Page 80 of Cruel Dominion

I squeezed my eyes shut, digging the edge of my cell into my temple, needing the bite of pain to level me out as dark spots fought for cruel dominion over my eyes.

“Anything else,” I barely got out through my teeth.

A pause. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Carter. There was a photo a user posted in reply to one of the bulletins. One taken at a charity gala. You were also in the frame. The image puts her here. So we assume whoever is looking to collect on this bounty now has a good idea of her location.”

My vision went black with rage.

That pathetic piece of shit.

Josh Porter was as good as dead. It was only a matter of time. I’d do worse to him than what I did to my father and that was some of the most twisted shit I’d ever done in my life.

“Find him,” I ordered Paulson. “Find him now. Move the fucking world if you have to. I want three times as many men out there looking for him and anyone else who replied to the ads. I want them stopped before they cross the state line. How many men do you have on her now?”

“Three.”

“Double it.”

“Got it.”

“And Paulson?”

“Yeah, boss?”

I could feel my face twitching, feel the anger coming off me in waves strong enough that even the sea seemed to be receding into itself, not wanting to come too far onto shore.

“If another bulletin goes up and you don’t have it taken down in the same fucking second, I will cleave your head from your shoulders and hollow out your skull to make a fucking ashtray out of it, you feel me?”

“I do. I have someone on it around the clock.”

I stood and jabbed the button to end the call, quickly opening the app that tracked Anna’s phone. She was in town, but a good twenty minute drive away. I had to move fast. Who knew how many people might have seen those ads by now?

I sprinted back to the villa. My muscles burned as I crossed the sand, my breath coming in ragged gasps.

As I threw myself into the car and set the GPS, I forced myself to clear my mind long enough to think.

I accessed the audio on Anna’s phone, and three voices floated out. One, I recognized as Anna’s, and another as her friend Summer’s. There was also a third male voice I didn’t know.

Fuck.

Who the hell was it?

From what I could hear, muffled likely through her purse, everyone’s tones seemed relaxed, but I couldn’t trust it.

He could be biding his time, trying to get Anna alone. Posing as someone trustworthy. An electrician or a plumber or a fucking vacuum salesman.

I kept the sound on while I started driving, playing it through the Aston’s speakers to try to capture more of what they were saying.

Every muffled word, every laugh from Anna reassured me that she was alive, at least for now.

How long had that ad been up?

Fuck. I should have asked Paulson.

Was it long enough for someone to get here? To find her?

My grip tightened on the steering wheel. I had to get to Anna now if I wanted to save her. Summer was just as innocent and harmless as Anna, so she’d be no protection against an intruder. My bodyguards were stationed outside, but even they weren’t infallible. An expert, someone ex-military or CIA could manage to get around them.

And with a payday like the one Josh was offering, I knew it was possible all kinds wanted a piece of the pie. The first ones who tried were nothing but a bunch of young thugs in baseball caps looking for a quick buck.

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