Page 10 of Inside the Wicked

“Shit,” I say, shaking my head.

“Yeah. If Rhett were here, it wouldn’t just be my balls I’d be worried about.”

“No trace of her?” I ask.

The shake of his head is a blow to my gut.

“She’s been harder to trace than Rhett. At least we know he’s in Alistair’s network somewhere. The guy just has a fuck-ton of real estate and other shady locations. I don’t even think we’ve found half of them. But with Allie, there’s been no talk of her anywhere, and I fear ...Shit,I don’t want to say this, but ... I fear she could have been sold to someone. The trace on the sapphire earrings turned up cold—literally. We found the body of the man who bought her, some filthy-rich lawyer who must have had a thing for her and caught wind of the sale. There’s absolutely no insight as to where she vanished to.”

My mind reels with the news, which doesn’t help my headache. I shouldn’t have had the extra drinks. While I’m not too drunk, I want to be sober as hell right now to start figuring out how we’re going to find both of them.

“We need to focus on one at a time,” I say, much as it raises acid in my throat to target all focus on Rhett.

“Agreed. If there’s anyone who’ll find Allie, it’ll be him anyway. I don’t know how he does what he does sometimes.”

My hand rubs my chest at the racing of my heart. The thought of having Rhett with us surges me alive with the need to storm from here now and raise hell to find him.

He’s alive.

My euphoria is too much. A delirious laugh escapes me and my vision blurs.

“Ana!” I jerk at the loud, deep shout of my name over the music and the chatter of the ladies’ room.

“Shit.” I unlock the door and slip out, coming face-to-face with a scary-looking Adam Sullevan.

“Christ, A. I thought something happened to you,” he says, irritable, and I wonder how long he’s been searching for me.

His brown eyes slip over my shoulder, then his expression relaxes in realization.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I say.

It’s clear from Adam’s raised brow of suspicion he doesn’t believe me, but he’s not about to shame me for whatever happened with the guy following me out the stall.

Rix says, a note of bitterness in his tone, “You, on the other hand, have the right parts to interest me, but I’ve heard a lot about you, Sullevan.”

“Who the fuck are you?”

I don’t need to suffocate in the male ego that’s about to grow between them.

“Can we get out of here before we end up spreading gossip of a threesome?” I hiss.

“Now, that would make for some interesting news,” Rix comments.

“Again, who the fuck are you?” Adam bites out.

“Not someone you wanna piss off, buddy.”

“Buddy?”Adam flares.

“I’m sure you punch like a kid too, so go ahead.” Rix indicates with his chin to Adam’s clenched fist.

Women are giving us dirty looks, and I want to be out of here.

“I’ll explain later,” I tell Adam. Then I turn to Rix. “When will I see you again?”

He drags his smirk from Adam as if he’s found a new source of entertainment. “Here.” Rix pulls out a phone. “Don’t bring yours when you come. Don’t even take any of your cars if there’s even a slight chance that shithead could have a tracker on them. This will tell you where to go and when.”

I nod, understanding the gravity of the situation.

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