Page 58 of Broken Promises
My brother, Sergey, walked up to me and yanked me to my feet by my hair. I yelled as strands were ripped from my scalp. Waylon released my wrist, and Sergey turned me to face him before he backhanded me with such force, I felt my teeth cut the inside of my cheek, causing my mouth to fill with blood.
It poured down my chin and onto my white shirt as Sergey yanked me back up again by the hair. I tried to hold onto my roots, hoping to stop them from being torn out, as he pulled me closer to him with a grip of my chin.
“I told you I’d hurt you if you didn’t comply.”
“I had to pee and went looking for a bathroom. I swear, I didn’t break a rule.” Tears flowed down my face, and I felt sick from swallowing blood as I added through cries, “I swear.”
He stared at me, and I tried not to let him see the lie in my eyes. Eventually, he released me with a push, and I fell to the floor once again. Sergey looked at Waylon and ordered, “Take her back to her room and make sure she’s locked inside. I don’t want her wandering around the house. She’ll ruin the surprise.”
He smirked at me and chuckled at his inside joke as Waylon lifted me by my forearm. Sergey left the room, and I whispered, “Thank you.”
I looked at him, and he seemed sad as he pulled me back down the hallway and into the dining room. He grabbed a few bananas, a bottle of water, and gave them to me in my free hand. As he opened the other door and started walking me upstairs, he whispered, “So you have something for lunch. They’ll punish your disobedience by skipping meals.”
When we got to the door to the room I was being kept in, he opened it and pushed me inside. He looked side to side then whispered, “I hope they find you in time.”
Pulling the door closed, I realized he knew what I was doing and helped me. The taste of blood was overwhelming, so I swished some water around my mouth and spit it into the trash can near the door. Sinking down against the door, I closed my eyes and hoped they were able to track me. Waylon made it seem like the more I acted out, the worse punishments I would receive, but his ominous words pushed vomit into the back of my throat.
Why would they need to find me in time?
And what would happen to me if they didn’t?
Chapter 25
Rhys
When I thought the call disconnected before we got the location trace, I grabbed my hair and screamed, “Damn it!”
Devlin and James were typing on their computers and barely lifted their gazes to see me losing my shit. Lucian approached and grabbed onto my forearms, only for me to shake them off. “Let them work, Rhys. We have to figure out what she meant by that call, so let’s go over it while they work their magic.”
My vision was clouded with a red haze, and it took a moment for me to concentrate on what Lucian said. Nodding, I followed him to his man, Johnson, who’d recorded the call. “Play it for us while you analyze the background noise.”
Johnson pressed play, and I felt sick as I listened to Hannah speak, knowing she was probably being watched, or worse. I looked at Lucian and said, “Play it again.” Listening again, I asked, “Hannah doesn’t have a younger brother, so was that a clue? Or an alert to us of something else?”
“I believe it was a clue,” Johnson said, and I snapped my head to him as he explained. “Listen to the background.” He lowered Hannah’s voice, and I could hear something in the ambient noise. “There. Did you hear it?” he asked, and I lifted my eyes to Lucian.
“Someone is helping her if he told her to play along. Who do you think it is?” I asked, but no one had an answer.
“We got the trace,” Devlin said, and I spun on my heels and met him at his computer. Looking over his shoulder, I watchedthe screen as he pointed to something on a map. “This is the cell tower she pinged off of, and if I remember correctly, wasn’t there a whorehouse the Syndicate ran just outside Memphis?”
James began typing and pulled up the list of known whorehouses before scanning the list. “Here,” he remarked, pointing to an entry. “The house owned by the Syndicate’s holdings is within the same cell tower umbrella, so I think it’s safe to assume someone took over and the feds didn’t catch it.”
“Then we need to go get her,” I said and looked to the men surrounding me.
“I’m gonna call Gunner and see if he can send a few brothers as backup. Just in case,” Skid reasoned, and Devlin looked at him before nodding.
Skid walked out of the room as he began speaking with someone on his phone, and I turned to Lucian. “We’re going to need firepower and a plane. I’ve got the first, but you’re going to have to handle the second.”
“I’m on it,” he said and began typing into his phone. Lifting his eyes to me, he said with a menacing tone, “Get your weapons, Rhys. It’s time to find your woman and destroy this façade once and for all.”
I looked at his four men and nodded to two. “Johnson, Booker, if you’ll follow me, we can get what we need.”
My hands were tingling, and I felt an adrenaline rush as I quickly walked down the hallway and into my private office. Glancing over my shoulder as they followed me inside, I turned away and walked to the small sitting area along the far wall. Grabbing the chair to the left, I tossed it aside, lifted a picture from the wall, and dropped it to the floor. There was a panel behind the picture, and when I pressed my thumb to the pad and it beeped, it entered my eight-digit code.
The two men stood in their black pants, shirts, and boots, with their arms crossed over their chests as they watched mecrack the wall open after the lock disengaged. Sliding the panel to the side, I motioned for them, and Johnson was the first to stick his head inside my private vault as I began to pull weapons from their positions.
“Fuck me, Rhys,” Johnson said as Booker whistled. “You’ve got enough fire power to start a small war.”
“You never know what might come up, and I like to be prepared,” I returned and started handing weapons to them.
