Mark (Mallick Brothers 3)

There hadn't been one single indication that she was thinking of running off. In fact, she didn't even take her shit with her. For chrissakes, Nugget was still in his coop out back. I mean, not that her lifestyle seemed conducive to dragging a chicken around with her, but it was just another thing that didn't make sense.

All I knew was she was meeting with her brothers.

And then she never came home.

At first, I just shrugged it off, did some cooking and some cleaning, flicked through the channels. I figured they just got caught up looking at places or just catching up. Didn't matter how short I intended a visit to be with one of my brothers, it always ended up being an hour.

But then she never came home.

And it was the next evening, and I was fucking freaking the fuck out.

Because it just didn't add up.

And I was starting to think I should have been out on the town looking for her, seeing if anyone had seen her or her brothers, trying to find out if she just simply spooked and ran again or something else entirely happened.

That was the thought that finally stopped my useless pacing and threw me out my front door and walking to town. I had contacts everywhere. And thanks to the fact that she had let me snap a couple of pics of her the night after I ate food off of her entire body before eating her pussy until she made the dog next door howl from her screaming, I had something to show to all the people I knew in town to get some info.

I had barely just walked out of The Henchmen compound when something stopped me dead in my tracks. At first, I thought it had been a trick of the light, or my own wishful thinking.

But when I stopped and turned fully, there was no mistaking it.

One of Scotti's brothers was still in Navesink Bank.

And there wasn't anything tense about him to suggest he was frantically trolling the streets looking for signs of his missing sister.

No, in fact, he was chatting up some girl outside of my fucking father's bar. Calm as could be.

I saw fucking red.

Which was what had me charging across the street without even looking, grabbing him by the throat to the sound of the woman shrieking, and shoving him down the back alley where I held him against the wall.

"Where the fuck is she?" I demanded, pulling him forward slightly, then slamming him back against the unyielding brick again.

"Fuck, man," Rush hissed, shaking his head as much as my hand around his throat would allow.

"You know what I do for a living. You know I will fuck your shit up if you don't open that goddamn mouth and give me some answers. I've been fucking worried sick all goddamn day. Where is she?"

"New York," he offered a bit too easily. And I knew it had nothing to do with the threat of bodily harm because a) he was a guy who could handle himself and b) he was too loyal to give in so easily. Likely, he had picked up on the desperation seeping out of me, the bone-deep need to know. "She's in New York with King."

"Why the fuck would she be in New York with King and not answering her phone when she should be home with me and her chicken?"

Okay.

That sounded ridiculous.

Which explained the deep chuckle and the amused smirk that Rush offered me even though I was cutting off half of his air.

Realizing that was no longer necessary, I lessened my grip then released him, falling back on the wall behind me, exhaling hard.

"Talk to me."

"We were walking down the street, and Nixon noticed the same cop car go by us slow twice. We tried to shrug that off. But then they came back a third time. We didn't know what the fuck was going down, so everyone panicked and took off."

Well.

That did sort of explain it.

It wasn't exactly wrong for them to be a bit paranoid when the NBPD was acting like they actually gave a shit about their job. They didn't. It was weird to see them patrolling at all.

That being said, why not call me? Why not share the plan? Why just up and disappear and shut off her phone?

"She thinks she is going to drag you down into her mess with her," Rush announced, somehow reading my wayward thoughts.

"What?" I snapped, head shooting up.

Rush shrugged a shoulder. "Look, I think it's a little whacked. I mean, for fuck's sake, you're a goddamn loanshark. And that isn't exactly a secret around these parts. It's not like you're looking down on her or worrying that she will bring the law down on you. But that is where her head is at. She thinks she is protecting you by staying away."