Beneath These Lies (Beneath, #5)(78)

“I’m gonna get you home safe. Stay strong, duchess. I love you. Just hold on, and I’ll be there. I’m coming for you.”

I ended the call and slammed a fist into the wall. How the f*ck did this happen? She was supposed to be locked up safe inside her house.

Didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting her back.

My phone buzzed in my hand. A call. My first thought was Valentina. But it wasn’t.

It was another unknown number.

I answered. “This is Rix, and if you got my woman, then you’re gonna die.”

A dark chuckle met my ears. “I’m not worried about dying today, but you should be worried about how long she’ll live. She’s a feisty one. I can see the appeal. You don’t cooperate, then I’m gonna let my guys feel the appeal when they f*ck her on her hands and knees, tied up and screaming for you. They like the fighters.”

He would die. They would all die.

There was no other alternative.

I didn’t care what he wanted, but I held back my threats because I needed to know where he was. The voice, I recognized. Same piece of shit who’d been running weak game for years. He’d stepped up, and now he would die. Trio, a lieutenant of the FNDs, would not live to see the sunrise. He didn’t need to identify himself because I’d recognize his rough voice anywhere.

“What the f*ck do you want?”

“What I’ve wanted since you left two of my guys dead and three as good as dead. Blood.”

“Then you come after my blood, not someone else’s, cocksucker.”

He laughed, and I gritted my teeth. Hennessy was off his stool and leaning against the pool table beside me.

“Hers spills just as easy.”

“Fuck you, you want a trade? Is that what you want?” I demanded. I wouldn’t let her bleed another drop for me.

“You know I’ll take your blood any day, but tonight, if you want her back, you’re gonna bring me money too. A f*ck ton of it. I know you got it. You got two hours.”

The amount he rattled off was big. So f*cking big that if he’d given me a couple of days, I could get my hands on it, but not in two hours. No f*cking way. Shit.

“You bring it or she dies. Slowly. Painfully. Bloody. After my guys have had their fill. Your choice.”

Rage roiled through my veins like napalm. I would destroy him.

“If anyone touches a single hair on her head, I swear to God I will gut you all like the spineless f*cks you are.”

His laugh met my ears again. “I got all the cards here. Bring the money or I’ll leave her body in the gutter.”

“Where?”

The address memorized as soon as it was out of his mouth, I walked to the bar and grabbed a napkin and pen off someone’s credit card folder and scribbled it down. I wouldn’t take a single chance of getting this wrong.

It was a familiar street. On the lake. I knew the general vicinity, and it didn’t make sense for the FNDs to be setting up shop in such a nice hood. They were trash. Crack houses were more their style than lake houses.

But the step up gave credence to the rumors I’d been hearing on the street—the ones I knew Hennessy would be very interested in. The FNDs were running the drug ring he was trying to bring down, and they had to be in bed with the cartel. The only reason Trio would need to get his hands on that kind of cash was if some serious bad shit was going down and he was f*cked without it.

“I’ll be there.”

The line went dead and I lowered my phone to the bar, fighting the urge to smash it and follow it up with my fists the way Hennessy had with the door at the warehouse. I glanced at the wall I’d already punched. I hadn’t left a mark, but I would now. I would tear this place down with my bare hands if it would get her back, but right now I couldn’t afford to waste the energy. Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting Valentina back. And vengeance.

“What the f*ck is going on?” Hennessy asked from beside me.

I had a decision to make. Go it alone, bringing half the cash and as many guys as I could assemble in the next two hours, or let Hennessy in on what was going down. I would do anything to get Valentina back quicker and safer. I knew the moment I told him the FNDs had her, he’d make this his problem and the problem of the NOPD.

I made my choice.

The FNDs would never expect a SWAT team.

I turned to Hennessy. “We’re going back to the station, and you’re gonna get that promotion you’ve been after because you’re gonna bust a drug ring and help me get my woman back.”

At the mention of Valentina, Hennessy’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell did you get her into now?”

“I’ll explain on the way.”





STAY STILL. DON’T BREAK.

The words repeated like a mantra in my head as my body shook and I dug my nails into my shins, willing my body to stay curled into the ball I’d wrapped myself in. I needed the pain.

Memories and flashbacks of that night bombarded me. The dark, deserted road. When he pulled off onto the shoulder. My questions. His hand across my face. The door wrenching open and my nails clawing at the seat as he dragged me out and threw me in the back, tearing at my clothes.

Tremors of fear rattled my teeth with their strength. Tears mixed with the dried blood on my face and hands. I was pathetic. Helpless. Useless. Defenseless.