Page 128 of The Vigilant

“Why would he do that?” I murmured.

“Why does it matter?” Rob snapped like a statue coming to life. “He’s a criminal. They’re criminals. Maybe this is some kind of turf war that we’re in the middle of. Maybe Remington wants to be the sole distributor for GrowTech’s brand of heroin.”

“No, I doubt that. Not the way he helped bring down so many men associated with Belmont?—”

“It. Doesn’t. Matter,” Rob clipped, glaring up at Tynan. “What matters is that we are running out of time to find Mara. We have the address of the warehouse and a way to contact Carson—to lure him out. But how?”

I stiffened. “Give him something he wants.” I paused. “Me.”

Their eyes slid to me. Rob’s gaze was curious. Tynan’s was also curious but spelled with an F.

“You heard him. The Straw Sandal said those men weren’t sent to kill me, but kidnap me,” I began. “Shazad wants me, and Carson wants to get rid of me. I’m the loose end that appeases his business associates.”

“And if he lied? If he wants you dead?” Tynan growled, and I could hear a protest brewing in his chest.

“A dead woman isn’t nearly as valuable as a captive one,” I said low, the idea twisting my stomach into a knot. But it was the truth. Men like this…death would be a backup plan if he could make a pretty penny selling me to some twisted fuck who wanted to lock me up and brutalize me.

“It’s a good plan. Dangerous but good,” Rob weighed in, but my eyes were only on Tynan as he came toward me.

He didn’t stop until our feet interlocked and my chest ran into the wall of his every time I tried to take a breath.

“I don’t like it,” he said low.

I lifted my hand and flattened it on his left pec. “I know,” I said softly, not missing the resignation in his voice. He knew this was the best option.

“I’m going with you.”

Relief made my chest deflate, but it was the look in his eyes that brought the increasingly familiar burn of tears to my eyes.

He wasn’t going to try and stop me. He wasn’t going to take me out of this fight.

He was my Zeus. Placing me in the star-studded sky to hunt my prey.

“I know.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sutton

Ihave the girl.

Bring her to the warehouse on Friday. I’ll give him both then.

What’s going on with Remington?

My associate will bring her. I will handle Remington.

You better.

I’d watched him send the messages—watched as he sealed in place the plan that offered me up as bait. And then I spent the last six days by his side and the last six nights in his arms.

Each day, we planned and reviewed and prepared for the meet, bouncing ideas off of the other Vigilante members until it felt like we had something solid.

Creed and Dare spent the last six days in the city, surveilling the warehouse. Entrances, exits, security, cameras…we had it mapped the best we could, but if I was being honest, there wasn’t much externally that made it all that different from the other warehouses in the dock.

But that was the point. They didn’t want it to stand out. Not for what they intended to use it for.

For six days, with the help of one of Robyn’s associates whose brother had been a member of the Wah Ching, Tynan fended off messages and questions that came into the Straw Sandal’s phone; our prisoner still languished in one of the back rooms, his wounds patched up…enough to keep him stable.

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