Page 75 of Last Resort

Chance grabbed a file and showed her a picture of Dorian. “This man?”

“Yes, that’s him. I thought I was doing Maci a favor, not taking her money. You know, so she could save it for the baby. But then the guy knocked me on the head and dragged me into an alley.”

“Evelyn, where’s Maci? Her phone is offline, so we can’t track it. I’ve got to find her.”

“Guy left me with the money. I paid someone a hundred of it to get me here. I needed to tell you that my dealer may be coming after you.”

He didn’t understand what she was talking about and didn’t have time to get her to explain.

“Evelyn, listen to me. My brothers and I can handle any drug dealer. We’ll get you someplace safe so he can’t hurt you either. But if you know where Maci is, you need to tell me right now.”

Every second they wasted gave Dorian more time to hurt Maci.

“I was supposed to meet her at the warehouse district. I needed the money to pay back Timothy, my dealer. I promise I didn’t mean any of those things I said to Maci.” Evelyn started to cry.

He and Maci were going to have a talk—again—about the things she was keeping from him. But he needed to find her first.

“Where, Evelyn? Focus.”

She got out the address.

“I’ll stay with her and make sure no drug dealers do whatever she was talking about,” Brax said. “I’ll get PD there immediately too.”

“Give us five minutes. Sirens may spook him into hurting her.”

Brax nodded and Chance sprinted for his car, Luke on his heels.

MOSTOFTHEwarehouses in this section of town had been abandoned years ago after a storm had caused massive flood damage. Maci could scream, but there probably wouldn’t be anyone around to hear her.

And screaming at this point would tell Dorian exactly where she was.

She found an open door and rushed into a building. Hiding was her best option. It was dark in here, the only light from an emergency exit sign near another door at the side.

She ran for the far corner, zigzagging around various piles of crates and abandoned machinery. The door behind her opened and closed, and there was silence.

Maci struggled to hear anything over the pounding of her own heart.

The most important thing is to keep your head. Use your strengths.

She could hear Chance’s voice in her mind. He was right. If she panicked, this was over.

“Now, now, Maci,” Dorian taunted. “I love a good game of hide-and-seek, but this isn’t your style, is it? You’re more of a confronting things head-on type of gal, aren’t you?”

She wasn’t about to answer and give away her position. She needed to make her way around to the other door and try to get out.

He flipped on a phone flashlight, and she jerked her head back behind the crate she hid behind. The light would give Dorian more of an advantage.

“Do you understand the need to be the best at something, Maci? I was the best in my platoon until a stray bullet ended that part of my life. Do you know what it is to have the thing that is most important to you snatched away?”

Like a murderer trying to end you and your unborn child’s lives? Yeah, I do, asswipe.

How she longed to say the words out loud.

“Then I had to find a new career pathway on which to be the best. Private security fit the bill.”

He got quiet after that and the light switched off. She crept farther away from where she’d last heard his voice, keeping her body low and small.

“I’ve killed nine women.”

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