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"You know he's gone, right? I haven't seen him in weeks," Teagan announced, causing my heart to plummet into my ass. "Noah says he'll be back – that's he's got business he needs to tie up. But we both know what the wordbusinessmeans to those two."

"Yeah." I knew what it meant. And it terrified me. "Fuck."

"Luck's out for revenge," she stated grimly. "And he's either going to end up killing everyone that gets in his way of that, or he's going to end up getting himself killed in the process. Either way, he won't stop until he's done." Her words caused me to flinch. "You need to go to him, Hope," she urged. "Fuck Jordan. Save the man who's out there right now saving you."

"And if he talks?" I demanded. "And Hunter goes down for this?" I shook my head. "I can't, Teagan. I can't take that risk. Not with him. I love him too much…"

"Who's going to believe a drunk who's stoned off his head?" she shot back angrily. "I know I wouldn’t."

"But what if –"

"There isnobody," she added. "Noah and Luck made sure of that. No body means no evidence." Huffing, she added, "it's your word against a drug addict's. I wonder who the cops are going to believe?"

"He's already been convicted of murder, Teagan," I hissed. "Do you think the cops will ignore that, too? Because I think that 'murderer with a violent record' trumps 'social worker addict with no record' in the crime department."

"Ugh. You and your stupid logic," she grumbled. "Just give me your damn cell."

"Why?" I shoved my hand in my pocket and pulled it out before handing it over willingly. "What are you doing?"

"I stole this number out of Noah's contacts," she replied as she tapped furiously on the screen of my phone. "Luck's been using burner phones to call Noah while he's been on the road. This is the last one he called him on." She handed the phone back to me and said, "Talkto Lucky, Hope. Try and find a way to get through to him – hell, throw Jordan under than damn bus if you have to. Just talk to the guy. Because if you keep on lying to him and letting him think he doesn’t have a chance, he is going to start believing you."

****

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Lucky

"Is it done?" Gonzalez asked, tone raspy.

Exhaling a breathless pant, I nodded my head and readjusted my cell to my ear. "It's done." My phone continued to slip through my fingers though, the sheer amount of blood on my hands making it impossible to get a good grip. "You got that address for me?"

"You did good tonight, Bolillo," Gonzalez announced. "Cortez won't be fucking with my shipment this time."

"No, he won't," I replied, staring emotionless at the bloodied carcass at my feet. "Now, that's 12:0 t0 you." Balancing the burner phone between my ear and shoulder, I dug into my pocket and pulled out a smoke. "Gotta give me something, G," I stated as I flicked open my lighter and sparked up. "Otherwise I'm gonna start thinking this is a one-way relationship we've got going." Inhaling a deep drag, I rubbed the blood on my hands on the leg of jeans before hooking a finger around my cigarette and exhaling. "You can imagine how unhappy that will make me."

"Goddamn," Gonzalez chuckled down the line. "You are impressive."

"Then why don’t you impressme," I bit out. "With something I can work with."

"Your man, Henderson, has his dick in more pussy than most my boys put together," he said. "Got more bastards floating around Colorado than I have fingers to count them on."

"Good to know," I shot back flatly. "But I'm not interested in who he's fucking, G."

"Patience, Bolillo," Gonzalez coaxed. "If you had waited until I had finished, you would have heard me tell you that his favorite pussy is one of ours."

Now he had me interested. "I'm listening."

"One of his whores had his bastard," he added. "A daughter. Annalisa Henderson." Laughing, Gonzalez reeled off the name, "You might know her by the name Annabelle."

Well fuck me sideways…

"No fucking way," I shot back, genuinely surprised for the first time in a long ass time. "Clever bastard."

"Ah, but the plot thickens," Gonzalez chimed in, thoroughly amused at it all. "Bitch was planted into the family as her daddy's eyes and ears."

"Well, I'll be goddamned," I mused.

She was good.

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