I would have had to rely on my feet– one of which was broken– to make enough noise for someone to hopefully hear. That all would have been fine and well if I wasn’t the size of a freaking fly and the bed hadn’t been made for a giant.

Never one to give in, or one to pee myself it had to be said, I lifted my foot and banged it on the wall. For any normal person that may have heralded results. For Luna Blue? Oh no, that led to me jiggling my full bladder to the point that my bladder control was now reliant on a wing and prayer, or lots of prayers, and I’d hurt my foot– the good one. Actually, hurt wasn’t the word. I had a suspicion I might have done something worse to it. Could you break your heel?

Oh shit, I was going to have matching broken feet!

At that moment, there was a noise outside the door and then it opened and in walked a slightly… rotund man who didn’t look unlike the Monopoly man. This guy wasn’t letting me out of jail or telling me to pass go while he gave me money though. Instead, he was sweating profusely, enough to leave sweat patches on a suit jacket, and had acne scars on his face. Monolopy man also looked like he had kind eyes, whereas this guy looked like he’d set you on fire and then send a photo of it to your mother for Christmas with a bow on it. Creepy fucker!

“Ah, Luna,” he sneered, a bead of sweat pouring down his forehead as he stared at me.