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“Not a thing.” Dallas pinched the bridge of his nose. “We need to return to the club. There could be something there. He has to get his mail forwarded or something. He doesn’t spend a lot of time in Ecuador, but there must be somewhere he stays when he comes to oversee on the club.”

Cole started the car. “All right. We’ll check it out. Maybe there’s someone at the club we can ask. One of the waitresses, or his men, if any are still there.”

Dallas sat forward as Cole made a U-turn. “Holy shit.” He lifted his hips and dug his phone from his pocket.

“What?”

“Lorenzo. He mentioned he met with Silas in Ecuador before. He might know something.”

Dallas called his friend. He bounced his knee as the phone rang. Cole barreled down the road. Just the fact that they were on the move and working this from multiple angles made some of the tension around his heart ease.

“Yeah?” Lorenzo answered, sounding groggy.

“Yo, it’s me. Wake up. I need to ask you something.”

Lorenzo yawned, and Dallas heard the rustling of covers followed by an annoyed female voice. His friend mumbled something and a minute later came back on the line. “Amigo. You can’t call at this hour. If you wake the baby my wife will cut me.”

Dallas bit the side of his tongue to stop himself from telling Lorenzo he didn’t give a fuck about waking his household. “Sorry,” he forced out instead. “This is important.”

“Go.”

“Does Silas own a property in Ecuador? Somewhere that he stays when he’s in town?”

A lighter flicked and paper crinkled on the other end of the line. “Ah, shit. I dunno, man. It’s been a while—actually, yeah. Yeah, he owns a place. A shitty house outside of town.” Another beat passed. “I remember thinking how strange it was. We drove by these nice properties, and I expected him to own one. But the place was run-down. Weird because he has money.”

Dallas slapped Cole’s forearm, urgency ripping through him. “Do you have an address?” He didn’t give a damn about Silas’s reasoning for having a low-profile house. All that mattered was they had a location. He pulled the phone away from his ear and put Lorenzo on speakerphone.

He snorted. “Hell no, dude. I went there once to drop a guy off. Didn’t even go inside.”

“What about directions?”

Lorenzo let out a long sigh and gave a jumbled description of the route he’d taken from the bar. “I mean, hell. All’s I know is it’s near the lake. Street name started with a V.”

Cole leaned forward and tapped the GPS screen on the dash. “Vía Evangeline?”

“Yeah, that’s it, I think. It was a dark-green house. There was a shitload of weeds and trees on the property. Single garage at the end of the driveway . . . that’s about all I remember.”

“That’s perfect, thanks.” Dallas hung up before Lorenzo could ask any questions.

Cole slowed the vehicle and turned to head back in the direction they’d been going before they lost the SUV. “This has to be where they are.” Cole nodded at the screen. “They were headed this way.” He clapped his hand on Dallas’s knee. “Good thinking.”

Dallas swallowed. “It’s only good thinking if we make it there in time.”

“We will.” His brother’s confidence gave him a sliver of hope.

But the truth of the matter was, Gemma had been alone with Silas far too long. And Silas wasn’t a man of patience.

* * *

Gemma’s eyes rolled back in her head, but she fought the forces that wanted to sweep her into oblivion. As much of a blessing as it would be to pass out, she couldn’t let herself do that.

Ash straightened, putting the flask away. “Suit yourself.”

The tape was put back on her mouth, but this time the adhesive was even looser.

Ring, ring, ring

The sharp call of a cell phone split the stuffy air in the garage. Ash took out his phone and looked up at her. “Don’t try anything. I’ll be right outside.” He pressed the device to his ear. “Yeah?” He stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

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