Page 73 of No First Kisses

“Your mom would say the same,” I tell him honestly. “Ask her what she’d do to the jackass who killed Cassie. Or yours.” I spear Linc with a hard stare. “Ask your mother what she’d give to have Danny back.” I clear my throat before getting into the driver’s seat of my truck. “My mother’s just more honest about it. And she doesn’t give a shit if her revenge consumes her. None of us do.”

A flash of Lettie’s dead body, lying on my parents’ lawn, fills my mind.

“Actually.” I let go of the steering wheel. “Someone else needs to drive. I have some calls to make.”

“Holy shit,” Ian murmurs. “You’re calling in your debts.”

“Every single one of them.” I pull my phone out of my pocket and open my door, getting out so someone else can take over. “I don’t care if I have to go through my entire contact list and the entire chain of command until I get to the top of the pecking order.”

“Wait, what?” Dom is standing next to his truck, having missed what I said at first.

Ian slaps him on the shoulder. “Logan’s going full-out psycho.”

“Get in the truck,” I snap. “Gotta find her so I can bring her home and beg forgiveness. Then I gotta put my ring on her finger before anything else fuckin’ happens.”

“You’re gonna need her grandmother’s ring.” Dean stops me with a hand on my shoulder. “But you need to take a moment, Logan. Just one moment, to breathe.”

“I can’t.”

“You have to.” His hand tightens on my shoulder. “You don’t understand this right now, but we can’t make a mistake. He might be a fuckin’ idiot. But he was smart enough to get the jump on two of my men. Men who trained in the military, who have eyes in the back of their heads, who are used to creeping in the shadows. He killed them both.Even if he didn’t have my daughter, he’s on borrowed time.”

I nod, not knowing what else to do right then. I’m not going to stop or pause or do anything except go after him.

“Do they know where he’s at?” I walk around the back of the truck, and he follows me.

“No,” Dean admits. “He’s not using a smartphone or a car with tracking.”

“I know what to do.” I open the passenger door. “I’ll see you at my house. Hopefully I’ll have an answer by then.”

I get in, buckling my seat belt, and hit the green button next to the first person on my list and wait for the call to connect.

It goes to voicemail, like I expect.

After a five-second window of silence, I hear the beep and know he’ll be listening to my message.

“Callin’ in the big one, Niles.” I use his name, knowing it will piss him off. “The man who killed Lettie shot Bax and has my woman. My pregnant woman,” I add, then I lower my voice, even though I know he’ll hear it just as clearly. “He’s not on the radar. But he was at my house when he took her twelve hours ago. I know you’ve got satellites with the capability. I need to know where he’s got her. And I need you here, too. Make the trip. It’s an hour.”

Having lost his sister when she was pregnant, Niles and I bonded during a few clandestine missions. Now, he runs one of the most classified security firms in the entire country. Or the world, depending on which government you ask.

When I disconnect the call, Remy whistles from the back seat. “I can’t believe you called Niles. That guy’s scarier than you are.”

“No,” Ian counters with a glance over at me. “He’s not. He’s just more committed.”

I ignore them, pulling up the next contact, and hit the green button.

“Angelo,” I say when he answers with a bark. “Drop the tools and finish whatever job you’re on. I need you to make the trip from Mass.”

“Pierce.” His heavy Boston accent, mixed with the Irish lilt that he picked up from his family, filters through the speaker. “What’s the pahty fa?”

We both know he isn’t coming for a party. But Angelo Doyle is on more watchlists than most even know exist.

“Poppy. And Lettie,” I add.

Again and again, I make the same call.

Military connections, men whom I met when I was on mission, anyone who can get to Maine in less than six hours.

Until every favor on the eastern seaboard has been called in, and we are sitting in front of my house. The front door is just gone, and it is covered with yellow tape. There are bloodstains on the grass, on the path that leads to the stairs, and even on the porch.

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