Page 36 of Hot & Bothered

Tiberius shrugged. “Don’t care. Just care about finding my sister. And after hesoldher, he lost track of her. So guy’s no use to me now.”

Jace knew Rhys Talbot. He was a low-level gang leader with ties to drug trafficking, and he dabbled in sex trafficking, too. Last Jace heard, before he went to prison, Rhys was getting into selling opioids and prescription drugs to athletes. However, the man was smart and knew how to keep his hands clean. He made others do his dirty work. But a conviction of assault landed Rhys in prison for a year. Now he was out on parole.

“This isn’t you, Tiberius,” Jace said, checking the man’s body for any sign of a concealed weapon. “You’re not like Rhys and the others. You’re a good guy. A good guy who is just trying to do right by his sister and find her. And we’re trying to help with that. It just takes time.” He couldn’t see a gun or anything on Tiberius, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have one at his back, or a knife hidden somewhere.

“You’ve had time! Shouldn’t have happened in the first place. You all knew I was forced to do that shit for Rhys or they were going to hurt her. Then you fucking put me away sonobodycould protect her.” He pointed at Jace. “This is onyou,man. Whatever happened to my sister is onyou.”

A sudden knock at the door had them both freezing. But it was enough of a distraction that Jace was able to run to the kitchen and grab a chopping knife from his knife block.

“Victoria Police,” came a deep, authoritative rumble from the other side of the door.

How’d the cops know to come?

Tiberius’s eyes went wide and his gaze shot from Jace to the door and back. He was just as surprised.

“Tiberius?” It was Peyton’s voice. What the fuck? “Tiberius, are you in there? It’s Peyton.”

“Let me open the door,” Jace said, holding the knife and skirting the long way around his kitchen island and living room, keeping a wide berth between him and Tiberius. “This does not have to end badly. We don’t want to hurt you. We want to help you find Michaela.”

Tiberius’s nostrils flared.

“Tiberius, please don’t do anything rash. Please, don’t hurt Jace,” Peyton pleaded. “We know you’re scared for Michaela. But …”

Jace reached the door and gripped the handle. “Peyton, get the fuck out of the way of the door.”

There was shuffling on the other side, then he opened the door.

Two heavily armed police officers, with their guns out, came rushing in, aiming their firearms at Tiberius.

Tiberius looked terrified, but also defeated.

Peyton entered the doorway, and Jace’s heart leaped into his throat. But his girlfriend wasn’t looking at him, she was focused on Tiberius. She slowly walked toward him, her phone in her hand. “Tiberius, I know you don’t want to hurt anyone. And Michaela doesn’t want you to hurt anyone, either.”

Tiberius’s blue eyes widened.

Peyton smiled. “We found her. In Nashville. Alive. But she needs her big brother, so …” She held up her phone. “See.”

“Ti … Tiberius?” croaked a female voice.

Tiberius’s eyes softened, and relief filled his face. “Mi-Michaela?”

“She’ll be here later tonight,” Peyton said. “She’s okay.”

Tears ran down Tiberius’s cheeks and he slowly raised his hands behind his head and dropped to his knees, unable to take his gaze off his sister. In seconds, he was sobbing.

The two police officers handcuffed him and read him his Miranda rights, then escorted him out of the apartment.

Peyton stayed behind, and Jace closed the door. She turned to him. “I was so scared.”

“How’d you know he was here?”

“Heath has been tailing Tiberius for the last couple of days. Chase just found Michaela last night and he and Brock went down to Nashville on their millionaire friend’s private jet to get her.” Wrapping her arms around his torso, she buried her face in his chest. “She was being kept as a sex slave in some Republican senator’s basement. Only reason they found her was because she got ill and was taken to the hospital. Her image popped up in Chase’s search and he was able to bring up footage from her visit and see that the senator took her to an out-of-state hospital. Then he followed the breadcrumbs back to the senator, checked his purchases over the last six months—tampons, pads, lady’s underwear and other female stuff—then he sent a tip to the local police who sent in the S.W.A.T team and they recovered her.”

Jace rested his chin on the top of her head, then pushed his fingers through his hair. “Holy fuck.”

“She’s going to need therapy. I’ve already contacted Joy—The Harty Boys’ mum—and she is prepared to work with Michaela. I’m also working at placing her in a transition house, but truthfully, I think she just needs to be in a home where she feels safe. She hasn’t felt safe in a long time.”

Pulling away from her for a moment, Jace gazed down at the incredible woman in his arms. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

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