Page 33 of Text Me, Take Me

I call Rafe. “They’re hiding out in a cave system of some kind. I’m going to wire you some cash. Use it to hire extra hands.”

“A cave system?” Rafe groans. “That means they could be anywhere.”

“I know that,” I growl. “But we have to try, dammit.”

CHAPTER 12

EVIE

Dom looks furious when he walks down the stairs, his eyes dark and smoldering like hellfire is burning deep within him. His body looks tight, his muscles bulging through his suit jacket. He places a gift bag on the coffee table. It seems out of place.

I leap to my feet. “What happened? Is it Tasha?”

“She’s safe,” he snarls. “Mason visited me at my office today.”

I gasp. “What did you do?”

“I was going to put a bullet in his sanctimonious head, but he had live footage of a woman called Crystal tied up. He claimed that if I followed him, or hurt him, his men would execute her.”

I shudder. “I don’t doubt that for a second. Crystal is like mom was… brainwashed by the club. She thinks they care, but she’s just another plaything. She belongs to… Jack, that’s his name. But Mason wouldn’t hesitate to hurt her.”

“He gave me a hint they might be hiding in a cave system. That means my men have to scour the state in the hopes we chanceacross the correct one. Either that, or I pay him fifty million. Which means he can use that cash.”

“To buy drugs, guns, or to hurt more people.”

“Exactly,” Dom says gruffly. “But if I don’t, he hinted that he’d come after me, my company.” Dom’s tone grows dark, almost like he wants the fight. “If that was all he had, I’d leap at the chance. I’d forfeit my business’s reputation, forget the reasons I left the mob. Become the man I never wanted to be. I’d slaughter every. Single. One.”

I take a step back, a shudder moving through me. Dom seems like a different person: like a wild animal ready to fight tooth and nail.

“But he’s got something else. He showed me a video, Evie.”

Tears rise to my eyes, stinging them.

“You should’ve told me,” he says. “It’s not like you wanted to mule those drugs for him. Like you had a choice.”

“But I did. I could’ve left. I know Mom wanted to stay, but I was an adult. I could’ve gone. I did it. Don’t take responsibility for me. I’m a criminal.”

“Theyforcedyou.”

“How do you know that? You don’t even know me. Maybe I was happy to do it.”

He walks right up to me, brining his heat with him, staring at me with those hellfire eyes. “I know you’re better than a two-bit criminal in a two-bit biker gang. I know you did this for your mother, because you feared what Mason and the gang would doto her if you refused. I know you regret doing it. That you’re a good person.”

I put my hand on his chest. He’s burning up through his shirt. He looks ready to kill.

“What are you going to do?” I whisper.

“Find them. Make them stop.”

“What if you can’t?” I hesitate, then find my courage. “You’ll have to call his bluff. Let him send the video to the cops. I did what I did; I’ll do my time.”

Dom snarls and grabs my hips, pulling me violently against him. “That’s not happening under any circumstances.”

“You can’t pay them.”

“That’s not happening either.”

He kisses me suddenly, taking me off-guard. Without warning, I’ve got no time to figure out how I’m supposed to feel. My body responds as I sink my hands into his arms.

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