Page 48 of Gio

“Gio, you’re okay!” Those whispered words were filled with relief. “I’m glad. I was so worried I’d lost you.”

“Ask her where she is,” a male voice asked.

“I don’t know. It looks like an empty warehouse of some sort, but I don’t know where we are. Sorry.”

There was some shuffling and then Gio cursed before another voice spoke. “Leave your phone on Harper. Just set it down somewhere and leave it so I can track you.”

“Slate,” I whispered. “Gio said you were a tech nerd.”

“I’ll give him shit about that later. Hang tight Harper, we’ll be there soon.”

The sound of a squeaky hinge startled a shriek out of me. “Someone is coming. Gotta go.” I hurried on my tiptoes back to the spot where I was left and crossed my arms, watching as half a dozen men walked towards me.

I recognized the man in front as Viper, the man responsible for my shit luck since I came home. “You’ve caused me alot of fucking trouble, bitch.” Before I could say anything, he unleashed a full body backhanded slap against my cheek.

It stung instantly and knocked me back a few steps. My face felt like it was on fire, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of my pain, muffling all but a closed mouth grunt. I hated this man more than I’ve hated anyone in my whole life.

“You could’ve just fucking left.” He wasn’t just angry, he was worried and afraid.

I glared at him and held the side of my face. “I didn’t hear anything, and I wasn’t going to say anything until you and your goons started threatening me!”

“Well, it’s too late for that now ain’t it?” He held his hand out and someone placed a phone in his palm. His smile was wicked while the phone rang. “I have something you want now too. My product for her life. You have twenty-four hours before I start leaving her body parts on your doorstep.” Viper’s gaze never left mine as he ended the call and walked away, leaving his men to follow behind him.

And I was left alone.

Again.

Chapter 28

Gio

It’s been twelve goddamn hours since Viper called with proof that he had Harper and still we were arguing over the best course of action. I was pissed off. She’d called and given us a lead that Viper and his men couldn’t possibly know about, but still we were too late. We found her phone less than an hour after Viper’s call, but the building was empty.

Harper wasn’t there.

“Look, no plan is perfect,” I heard my brother say in an effort to be the voice of reason. “If she’d kept the phone with her, they’d have found it, and we wouldn’t have tracked them this far. But we can’t sit here and debate this shit until the end of time. Harper is counting on us.” Rocky knew how hard this was for me and for Cole and I appreciated him fighting when I was unable to.

My mind was too full of Harper and what Viper might be doing to exact his revenge. The Blood Reapers were fucking psychopaths, known for their vicious retaliation methods that included torture and murder, but they were also known to capture loved ones of their enemies and get them strung out on drugs before they pimped them out until they were all used up.

Fuck that shit. If we didn’t come up with a plan right fucking now, tonight would be another night of carnage for Viper’s MC.

“We have to find her first,” Slate began. “She did good by leaving the phone on but now we have no fucking clue where she is.”

“We will if we call Viper and tell him we have his product,” Cole offered, his voice was thick with tension because it wasn’t an ideal plan.

“That’s our last resort plan.” Diesel’s voice was calm but there was an underlying hint of anger, and I was sure I was the cause. “Sheriff Cross paid me a visit this morning,” he began, and I felt the weight of his stare on the side of my face.

Cole asked what none of us had the courage to ask. “What did he want?”

One by one the gaze of everyone in the room fell to me and tension filled my body.

“What the fuck did you do?” Cole was the one who asked the question, and I didn’t bother to look up.

“I did what I had to do.” I wouldn’t apologize for it. “Someone had to do something.”

“Goddammit Gio,” Diesel yelled and smacked the table with his fist. “You burned down two of the Reapers’ stash houses and a tattoo shop.” Diesel was furious and he has every right to be.

Still I wasn’t sorry. “I did? Prove it.” Maybe outright defiance wasn’t the best option but dammit, somebody had to do something.

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