Page 47 of August

She sucked in a shaky breath. “If they went through all that trouble to send a message, what will they do when they don’t get what they want?” Her voice was tiny but filled with larger-than-life fear.

August’s scowl deepened. “They’ll find the end of my gun, that’s what.”

He cradled her head to his chest, but his promise didn’t squash the agitation coursing through her veins.

The cartel would stop at nothing to get to her. And August’s plan—whatever that was—could get him killed.

There was no way out of this.

CHAPTER 15

August sat at the small desk in the bedroom where he’d made love to Gigi only hours before. Christ, he hated seeing her so broken, blaming herself for this mess. She hadn’t said as much, but her tears had spoken volumes. Anger infused his cells as he brought up the program Toth had sent him.

Thankfully, their grocery order had arrived and Gigi had been distracted by all the food. Light had filled her eyes at the prospect of using a kitchen for the first time in months. He hadn’t known what the hell to order, so he’d gotten just about everything she might want to cook. If he’d known a grocery delivery would’ve brought such a big smile to her face, he’d have ordered the whole damn store.

With her occupied, he could work on his bait: Todd. The cock-sucking little weasel couldn’t be far, and when August got his hands on him, he’d rip out the coward’s trachea for all the grief he’d caused Gigi.

August’s phone vibrated on the desk. Picking up the device, he swiped to answer Toth’s call. “Got it, thanks.”

“You know how to use it?”

August stared at the screen full of labels and features. “Not a fucking clue.”

Toth snorted. “Figured. It took Dare like a month to teach me the ropes. You sure you don’t want me to do it?”

A muscle at August’s temple jumped. Having Toth complete this task would certainly make the process easier, but August had a sick motive. “I’d like honors of finding this fuck.”

“All right. Considering the circumstances, I don’t blame you. I emailed you Todd’s driver’s license photo. You’ll need to set the match percentage. This’ll help filter through the options.” Toth gave him a few more instructions while August uploaded Todd’s photo into the program.

“How long’s it going to take?” August asked.

“That depends. If you have any idea where he could be, this will move a lot faster. Otherwise, there’s nothing to go by. It’s not like he just fled yesterday and we can hack into street cameras. He’s been hiding for months, and if he’s any good at it... well, this won’t be an easy job.”

August tapped his middle finger on the desk in time with his racing thoughts. “What about bank records? Phone calls to friends and family?”

“All a good start. It’s just not going to be quick.”

Shit. If they wanted Todd soon, they’d need more hands on deck. “Can we get more people on this?” They didn’t have weeks or months to find this guy. Without Todd, they had no leverage over the cartel—except Gigi, of course, but he sure wasn’t looking down that fucking road.

“Backcountry’s slammed, but Dare can probably lend a hand. And maybe the new guy will have some know-how on finding someone under the radar.”

“You mean Ghost or Brick?”

The two men had started working for the company not long after Gigi went into witness protection, but they were both out of the country on government contracts Toth had acquired, so August had yet to meet them.

“Brick’s still in Germany, but Ghost just got back from Canada, I think.”

“All right. I’ll take all the help I can get, but I can’t make it to the office.” No way in hell he was leaving Gigi, even with someone from Backcountry.

Toth tsked. “I’ll get a group over there to discuss. How about lunchtime?”

August flicked his gaze to the clock. It was over an hour until noon, which was time he didn’t want to waste. “That’s fine,” he said grudgingly.

They disconnected, and August stared at Todd’s goofy face on his computer screen. Wire-rimmed glasses surrounded small brown eyes set in a thin bone structure. What the hell had Gigi seen in him?

All right, so Todd wasn’t an ogre. A lot of women would find his clean-cut, businesslike appearance attractive. But the dude was so different from him. The fact that Todd had been inside August’s woman, touched her naked body, kissed her mouth that was made for him, woke up to her pretty face every morning for almost two years—fuck.

Jealousy pulsed behind his eyelids, the pressure so great he had to squeeze them shut. He balled his hand into a fist and fought the urge to chuck the computer out the twenty-third-story window. Instead, he’d find the bastard and make him suffer for his actions.

---