Page 6 of Twisted Empire

Logan motioned to my phone. “What are you waiting for? Make that call!”

In spite of everything, a tiny spark of warmth lit in the midst of the turmoil gripping my chest. They were counting on me, cooperating with me. Working with me rather than shutting me out like I was another enemy, the way they had before. They recognized that I knew how to navigate the dark underworld we’d entered better than the rest of them, and they accepted it.

We might have had our disagreements in the past, but we were united by the belief that we needed to protect Maddie at all costs.

I tapped Lana’s name on my phone’s screen. If anyone could find the fastest way to send a message to another Devil’s Dozen member, it was the Storm’s business manager.

“It looks like you got the immediate disaster under control,” she said without preamble when she picked up. “Impressive work there.”

“Thank you,” I said automatically. It was hard to think about the assault my people had faced that Maddie had been so instrumental in overcoming when now Maddie’s life was on the line. “I have another disaster in progress… and I’d like to speak to the Blood Hunter about it as soon as possible. Can you pull all the strings you have access to and see if you can make that happen?”

Lana hadn’t gotten her position by questioning the people in charge. “On it,” she said without missing a beat, and ended the call.

“I don’t know how long it’ll take,” I told the guys as I set the phone aside again. “Let’s see if we can make any more progress on our own in the meantime.” My own people might still get us somewhere. I focused on Logan. “Can you remember any details about the SUV your mom was traveling in? Something that could help pick it out of all the other black SUVs out there?”

Logan made a face. “I was so fucking distracted. If I’d just reacted fast enough to check the license plate…” His brawny shoulders tensed with frustration. “Details… It looked very new. Totally clean, really shiny. Almost definitely a recent model. That’s the only thing that stood out about it, at least that I noticed.”

“That helps.” I wrote out a text to Luis. “Did you see what model it was, or even the make?”

“No. God damn it.”

I looked up from my phone, my mouth twisting into a pained but sympathetic smile. “It isn’t your fault. The mom you believed was dead was standing right there in front of you. Of course you weren’t worrying about the car.”

“None of us would have paid much attention in a situation like that,” Dexter put in.

Logan glanced at him. “I wish you’d been out there snapping your pictures.” Then his head lifted higher. “You were taking pictures inside the place. We should go over those—maybe we’ll see a clue that connects to my mom that we missed while we were there.”

“It’s worth a shot.” Slade pulled out his phone. “Have you got them in the cloud yet, Dex?”

“Adding them now.” Dexter paused and then caught my gaze in one of his fleeting moments of eye contact. “I can add you to the album too.”

That offer brought a hint of a real smile to my face. “That’d be great. I want to do everything I can—and the more eyes the better, right?”

After a half hour of scanning the photos, zooming in and peering at every nook and cranny, my spirits were starting to sink. None of us had turned up anything so far, and there weren’t many pictures left to study—and at least one of the other guys had already looked at anything I hadn’t.

I was just sucking in my breath, trying to figure out what to suggest we do next, when my phone’s ringtone pealed out.

I snatched up the phone and yanked it to my ear at the sight of the call display. “Lana, what have you got for me?”

Her professional satisfaction hummed through her voice. “The Blood Hunter is willing to speak to you immediately. Should I connect you now?”

My heart skipped a beat. I hit the speaker button and set my phone on the coffee table between the four of us so we could all be included in the conversation.

“Absolutely,” I said. “I can’t wait to speak to her.”

CHAPTERTHREE

Madelyn

Ishifted my arms up and down, stretching the silky material binding my wrists so it gradually loosened. I’d been working at it on and off for what felt like hours, and every time I felt a little more give.

The smooth fabric didn’t hold a knot well. I got the impression Yvonne didn’t have a whole lot of experience at restraining prisoners. Lucky for me.

She’d left me alone in the walk-in closet the entire time. After Doom’s Seed had marched out again, I hadn’t heard any voices, only a single set of footsteps occasionally pattering from one room to another. At this point, I was sure it was just the two of us in the apartment.

How long that would last, it was impossible to guess.

I squirmed my arms a little more and tested my compressed hand against the binding. This time, the loop of fabric finally slid over the base of my thumb.

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