Page 43 of Bratva Wolf

Fingers speaks through the speaker. “I’ve found the cousin. He’s at a truck stop outside Baltimore.”

I growl. “Fuck, that’s three hours from here.” I don’t wait for anyone to speak before I get back into my SUV. Wystan gets into his, and we all head back to the interstate.

Marco asks. “Can your hacker share the man’s phone GPS somy men in Florida can come from the South?”

I relay the suggestion to Fingers who texts the information to Marco.

Marco smirks. “I won’t ask how he knew my phone number.”

I shrug as I gun the engine in my SUV. “He’s the best.”

Marco gets off his phone as I pull onto the interstate. “Our men are leaving Miami and heading North on I-95. They’ll track the truck from the South.”

My jaw aches from the pressure of gritting my teeth. “They’ll have to stop and sleep, right?”

“You’d think so. Hopefully, they’ll stay near the highway, and we’ll be able to catch up with them.”

They’ve got a three-hour head start. She’s been with them for too long already. My head aches as I think about what could be happening to Red.

Chapter 12

SCARLET

The truck lurches to a hard stop after a turn. We’re parking. A few moments later, the back opens and lights from a parking lot shine into the truck. Men speak in Spanish as one jumps up into the truck, storming inside. He’s much bigger than the other men I’ve seen during this nightmare. His cold demeanor reminds me of the evil patrons that always made me nervous at the club.

He counts the women in the truck and finishes at eighteen. There are eighteen of us in here. A flashlight shines in my face. “You’re a pretty one. Is that hair real?”

I don’t react.

He casts his light around the truck at the other eighteen women. We’ve been picking up more women as we’ve driven. This is a regular thing that these men do.

He reaches down and pulls me off the floor. “You smell.”

I think of quippy remarks I could make to tell him he deservesnothing less than the smell of old urine, but I keep silent. Another man corrals the other women out the door and into a panel van. The man shoves me from the truck, and I land on the hard asphalt. Oh God, my baby. I hit hard on my side, feeling my shoulder pop.

He chuckles as he speaks with a heavy Spanish accent. “Get used to this. I’m keeping you for a while.”

I’m the last one crammed inside the van, tears streaming down my face from the burning around my shoulders.

“Sit there silently and don’t cause any trouble.” A second man climbs into the passenger seat with a gun as the larger man pulls the van away from the motel parking lot.

Women whimper and cry. It can’t be a good sign that they didn’t blindfold us or anything. My arms have lost feeling, but my shoulder has a red-hot poker jamming it as we drive. Every bump in the road adds to the pain. I can’t stand it anymore. A looming sign pops up into view that welcomes us to the Outer Banks. We’re in North Carolina. How the hell is Thane going to find me now?

“Scarlet?” Something touches me, and my eyes ping open, searching for the threat. My movement jars my body, and I cry out.

“We’ve stopped.” Renee’s head jerks around the van. “What’s going to happen?”

I grit my teeth and swallow the bile in my throat. “We’re going to survive. Don’t do anything, yet. Let them think we’re too afraid to fight.”

The van door opens and both men grab at us. The man with the gun hits one of the women fighting to stay in the van. “I’ll kill her and then the next one.”

The women stop moving and shift to exit the side door.

They parked the van in the garage, closing the door. They lead us into the house through the door. I cry out as the larger mangrabs my arm. He looks at me, yanking a knife from his sheathe on his waistband and slicing through the zip tie. He moves my arm as I scream.

“Dislocated.” He pushes me against the wall in the walkway by the kitchen. “Stand here.”

The two men open the door behind the laundry room and herd the women down the stairs. I start to move as the man glares at me. I stop. My heart is telling my feet to run but my head is yelling I’ll just fall down and hurt myself more.

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