Page 144 of Underground Prince

Bulletproof vest.

Hand at my chest, I gestured for Noah to roll down his window, though he stared at me like he’d just lost his life.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Although said in undertones, Kai managed to blast his ire at us as soon as the window cracked open enough.

“I’m not leaving Theo to die,” I said to him. “If Trace senses any betrayal—anything—he will not hesitate to hurt his brother.”

“You’re certainly not leaving this fucking car to protect him,” Kai said. “Who’s this?”

“You are not stopping me.” In one fell swoop, I pulled the gun from the dash.

“The fuck is that?” Kai said.

I pushed the passenger door open.

“You have a gun?” Kai exclaimed.

Noah sputtered, unsure whether to leap at me or cower to the law.

“Scarlet.” Kai tone dealt no argument. “Keep your ass in that seat or I will have to arrest you.”

“Oh yeah?” I whirled around, one leg out of the car. “Do it then.”

“Scarlet…” Noah held my forearm. “Do as the policeman says.”

“Do it, Kai. Fucking do it.”

Kai’s lips wrenched shut. We sparred silently over Noah, both unwilling to relent, until he unleashed a curse and pushed off the window. “You’re forcing my hand.”

Kai walked around the front of the car, but I’d never give him the chance. If Trace suspected anything awry with this night, it wouldn’t be the FBI with their lives on the line. The worst they’d have is their dicks dangling between their legs and a misbegotten opportunity. Theo would be the one to suffer. He’d be blamed and forced to answer to Trace and their father’s sadistic brutality.

Vaulting out of the car, I sprinted the opposite way.

“Scar—Christ!” Kai’s boots hit gravel behind me.

I pounded pavement, arms pumping, keeping to the dark creases surrounding the dim light, bypassing piles of plywood and abandoned boats, lungs bursting, ribs cracking under the pressure, but unstoppable.

There he was. The top of Theo’s head came into view. He was at the end of the dock, the flurry of silent workers diving into and out of the warehouse with boxes, loading a row of Mack trucks advertising CRISP & CALIFORNIAN produce on their sides. I kept to the less populated side of the warehouse, my sights on the person standing with Theo.

A hand came at my elbow, wrenching me to the side and slamming me to the ground. My tailbone screamed at the impact, stones scraping against skin, but my legs were already untangling, primed to leap up and continue down the path to Theo.

“Kai, you’re not—”

“It’s me!” came the panicked reply. “It’s fucking me!”

“Noah?”

He panted beside me, his back laid up against the warehouse. “You almost ran right to him, you goddamned insane person!” he whispered, but with such impact that spit flew. “This place is surrounded! FBI, mobsters, fucking I don’t know, SWAT! Sit your kamikaze ass down and collect yourself!”

Kai fell in behind us, kicking Noah’s gun out of our reach, his own weapon drawn, but eyes to the side, around the warehouse, and directly at Theo. He muttered into his hidden microphone before he pressed against me, his vest now protecting me as well as him.

“You. I have no damn words, Scarlet,” he said, though his back was to me. He peered around the corner. “I’d drag you to your vehicle kicking and screaming if you didn’t bring us so close that now we’d get bullets between the eyes. From my own men.”

I scrunched my eyes shut, panting against the warehouse. “I can’t let him get hurt. I can’t. None of this should’ve gone down. I have to get to him. Where’s Trace? Is that who’s with him? Is Theo okay?”

Noah shifted so he was kneeling in front of me and clasping my shoulders. “Hey. Deep breaths. Come on.”

“I have to get to him.”

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