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“Doesn’t fucking matter.”

“But it might.”

Grim stepped over and replied, “They left a message.”

“Where?”

“At your folks’ place.”

“Where at my folks’ place?”

“In the detective’s hand.” I snarled, “The one they shot in the fucking chest.”

“Yeah, of course they did.” Rooks let out a breath. “What did this message say?”

Grim scowled as he answered, “Send the brother.”

“What the fuck does any of this matter,” I growled. “They want you, and we’re taking you to them. End of story.”

“You might wanna rethink that.” Rooks let out a slow breath and rubbed his hands over his face like he was already nervous about what was coming. "The Volkovs are men who say what they mean and mean what they say. If they told you to send me, then that’s exactly what they expect. No more, no less."

"And you think we’re just gonna let you waltz in there alone?" I glared daggers at him. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“You don’t have a choice.” Rooks turned his sharp gaze on me. "If they see any of you, this thing will go sideways fast. I know how they work. If I go in alone, we might actually have a shot at getting Tallie back. Otherwise, this will turn into a bloodbath. You can count on it.”

“Damn.” Knowing he was right, I blew out a breath and grumbled, “Fine, but we’re going to monitor every damn move you make."

“How are you gonna manage that?”

“You’ll wear a wire.”

Rooks cursed under his breath. "You don’t need?—"

"Yeah, we do,” I cut him off. “You might trust these guys to play by some code, but I don’t. You go in wired, we sit close, and if anything feels off, we move in. No arguments."

Rooks looked around at the brothers and sighed when he saw that we were all in agreement. Finally, he gave a nod and muttered, "Fine. But if they so much as get a whiff that you’re out there, we’re all screwed."

"Then don’t give them a reason to look or it’ll be the end for you and them. Cause come hell or high water, I’m getting my girl back. Count on it."

20

TALLIE

Tallie,

I don’t know how to start this because nothing I say will make this hurt any less. You’re gone, and everything feels wrong. I keep thinking I’ll turn a corner and see you standing there, smiling at me. But you’re not here. And every damn part of me misses you.

I don’t care what your father says. I don’t care what plans he’s made for you. None of that changes a damn thing. I love you, and I’ll wait for you. I don’t care how long it takes.

One day, we’ll find our way back to one another, and it’ll be just like we always talked about. We’ll have the little house in the country, far away from all this bullshit. We’ll have those goats you wanted and baby cows. We’ll have that porch with the swing. We’ll have it all. I don’t care how long it takes to get there. That’s our future, Tallie. Ours.

They can’t take that from us.

So, you do what you have to do, and I’ll be here when you finally get to come home.

Forever yours,

Holt

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