Page 38 of Marked

“All right! Yes, dammit!”

“Yes, what?”

“I’m leading the ring. With Conrad awaiting trial and the other members being closely watched, I had to step up. T-They gave me no choice.”

The name immediately struck Sophia. Conrad Hornick was Nash’s adoptive father. He’d used the Lionsgate Kinship group home to traffic children over the years, and Lexi and Nash had secured enough evidence to have him arrested.

Unfortunately, that clearly hadn’t stopped the organization. Disgust roiled in Sophia’s gut. She clamped her hand to her chest and wavered on her feet.

Cole reached into his back pocket, keeping his gun trained on Lawson, and pulled out his phone. “Have you seen this little girl?” He knelt, aiming the screen toward Lawson.

“I-I’ve seen lots of kids.”

Cole placed his phone on the ground then slammed his fist into Lawson’s face.

Whack!

Tension spun Sophia’s insides into a knotted ball of yarn. Part of her wanted Cole to keep going, to get the answers this guy clearly held, but the other part revolted at such brutality.

“Should we go for that femur next?”

Lawson trembled. Spit mixed with blood oozed from his lips. “N-No. Let me see again.”

Cole lifted his phone and Lawson nodded.

“I saw her. Briefly.”

Hope inflated Sophia’s lungs. Fresh, burning tears sprang to her eyes.

“All I wanted was cooperation.” Cole grabbed Lawson’s arm and hauled him into a sitting position, letting the guy lean against the desk.

Lawson wiped his face with his flannel shirt, mopping up the sweat and blood. Cole stayed bent and rested his elbow on his knee. “Spit it out. Everything you know.”

“They didn’t tell me much. Just that she wasn’t like the others. They said they’d keep her close to town.”

Sophia inched her way forward, dropping to the ground near Lawson. Hate and rage coursed through her veins, hot and ferocious. But this man was her only hope of finding Bella before it was too late. “Please. That’s my little girl. Where is she?”

He grimaced, but his eyes were void of remorse. “I don’t know if they’re still keeping her at the location. I was there last night and saw her, but—”

Sophia lurched closer to Cole. “Where?”

Lawson flicked his gaze to his worker, who was standing at the wall, tears running down her face, then to Cole and back to Sophia. “You know they’ll kill me, right? They’ll—”

Cole shot out his hand, closing his fingers around Lawson’s windpipe. “I’ll do a helluva lot worse than kill you if you don’t give me the location right fucking now.”

The shade of Lawson’s face shifted from red to purple. His lips contorted and his tongue thrust forward as he choked on a plea. Cole relaxed his grip but didn’t let go.

“The farmhouse,” he gasped. “The address is on my phone.”

Cole indicated for Lawson to pull his phone from his pocket. Lawson scrolled through the device then handed it to Cole, who took a picture of the screen with his own phone. Then he passed Lawson’s phone to Sophia. “We’ll keep that. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Don’t tell them you heard from me!” Lawson wailed.

Cole lifted an indifferent shoulder. “I’ll let you tell them yourself.” He dropped the gun to Lawson’s thigh and pulled the trigger.

Crack!

Lawson let out a scream of agony. Blood exploded onto the laminate floor.

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