Page 90 of Even if You Fall

But it didn’t change as he relented, “If you catch someone trying to take Chloe, do whatever you have to. I won’t blame you because I’d do the same. And I get why you want your piece of Vance, I do. What he did to Chloe and who knows how many other women is...unforgiveable. But I’m not letting you kill him.”

“No, you’ll just have us do it for you,” Maverick said dryly as he tapped on his phone.

“I asked if y’all could stop further retaliation with the Wreckers,” Briggs corrected in a low, dangerous tone.

“We will,” Maverick muttered as he continued typing.

“And I asked y’all to help us find someone,” Rush added.

“Which, we did,” Maverick said in reminder as Rush continued.

“Y’all are the ones who decided to take it a step further.”

Maverick lowered his phone with a sigh and looked between the three of us. “We could always leave,” he said with a shrug as if it wouldn’t bother him either way. “We already found the girl, and she’s headed to a new life, far from here. We could go deliver warnings to the key members and head home, if that’s what you want. But my brother just found the dirty cop, and Kieran’s closing in on that Vance guy.”

Everything seemed to happen all at once and in slow motion after Maverick’s offhanded speech.

My stomach dropped. Briggs straightened, clearly caught off guard, as he said, “Wait...” And Evans appeared out of literally nowhere, sounding momentarily stunned when he murmured, “What was that?”

Maverick’s stare flicked in Evans’ direction before darting back to the three of us, as if asking how he should proceed. But I wasn’t sure Briggs, Rush, or I knew what to say because we hadn’t even known they were going to look for Corporal Evans.

“What’d you mean by that?” Evans demanded, charging closer. “What’d you—my dad?” he ground out. “Your brotherfoundmy dad? Why was he looking for him?”

Rush caught Evans when he went for Maverick, locking his hands around Evans’ chest and pulling him back as Evans fought to get to the twin, all while sneering out demands. “What are y’all doing? He wouldn’t—he wouldn’t have been hiding, so why’s your brother looking for him? That’s mydad.”

“That wasn’t—” Briggs began when Rush forced Evans into the living room. “That wasn’t something you ever mentioned.” He scratched at the light beard covering his jaw and cut a menacing look at Maverick. “You need to pull your brother from whatever he’s doing.”

Maverick held Briggs’ stare for long seconds before saying, “Did. He’s gone.”

A hushed curse bled from Briggs. “Y’all can’t just come here and start killing people—killingcops. And what happened to keeping us updated on everything?” he asked in a threatening tone. “I thought y’all were looking for Vance.”

Maverick tipped his head in denial. “Once the girl was found, I told you they were gonna find and take care of the loose ends. Plural.” He gestured toward the screen of his laptop. “The cop might’ve been working for the Wreckers, but Vance either paid enough or was enough of a Wrecker that the cop worked for him too.”

Briggs stared him down before muttering, “You’re gonna destroy my team before you leave.”

“And we’re gonna save countless women,” Maverick said firmly, unapologetically. “If your team can’t survive this, you should be more worried about their loyalties and priorities. Look,” he went on before Briggs could respond, “I understand it’s hard when it’s family—trust me, I do. But you have no idea what we see and deal with in our lives.”

He waved a hand at his laptop. “We know people like this. We know traffickers in ways I really wish we didn’t. They don’t go away because you stop their operation or get them thrown in prison. They rise back up and start operations somewhere else. So, no, I’m not concerned that we’re taking out key people in a ring. WhatI’mconcerned about is that we only found the one girl.

“You said this Vance guy has one to two women taken a year,” he went on, his head subtly nodding. “That’s a fairly common timeline for trafficking rings—once or twice a year. However, I’ve never known a ring to send just one girl at a time.”

“I’m aware,” Briggs said irritably.

“Then you know the place we found the girl is only a holding area,” Maverick grated. “Which means, even after we go home, leaving this a better place for you,wewon’t stop until their entire operation is fully destroyed. But, sure...get mad that we took out a couple traffickers along the way.”

Briggs’ head bobbed in reluctant understanding before he released a strained sigh just as a phone began vibrating in my pocket. “Update on Vance?” he asked as I pulled the phone—Chloe’s—free, my blood going cold when I saw it was a blocked number calling.

“He’s calling,” I said before Maverick could respond, unable to tear my stare from the screen.

“Speaker,” Briggs commanded—as if I hadn’t already known that—at the same time Maverick reminded me, “Kieran’s closing in. Don’t try to get his location, it might make him run.”

“I know,” I irritably told them as I finally tapped the button to answer, my body subtly shaking as a lethal combination of rage and loathing surged through me.

“Owen Vance...” I said in greeting once the call was on speaker.

If he was surprised Chloe wasn’t the one to answer, he didn’t show it, just eased out a condescending laugh. “It has to bother you that she told you my name but never bothered to mention you to me.”

“Hardly,” I told him. “Think it’s actually the other way around. Now, tell me what I can do for you at”—I glanced at the time—“three in the morning.”

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