Page 19 of Hendrix

“Who knows? She went dark after she sold the salon to Tris and moved away. He insists on keeping the lines of communication open, but even Tristan’s been struggling to stay in contact. It turns out that when she married that dude, he took over every aspect of her life. He doesn’t like her to work, he won’t let her visit, the fucker even controls who she’s friends with.”

My body locked. “What the fuck? Why didn’t anyone tell me this sooner?”

“Didn’t know until a couple of days ago,” he stated. “Gotta say, I felt uncomfortable with it as soon as Cara came to me. I never liked the dude she married. He was too slick.”

I didn’t like the dude she’d married, either. I’d met him one time, and I could honestly say I’d never wanted to throat punch anybody more. I assumed it was because he was the dude who came after me, the one who got my girl, but now Cash was telling me this bullshit, and I wished I’d listened to my instincts. The urge had gone from wanting to throat punch the asshole to grabbing a few guns, jumping on my bike, and riding up to Pennsylvania and shooting him in the balls.

“If that motherfucker’s laid a finger on her I’ll put him in the ground,” I snarled. “I let her go without a fight ‘cause, after the shit I’d done to her, she deserved a better man. I wasn’t ready for her then, brother. I had my own shit to work through; plus, the whole Ace thing had recently happened, and I was off my game. But if I let her walk away from me only to enter a lion’s den, I’ll lose my shit.” My tone lowered. “I told him, Cash. I warned him what would happen if he pulled her into that mess.”

“Yeah, I’m not happy with the setup, either, but keep it together, brother,” Cash ordered. “I don’t know for sure if anythin’ bad’s even happened. Tristan called a half hour ago. He spoke to Anna last night, and he’s asked to come in and see me. I’ll clue you in as soon as our meet’s finished.”

I scraped a hand across my chin. “Don’t gotta good feelin’ about this. I’ll admit to ya, I’ve been doin’ some digging of my own. Been tryin’ to keep an eye on Anna from afar. Don’t like what I’ve found.”

Cash heaved out a resigned breath. “It pains me to admit it, Drix, but I don’t either, but I’m ordering you as your National Prez to stand down until we know more. If Anna’s in trouble, there’s no question we’ll extract her from it, but we do it smart, without it comin’ back to bite us in the ass.” The next pause was so loaded I could almost feel it through the phone line. “Breaker’s on his way to Rock Springs airport. He’s flyin’ out to you.”

That one took me by complete surprise, and my head reared back in shock. “Why?”

I heard Cash’s breath expel from his lungs. “We did some digging into Anna’s husband. Seems he’s tied to the Polish Mafia.”

Bile rose through my throat, and I closed my eyes in an effort to swallow it down. “I know.”

Cash’s silence was almost deafening. “You did?”

“There’s nothin’ I don’t know about Antoni Lis,” I muttered. “I had Colt check him out when he first came on the scene. The Lis brothers have been on the FBI’s radar for a while. Anna’s husband’s their money man, but she seemed happy, so I let sleeping dogs lie.”

“If we need to get Anna outta there, it’ll take some planning,” he pointed out. “We also need to keep our involvement on the down-low, and my brother’s the best man we’ve got at covering our tracks.”

“You forget, my VP trained him,” I argued.

“He did,” Cash agreed. “But even he admits Breaker has more field experience under his belt. Blade knows his stuff like no other, but Breaker’s instincts border on animalistic when he shuts down and goes into soldier mode.” He let out a quiet snort. “Never seen anythin’ like it, brother. This isn’t a debate, Drix. The Wyoming chapter is invested in Anna. Our women are up in arms with worry, and you know we go to the ends of the earth to make our ol’ ladies happy.”

I almost rolled my eyes because I remembered a time when every one of those boys used to be the biggest dog dicks in Wyoming. Even when they finally met their women, they all fucked up in one way or another, especially Cash; though to be fair, that seemed to be my MO these days, too.

If we had to mount a rescue, having Breaker on board wouldn’t be a hardship. He was an elite soldier and had more focus than any man I’d seen. He also wouldn’t hesitate to slit a throat or two if the need arose.

“When’s his plane landing?” I asked.

“He’ll be with you later today. I’ll get the flight details sent to Colt. Fender will be there on Friday. He’s leaving today and driving over with the kids. They’re gonna take in some country on the way. You got somewhere he can stay until he gets a place sorted?”

“Got a cottage in the grounds that would be perfect for him and his kids. There’s no time limit on how long he can stay. They can move in permanently if it works for them. Needs clearing and a lick of paint but I can get Gopher on it, and Carina will love being let loose to furnish the place.”

“Cool,” Cash murmured. “I’ll get everythin’ pinged over to Colt, but please wait for Breaker. We’ll form a plan when we know more about where Anna is and what it’ll take to break her outta there. Until then, hang tight and don’t go off half-cocked. If her husband’s a part of what I think he is, we’ll need to play it smart ‘cause we won’t be dealing with a two-bit criminal. They call it organized crime ‘cause they’re goddamned fuckin’ organized, which means we’ve gotta be, too.”

Every instinct screamed at me to indeed go off half-cocked and tug my woman out of the sitch she was in, but the rational part of my brain knew Cash was right.

If Anna was in trouble, we’d need to formulate the plan of a lifetime because the mission to make her safe would be the most important one I’d ever undertaken.”

“Got it, Prez,” I muttered.

“I’ll be in touch,” Cash vowed, then the line clicked and went dead.

I tipped my head back.

What the fuck?

The day I’d stood on a hillside with my heart bleeding out from my chest and watched Anna marry another man, I did it with the intention of giving her the greatest gift I could.

A happy life.

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