Page 29 of Capture
“No, I’m fine,” I answered as a shiver traveled down my spine. “And since when did you call me Mr. Bryne? What happened to first-name basis?”
“Sorry. Have a good day, won’t you, Ronan?” she insisted, and something stirred in my stomach. She was guilty as fucking sin, yet we still needed evidence before we took action. We were surrounded by snakes and rats in human form, waiting eagerly for one of us to screw up.
I messaged Mikky to ask where he was located, so I could grab the key to Annika’s room to check on her. He answered that he was up in the viewing lounge, so I ran up the stairs and found him sitting there with a tumbler of whiskey in his hand and a cigar lying in an ashtray.
“It’s early, Mikky,” I stated the obvious and assumed something stressful occurred.
He cocked his eyebrows and took a sip of his whiskey before saying nonchalantly, staring out the window onto the empty casino floor, “I was tempted.”
“I understand. We’re in interesting times,” I agreed as I sat down in the leather chair next to him. “The cops followed me all the way here as if I would go-”
“I wasn’t talking about that,” he cut in, then leaned forward to seize his cigar and took a deep inhale, before blowing out the sweet smoke.
I was a little confused as he seemed distant and deeply unhappy. Something was plaguing his mind, and it wasn’t Gunner. “What are you talking about?”
He wavered for a few seconds, watching the cleaner sweep the vacuum across the carpet. Then nodded in the direction of the bar. “Her.”
“Betty?” I inquired, wishing he’d spit out what was bothering him because maybe I could fix it. “I saw her earlier, wearing a venomous smile. Fake as fuck.”
“Not her,” he cringed in disgust. “Her. The little liar.”
“Annika? Do you have a key for her room? I want to check on her,” I explained, curious to know why she was getting on her nerves so much, but I was too eager to see her.
He grunted in frustration, combing his fingers through his black, curly hair, hesitating as if he didn’t want me to see her. But Mikky succumbed, reached into his pocket, and handed me one of the keys. “Be back in thirty minutes for the meeting,” he stressed flatly.
“No problem,” I stated. “You can always rely on me.”
“Yeah, I know,” he mumbled as I walked away, but then froze and turned back. “What’s up, Mikky? Has something happened?”
He nodded slightly, took another sip of his whiskey, and swallowed. “She happened,” he answered, and I instantly knew what was bothering him.
Annika. She’d crawled under his skin and lit a fire, and he’ll keep returning until the fire is extinguished. She was like that—an addiction. There was something about her that lured the strongest of men to her side.
I didn’t blame him for succumbing to his temptations, and in a way, it worked for us, as maybe he’d be less inclined to hurt her.
“She’s nice, aren’t she?” I said and cocked my eyebrows again.
Then straightened his back to get back to business. “We’ll hire a vehicle to search for where they’re keeping Gunner,” he suggested, “so they don’t recognize us.”
“Might have to be at night, though, because the location is in the country, surrounded by empty fields,” I informed him. “I looked on Google Maps where the GPS signal dropped off, and there’s only farmland with the odd farmhouse nearby.”
“So,” he shrugged. “He had to be in one of those farm houses.”
“Not necessarily. They might’ve driven out of the city, Mikky. It just so happened to be in that location when the signal stopped,” I explained.
“Worth checking out anyway,” he proposed flatly. “Then we’ll go from there. Fuck. If Lars were still alive, he’d be seething if we lost his son.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, feeling bad because it was my idea. But the Ivanovs can’t make a deal with Mikky without proof that they had Gunner alive and well anyway.
The Red Velvet rooms were full and in action with fucking sounds filling the hall. It was early in the day, and yet the married men were getting their rocks off while their loyal wives ran the kids about. It was not my scene, and it never will be, but I understood that it was an essential part of the club.
I unlocked the door and pushed it open, and an easy smile stretched across her face. “Are you letting me out?” she asked with more spirit in her than last time I was in this room.
“No,” I told her straight. “You wanted to die last time I was in here. What changed?”
“Um, I don’t know,” she seemed shifty and looked away, and I knew it had something to do with Mikky.
He got between her legs and wet his cock, probably for the first time since he was in prison. Fuck, three years without sex. It must’ve felt like a fucking dream to slide inside a girl like Annika.
