Page 12 of Ruthless Redemption

“So what’s the plan? Believe it or not I’m starting to look forward to ending all this for Izzy AND for your client. I hate the idea that Frank is taking more girls against their will other than his own daughter.”

JD nodded, grabbing his helmet. “That was definitely some fucked up shit. No matter if it was mostly at Marco’s direction. Someone like Frank knows everything going on around him and I’m pretty sure if he wanted to protect his girl, he could have. Lucky for us, I’ve got a line on both Frank and that sick fuck he almost called son-in-law. They’re both in Las Vegas.”

“Marco arrived two days ago and Frank arrives this afternoon. And while they appear to be on separate trajectories, I don’t believe it for a hot minute. This is no coincidence.”

Anger boiled inside of him as he imagined the smug look on Marco’s face the one time he’d seen him from afar inside Frank’s house. It had taken all of his training and patience not to wipe it from him with blood.

“You listening?”

Houston nodded his head while shaking the distraction from his mind. He had to stay focused.

“My sources tell me Marco is expected to oversee some big shipment flying out from a small private airfield just outside Las Vegas. We believe they’ve elevated to human smuggling with his latest batch of girls.”

“I guess sexual slavery here in the US just wasn’t cutting it anymore.” Again, he felt the anger rise to dangerous levels. “What’s Izzy’s part in all of this going to be? I’m not letting her be bait.”

“You don’t get to decide on what part I take in this operation. I’m a big girl perfectly capable of making my own decisions.”

He turned at her voice while maintaining a straight face, albeit except for his hardening jaw. He, or maybe she, had the worst timing possible.

“No one said you couldn’t. That doesn’t mean I won’t also be making decisions when it comes to safety. That’s my expertise.” He had to admit that her anger towards him was starting to get on his nerves. Although her smart mouth and willingness to do whatever it took to get this job done had an entirely different effect.

Only years of training as a sniper and having to stay in uncomfortable spots for hours, sometimes days on end, kept him from adjusting his position to give his hardening dick more room.

A look of hesitation entered her gaze, breaking the anger that she’d been glaring at him with less than two seconds ago. He almost laughed, but there was something vulnerable in the change of expression that made him hesitate. Not to mention he couldn’t justify his own actions when it came to him jumping down her throat every time she tried to stand up to him.

She needed a protector, because they were about to enter an extremely dangerous situation, but she also needed the freedom to do what she needed to do to see it to the end. Frank was her father and facing the parent who’d sold her into slavery wasn’t going to be easy.

“So what’s next?” she asked.

It was good that she’d dropped the vitriol aimed at him, but he missed it nonetheless. He liked having her attention focused on him. That made him shake his head. He’d not been kidding about the obsession thing. He couldn’t get enough of her. He wanted her on him, over him, behind him on his bike and just generally in his space.

Earlier, he’d tried to hold back the love thing, but only because it didn’t feel quite real that it could happen so quickly. Their time together had been limited and then marred by some serious bullshit. How was a healthy relationship supposed to come from that?

Fortunately, JD interrupted the little tirade he had going on in his head.

“We’re headed to The Sinclair Hotel and Casino. It’s a fancy boutique hotel in the middle of the Vegas strip. There’s a championship fight happening there tonight that your father will be in attendance for. Apparently, Vincent “The Destroyer” Cabrini is his favorite fighter and would never miss a title bout no matter what he had going on in his life. We’ll intercept him there as soon as he leads us to the girl.”

Izzy looked down at her clothes. “I am not dressed for that kind of event.”

JD chuckled. “I had a feeling you were going to say that. Don’t worry, babe. We’ve got a couple of girls there waiting. They’ll take care of you.”

Her shoulders visibly softened at that information while Houston’s back remained ramrod straight. Dressing her up like a doll and parading her into that event made him sick to his stomach. Using her to get to Mazzeo was almost as bad as how Marco and Frank used her.

She must have sensed his tension when she climbed back on the bike behind him because she leaned forward until her lips were practically brushing against his ear. “I volunteered for this. It’s a big difference between someone kidnapping me and making me do something against my will.”

Her soft words sent a shiver down his spine, while doing nothing to relieve his tension. Volunteer or not, he didn’t like putting her in this position.

If he didn’t have that same burning rage inside him to eliminate the threat, he’d turn his bike around and put all of this behind him. Instead, he backed up his bike and turned to follow the rest of his club.

They were both making yet another active decision that would deepen their connection to Wrath whether they wanted it or not.

Now he just needed to figure out definitively if they were doing it because it’s what they wanted or because they were obligated. The answer to that question would determine everything.

Decision time loomed and he had a lot of fucking questions and not a lot of answers.

One by one, all of the bikers filed back into formation as they followed the local chapter down back roads he assumed would lead to their compound and where they would spend the night so they could ride into Vegas fresh tomorrow.

The ease with which their group fell into a formation as they convoyed together brought back memories of other convoys that were better left forgotten.

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