Page 1 of High Stakes

PROLOGUE

HECTOR

2 Months Ago

“What the hell are you still doing here?” Tobias says, shock coloring his tone. He leans against the doorframe of the security office that I am currently sulking in.

“What do you mean?” I mutter without looking away from the screen in front of me. I watch the small squares on the monitor as they shift to various locations in our safe-house and casino.

“I’m going to kill her,” he nearly shouts, and slams his hand down onto the table. “For fuck’s sake! Why can’t she just do what she’s told for once in her Goddamn life?”

His anger makes me turn to look at him, and it feels like I’ve been sucker punched when I meet his gaze. His eyes are full of fear. “Where is she?” I ask slowly, and start the process of clicking my way through the series of screens to get to her security feed. I close window after window, and with each click the feeling of dread gets heavier in the pit of my stomach.

“She took the Russian hit job,” Tobias sighs, and scrubs his face with his hands. “I told her to take backup. I assumed she would come and collect you.”

That feeling of dread in my stomach turns into a molten pit of fear and anger. I continue to click as fast as I can until I pull up her main camera feed on her helmet. “Fuck,” I hiss through clenched teeth as I magnify the image. “She’s at Port Annalise.”

“If they don’t kill her before we get there,” he says slowly and turns to leave. “I’m going to be sure to murder her when we get back.”

Tobias Emerson and I don’t typically see eye-to-eye, but this is something that I can wholeheartedly agree on.

He pulls out his cell to call in backup, but I just shake my head. “Don’t bother. I’ll grab Marcus on the way out. He’s always ready to go, and we can get there faster than a large group.”

Tobias nods once and disappears down the hall without another word. I turn and head for the bar to gather Marcus and my weapons.

“Tell me again what’s happened?”Marcus twirls a knife between his fingers absently as I speed down the highway, weaving in and out of cars that have no business being on the road at all. “Why are you in the vroom vroom lane if you aren’t going to go vroom vroom?” He shouts at a SUV as I swing around them.

I roll my eyes and grip the wheel until my knuckles turn white. “She took a hit assignment from the Russians without backup. There’s been a lot of shit going down with the other groups and we think she’s not safe.”

“That bitch is never safe,” he mutters fondly, and slips his knife into the sheath, only to pull out a gun instead. “She handles herself just fine all the other times. She’s put you in your place a time or two,” Marcus quips with a chuckle.

I clench my jaw and twist my fists around the wheel. “Sometimes I pull my punches,” I admit quietly, and almost wince at the guilt burning up my throat like acid reflux.

Marcus hisses through his teeth. “She’s going to surely shoot you if she ever finds out.” His fingers press bullet after bullet into the clip in his hand. “But I get it. I don’t think I’d have the balls to hit the woman I’ve been hot for since I was old enough to beat off.”

“I do not have the hots for my boss,” I groan, and cut my eyes to the passenger door. If I could reach the handle while we were taking a sharp turn, then he would just roll right out. “She’s a great boss and I swore to protect her. I can’t protect her and simultaneously beat the shit out of her.”

“Right right,” Marcus says with another chuckle. “There!” His finger points at a spot just behind a row of shipping containers. “I see her bike. She must already be inside.”

Before we even get out of the car, my eyes catch movement along the dock. I watch in horror as five men carry a very limp woman dressed in black riding gear out of a side door and deposit her into the trunk of a blacked out SUV. My heart drops through the floorboard and shatters on the pavement beneath me.

They already have her.

I failed her.

They took her from me before I even had the chance to have her.

I inhale sharply and throw the car into reverse. Marcus reaches up and grabs the ‘oh shit’ handle before he actually does roll out of the car. “New plan. Call Tobias.”

Marcus relays a cliff note version of what just happened to Tobias as I try to keep up with the SUV, but I lose them after seven turns and two stop lights.

“Fuck!” I shout and hit the steering wheel with my fists. Marcus opens his mouth to speak, but I cut him off with a glare. “I’m not going back to the compound right now! She’s out there somewhere with those fucking dicks.”

Marcus throws up his hands in surrender and says nothing. His phone chirps, breaking the tense silence. “What’s up?” he answers smoothly, and nods thoughtfully. His teeth sink into his bottom lip as he makes eye contact with me, and I know from that look in his eyes that I’m not going to like it. “I’ll tell him.”

“Tell me what?” I ask cautiously.

“The Irish have her. Security was able to pull a few seconds off her body camera before it went dead.”

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