Page 121 of The Silencer

Now it’s late, the sun having gone down. My stomach rumbles with the need to eat so I send someone to bring me dinner and check on Tatum. Last I saw, he was headed out to the gardens. I did ask a guard to follow him, so I know he’s safe, but still. I want him in here with me, where I can see him, touch him, and know he’s okay.

But before I can radio the guard to bring him to me, Bane comes in, looking dazed, blood trickling down his face, a bruise sitting on his temple.

“They got me,” he says, his eyes unfocused.

I stand up quickly and my chest tightens. “Who got you?”

“They tricked me.”

His hands fist and he presses them to his eyes. “I’m going to murder him.”

“Who?” I repeat, stepping up to him and practically shaking him. “Who the fuck are you talking about?”

“Henry. I…”

My jaw locks, and I feel my neck start to crack. “Henry?”

Bane nods and then stomps his foot.

“Henry was seen speaking to someone in the back room of the club, a Fallen Ace. He can’t be trusted. Bane, what the fuck have you done…?”

“I’m sorry, Boss. I didn’t know… I may have gotten a little cum drunk…”

“Jesus,” and then my entire body tenses. “Fuck. Where’s Tatum?”

“He was outside…” I don’t listen for another second. I just run.

My shoes hit the gravel and I don’t stop moving until I come to the slumped guard near the shed, his neck slit, his body toppled over in a pile of dirt and blood. Angel’s red geraniums crushed beneath his head.

“Where the fuck is he?” I shout as a few more guards emerge, their guns drawn.

“Boss,” Luca says, appearing beside me. He bends down and picks up Tatum’s phone. It was lying on the ground, discarded.

I stare at it, my breath leaving my lungs.

“What’s his password?”

“1234.”

Luca huffs a small laugh and then taps on the screen, walking toward me and holding it up for me to see.

“Look,” he says as he presses play and I see Tatum’s beautiful face fill the screen, his smile, his voice. And then from the shadows, I see someone emerge.

“They’ve taken him. Call Sebastian. We need him helping us with this,” I say, my vision narrowing, my heart rate slowing. I’d consider Diablo, but he’s in a remote part of Wales and without his computer.

No, Sebastian can handle this. He’s the best at what he does.

My switch, the one that Tatum obliterated is back, reappearing before me and settling the chaos inside. I’m focused, deadly.

“We’ll get him back, Boss,” Luca says, and I give a clipped nod, taking Tatum’s phone and striding to my office.

“Bane, sharpen your knives,” I say as he trots nervously beside me. “But first, tell me everything you told Henry.”

20

TATUM

Something’s in my mouth, rotten and dry. I try to spit it out, but I can’t move, my hands are tied behind my back. My eyelids flutter open and I’m consumed by darkness. I grunt, trying to move, but end up knocking my head against something sharp.

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