Page 86 of August

Where the hell are you, Gigi?

Toth’s phone rang. “It’s Dare,” he announced, putting his brother on speakerphone. “Yeah?”

“The senator and his wife are at their home in Seattle.” Toth rattled off an address.

August quickly punched the street name and number into Maps on his phone. The automated voice kicked on. Fifteen minutes away. With Rami’s driving, it’d be less than that.

Satisfaction rippled through him. Someone would pay for the setup today, and if that someone was the shady senator, so be it.

Toth thanked his brother and disconnected. “You know he’s gonna have guards on duty. We’re gonna need to figure out what the plan is.”

“Kill every one of them.” August’s response came out hard and flat. He didn’t give a fuck about anything right now.

“That’s cool and all, but Sav’s pregnant. I’m going to be a dad in a few months, and I’d prefer not to spend that time in jail. So we’re going to need to do something else.”

August scrubbed his hand over his face, annoyance flaming his cheeks. He didn’t blame Toth one bit. August was asking a lot of them already. But Jesus, he couldn’t think. The only exchange his brain could conceive of was bullets for information.

“I agree,” Rami said. “We’ve got Tasers. We’ll go in quiet and take out the guards, but we’re not killing anyone on his property if we can help it.”

“Can’t promise that if Alvarez is there,” August fired back.

Rami exhaled through his nose. “Fair enough. But you want Gigi back before you do anything permanent.”

August rocked his jaw back and forth. Logically, he knew that. That was the hard part. Logic didn’t play well with love. “I like your idea,” he said slowly, taking great effort to regulate his voice—because if his friends knew how far gone he was, they probably would’ve left him at the side of the road.

“Are you gonna hit him again?” Rami asked wryly.

August shrugged. “Probably. I’ll give him the chance to fess up first.”

“And if he knows nothing? You know that’s possible, right?”

“Then he’d better hope Alvarez wants him alive because he’ll be our new bargaining chip.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Toth murmured.

August glanced at the back seat. “I wouldn’t worry too much. The guy’s laundering for the cartel on American soil. That’s decades of prison time. Us going to his house and roughing him up a bit is peanuts by comparison.”

Toth grunted and Rami shrugged in acknowledgment.

“Besides,” August added, “neither one of you would hesitate to do the same if Ivy or Sav were in Gigi’s position.”

“Nope, damn right about that,” Rami concurred.

Toth clapped August hard on the shoulder. “Glad to see you’ve finally admitted you’re in love with Gigi.”

August rolled out of Toth’s hold. “I didn’t admit shit to you. Anything I’ve got to say about my feelings for Gigi will be said to her.”

“You love her.”

August didn’t look behind him because Toth’s dumb grin would only annoy him.

Rami chuckled then stopped. “Ah, fuck. We’re going to be in-laws.”

Toth let out a laugh. “August is going to be your kids’ godfather.”

“Shut up, man,” Rami grumbled.

“You’ll get Gigi as a godmother out of the deal, so that’s good.”

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