Page 66 of The Broker

“Isaac was taken.”

Those three little words shot like a cannon into his chest. All of his fears suddenly came to life.

His mind separated from his body. He felt like he was standing outside himself, watching Matteo talk to him, but wasn’t hearing any of it.

Taken.

Someone had taken Isaac.

His cheery, sweet-faced, pain-in-the-ass little ball of energy had been kidnapped.

Then, a more terrifying thought entered his mind.

What if they hurt him? What if they killed him? What if he never got to see that mischievous smiling face ever again?

Who? Who would do such a thing?

From a distance, he heard someone speak his name.

“Jared?”

It was Matteo’s voice.

“Jared!” Matteo said with much more force this time, grabbing him by the arms and giving him a shake.

Jared finally snapped out of it. His mind rejoined his body, and his senses began to fire once again.

“Taken? By whom?” Jared asked, still in shock and unable to process what was going on around him.

“It was a large man in a ski mask. I think it was his brother or one of his goons.”

That got Jared’s full attention.

“His brother? Here?” Anger flared inside Jared’s belly.

How dare that fucker!

“That explains why Raj went all ape-shit. He was trying to protect his family,” Matteo added.

Anger and love flooded Jared’s body. Anger at theballsy fuckerwho broke into their home and kidnapped his man; love at the loyal beast who broke out of his cage in an attempt to protect the person they all loved.

Raj was getting a lifetime of treats and belly rubs once they rescued Isaac.

“I’m going to kill that fucker when I find him. If he so much as touches a hair on Isaac’s head…” He was too riled up to finish his sentence.

“I know. Trust me, that piece of shit is going to suffer. Let’s go to my office. Chase and the others are already there discussing strategy.”

Jared nodded, darting quickly into his room to throw on some joggers and a T-shirt.

When they entered Matteo’s office, Chase was huddled over a tablet while Levi paced around the room like a madman.

“Jared!” Levi shouted, then ran over to him once he entered the room. “They… they took him!” Levi sobbed into his shoulder.

Feeling Levi’s pain, Jared wrapped an arm around his friend and tried to comfort him.

“Don’t worry, we’re going to get our boy back.” He hoped his words were true.

He didn’t know much about Isaac’s brother other than the fact that he was a sick bastard who kidnapped and raped women. Oh yeah, then held them captive for nine months until they gave birth, at which point he would steal their baby and sell it to the highest bidder.

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