Half Empty (First Wives, #2)(85)

Avery pushed to her feet and limped over to see.

“Who sent you this text?”

“I don’t recognize the number.”

Cooper put his gun away and picked up his phone as the one in Trina’s hand rang.

It was Lori.

“Reed just got a text.”

“So did I.”

“Ruslan is in Vegas.”

Trina tried to calm her breathing down. “I know. What do we do?”

“Reed will be on a plane and in Vegas before the show lets out.”

The phone beeped in her hand, and Trina pulled it away from her ear to see who was trying to break through. “It’s from that number again. A video call.”

Trina didn’t hesitate as she disconnected with Lori and picked up from the anonymous caller. She half expected to see her ex-father-in-law on the other side of the line.

She didn’t.

Sasha’s image flickered into place. “Are you both there?”

“I am.” Trina heard Reed’s voice but didn’t see his face.

“I am,” Trina said.

The noise in the background where Sasha was calling blared into the phone.

“First thing. Calm the hell down. I have him in my sight. Second . . . get off your fucking phones. I can’t jam all your shit at once. Reed, you’re secure, Trina’s phone isn’t on the map yet. I take it someone yakked on a text about the information at the bank.”

“Lori took pictures.”

“Which means Ruslan knows what you have on him.” Sasha had a half smile on her face. “And he’s nervous.”

“What is he doing there, Sasha?” Reed asked.

“Right now he is watching the cowboy’s show from the back east end of the arena.”

“He isn’t there for a social visit.”

“No, he’s grasping at a lifeline. How soon will you be here, Reed?”

“I’m getting in my car now, forty minutes in the air once I’m on a plane. I’m an hour and a half out, sooner if I can push the pilot.”

“Bring reinforcements. He’s reaching the end of his freedom, and he won’t go out alone if he can take someone with him. He has tabs on all of you. Radar on the locations of your phones, texts, and e-mails. Lori, Avery, Shannon, Wade . . . everyone. The only secure contacts are these three lines. Do I make myself clear?”

Trina couldn’t stop shaking.

“Yes.”

“He has five men. Two flanking him, two on the side of his main man.”

“We need to warn Wade,” Reed said.

“I’ll take care of that. Telephone conversations only. No texting, no e-mails. Now get on the plane, Reed. You owe me. This is going down tonight. It ends, tonight!”

Just when Trina was about to hang up, Sasha spoke to her in Russian. “I have waited a lifetime for this day, don’t panic and fuck everything up.”

“Don’t let anything happen to him,” Trina pleaded.

Sasha hung up without comment.





Chapter Thirty

He loved his job. The screaming women calling his name and telling him they wanted to have his babies, the men waving their hats in the air, his audience never got old. From ballads to songs meant to swing your honey around the dance floor, Wade sang and danced around on the stage. Much as he tried to pick out a face here or there toward the back of the crowd, he couldn’t make out much past the first ten or twenty rows. Those fans screaming and taking videos of him in the first few were given plenty of winks and smiles.

Before he finished his fourth song, Wade tracked a familiar face in the second row.

What was Jordyn doing there?

The woman didn’t know when to quit.

He didn’t think anything outside of putting a ring on Trina’s finger would stop her from trying. Even then, he could see Jordyn flirting with a push-up bra and a smile.

Wade shook his head when she made eye contact, and then directed his attention beyond the second row.

The band worked their way into the fifth song, and Wade lost himself in the music. Forty minutes into his set, Sebastian began his drum solo, giving the three of them a couple of minutes offstage.

“The crowd’s on fire,” Luke said when one of the stagehands gave him a cold water.

Wade found Jeb within spitting distance. “How are we doin’?”

Jeb gave him a thumbs-up.

“I saw Jordyn down there. You know about her being here?”

Jeb shook his head. “I can keep her away if you want.”

“No. I’ll take care of it after the show.”

“You got it, Boss.”

Wade rolled his eyes while someone handed him a fresh shirt. He stripped down to his jeans and shoved his arms in right as Sebastian was finishing up. He managed one button before taking the stage again.

The ladies roared.

You can look, he mused. But I have someone special that gets to touch.

They played into the second half of the show.

When Wade scanned the first couple of rows, Jordyn wasn’t there.

Maybe she got the hint.

Or maybe she was waiting in the wings to corner him.

Unable to help himself, Wade sang his way to the left side of the stage and glanced toward Jeb. A woman was walking away, but Wade couldn’t tell who she was.