Page 59 of Desire Me
“Not my area.” Lonergan gasped, flinching when he heard the hiss of water. “I don’t work that end of the business. Some weapons, drugs, anything that can be shipped and sold. No people, though. Not people!”
As if that made everything they did ship okay.
Lonergan was babbling on his own now. “It was something new—the guys were whispering about it, what a big deal it was. Conté was holding the goods in the warehouse, but the woman walked in during the exchange.”
Fucking A. The thought of Rae walking into the middle of a drug exchange, alone, with no protection…
He was tempted to turn on the water just for that, but Lonergan wasn’t responsible for the meet, just the chase.
“She doesn’t remember what happened,” he growled down at the man.
“Doesn’t matter,” Lonergan rasped. “They want her back anyway. They’ll get the memories back one way or another.”
With violence, he meant. As if beating her would make her damaged brain cooperate. But Saint knew, with men like this, violence was their only solution. And Rae would die if they got their hands on her.
“They know you found her?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” Lonergan coughed for a long moment. “Want her back asap.”
Shit.
Remi cleared his throat. Time to go.
Saint nodded. Likely Lonergan didn’t have more for them anyway, and his friends would be back any minute. He would tell them about this visit, but since he knew nothing more about them than he’d known before—just their faces—Saint wasn’t worried. Remi turned the water off. While Dain secured Lonergan to the chair with another set of zip ties around his ankles, Saint dumped window cleaner into the pitcher of water, grabbed an extra towel, and proceeded to wipe down anything that might hold their fingerprints. He continued the process as they retraced their steps through the kitchen, meeting King in the hall where he held a suitcase Saint assumed had Rae’s belongings. Together they moved back through the house and out the bathroom window. As Remi closed it behind him, Saint heard the sound of the SUV in the drive. “Let’s go.”
The four of them made it back to the Expedition without incident, packed up their things, and were on their way home in under two minutes, silence heavy between them.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“We need to know everything there is to know about the Di Angelo cartel,” Saint was saying as he pushed through the front door. From where Rae stood just inside the living area, holding her breath, she could see each man enter. They looked weary, worried, but there was no sign of blood, no bruises or wounds. Her muscles relaxed little by little as her own worry released, allowing the air to ease out of her lungs.
“Eli is already moving on it,” Remi said, shrugging out of his coat. He dropped it to the floor, then began removing a thick vest that was strapped to his chest. A bulletproof vest, she realized. The each wore one, and each tore it off along with their jackets and dropped them in a pile right there in the front hall.
“What does that mean? Who is the Di Angelo cartel?” she asked as they made their way into the living room. She didn’t make eye contact with Saint, her gaze bouncing around to each of the other men in an effort to avoid the most important one. The one she hadn’t been able to stop worrying about the whole afternoon despite how much he’d hurt her.
“They’re the men who put the contract out on you,” Dain told her.
“Contract?”
“You have something they want.” Saint rubbed his hand along the back of his neck, his frustration palpable. “We don’t know what that something is, but we know they want you taken alive to ensure they get it.”
“So you can remember where you stashed it,” Remi added.
“Which reminds me…” King retraced his steps through the foyer and out the door.
“What did that remind him of?”
Saint’s mouth curved with a brief hint of amusement. “We at least managed to get your belongings back.”
“They had my stuff?”
The words came out slightly higher and louder than she’d intended, but…what the fuck?
“They were following you, Rae,” Saint explained, his voice rough with something she couldn’t quite decipher. “They knew where you were staying, and when they couldn’t get to you after the accident, they did the next best thing.”
“But what they wanted wasn’t in her things,” Elliot guessed from her spot in the chair by the fireplace.
Saint sighed. “Guess not.”
