Page 3 of What Lies Within

I nod. "Yeah. I do." It aches to ask, but "Will she come with him?"

His frown deepens a second before his entire expression relaxes. "The witch? Shit, baby. I hope not."

"I mean, she is Maddie's mother."

"Not that it's made a lick of difference so far." Tyke returns to where I hover near the wall, leaning down a little to level our gazes, knees bent and hands on my waist. "You jealous, Rae?" One eyebrow lifts.

"Shut up." I slap his chest. "No way."

"It's okay if you are." His lips curl in a playful smirk as he hoists me against him. "She did get the best years of this body before you."

I level him with a heated glare, legs wrapping around his waist on instinct. "Are you seriously trying to make me mad?"

His laugh is a balm to my soul amongst all this tension. "Naw. Just havin' fun." The gravity of the situation returns to his awareness, the color draining from his cheeks, eyes dying to a darker grey as he sets me carefully on the floor. "Come on." He glances at me, reticent in his duty. "I need to talk to the others."

"Sure." Hand in his, I head back into the main living area. The connection only registers as odd when Minion notes our touching palms with a raised brow.

I try to pull my hand free, yet Tyke grips it tighter. "Got somethin' to say?" he barks at his Enforcer as we pass.

"Nothin' here, boss." The scary-looking bastard gives me a wink that Tyke doesn't see.

"What's new?" Tyke hollers, leading us to our previous position. He scowls toward the door before dropping onto the sofa. "And somebody fuckin’ tell me how fuckin' far away my goddamn brother is." I'm jerked onto his lap, one strong arm banded around my waist. "Gimme minutes, Turnip. How many fuckin' minutes away is he?"

My attention slides off the Road Captain as he studies his phone with a tight frown and across to where Kane still occupies the same stool at the bar, nursing a drink. Tyke's son drags his gaze the length of me and then lifts an eyebrow. I catch the curious glances given by several of the members and opt not to add more fuel to the raging fire.

"Give him fuckin' five at most," Turnip snaps.

Tyke may be comfortable displaying our unusual arrangement, but the day his daughter is missing without explanation is not the day to flaunt special treatment or dispensation.

Much to Tyke's rumbled discord, I peel the arm from my waist and weigh my options. Rigs occupies the seat beside Tyke's, so I slide to the floor at their President's feet, between his legs, and tug my knees in tight.

Kane smiles around the glass tilted to his lips, smug satisfaction hard to miss.

"Volkov is back in the city," Minion shares. "Also got word from Hammer. They found nothing in town besides her bike, where she normally leaves it. No sign of a struggle, nothing out of place."

The rocks in my gut multiply. I recheck my phone.

"Best I can find out, Atticus has been doin' the rounds of his businesses all day," Kane informs. "A few of my birdies saw him enter and exit the strip club late morning, and another spotted him talking to one of his crew at the pawnbroker just after lunch."

"And Terry?"

The officers look at one another. Kane looks ready to throttle someone.

"Well?" Tyke hollers.

"We're havin' trouble puttin' a pin in him," Turnip murmurs.

"Just let me fuckin' go out, and I'll goddamn tell you where the asshole is," Kane roars, rising from his seat. "Ten minutes, tops."

"No." Tyke utters the directive, fingers massaging his forehead. "I got one kid missin'. Don't need another dead."

His eldest son resumes his seat with a growl. "Fuckin' bullshit."

I check my phone again, the feeling there's something more useful I could do with it budding from a tiny seed.

"You know Terry's inner circle is tight," Minion explains. "Makes it hard to get word on his whereabouts without givin' the game away. We can't just go askin' questions if you want to keep this on a need-to-know basis. May as well call the fucker up direct and ask him what he's wearin'."

"Fuck's sake." Tyke goes quiet, save for a labored sigh that falls toward me. "Who have you asked?"

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