Page 68 of Liar & Champion
I hung up and took a steadying breath before I called my mother, the same number she’d had for as long as I’d known her, an emergency number that would always go directly to her. I’d never used it before, but this was her deal, after all, that I was trying to fulfill.
“Nix, to what do I owe the pleasure?” She sounded pleasant enough for a reptile.
“My wife. An Alabama deb according to your specs, the stalker victim of one Michael Dupre, who shot me two weeks ago. She was taken thirty one minutes ago from the MGM and I’d like you to use your resources to hunt her down.”
It was quiet for a few beats. “You married an Alabama debutante? And she was already the object of Dupre’s fascination? She sounds like everything you’ve been running away from your entire life.”
That was irrelevant. “Will you do as I wish?”
“I will do as I wish, but of course I would never allow Dupre or anyone else to interfere in our personal arrangement. I’ve already let Benton know what needs to be done. Congratulations on the marriage. I’ll have to send you a gift.”
“Please, don’t.”
She laughed. “I promise not to scare the child. Daniel sent me the files. She’ll do nicely, and although her strains aren’t as strong as one would like, she will add to the family legacy very respectably.”
The thought of my mother having anything to do with another innocent child made my stomach churn. “It’s still only six months, even if she wanted marriage because she’s religious. I don’t have time to debate. Let me know what you find.”
“I’ll let Daniel or Benton contact you. You seem to find interacting with me in a civil manner beyond your abilities.” She hung up on me, leaving me with a lot of feelings and not a lot of outlets.
“Nix, I heard that your wife’s missing,” Trixie said, coming in like it wasn’t a male changing room. I didn’t care.
I walked over to her and grabbed her arm, needing to hold onto something before I fell off the tilting world. My sweet Kitten must be so terrified right now. “Will you check the hotel, our place? I’m going to run to security, see if they can find out exactly where the feed got broken into.”
She grabbed my arm for a second then turned and stalked out, on a mission that she wouldn’t fail.
“With everyone leaving the fight now, it’s going to be a mess out there,” Tom said from the doorway sounding dour. He’d lost what he’d said he’d protect. Yes, Sunshine had clearly ditched him intentionally, but that didn’t make him feel any better about it.
I passed him. I’d walk around where she had been through the crowds, just to make sure she hadn’t found a closet to cry in or something. She’d looked like she was about to cry.
My eyes were pretty itchy come to think of it. “It’s going to be a mess until we find her. Tom, we have to find her,” I gritted out while my heart cracked at the thought of losing her forever.
“We will, boss. She’s smart. She’ll be careful until we can get to her.”
I could only hope. No, I could also do everything in my power to bring her back as soon as possible.
Chapter Twenty-Two
LIAR
It wasn’t very long until the bag came off, and I found myself tied to a hospital bed in a nice hospital room. Did I say nice? Hospital rooms are only nice if you choose to go into them.
I screamed, then took a breath to scream again.
“It’s completely soundproof, but by all means, waste your breath.”
I whipped my head around, because that announcer voice was impossible to mistake. Yep, there was Horse, wearing t-shirt, jeans, dark wavy hair looking wet, like he’d just had a shower. “I’m hallucinating,” I stated matter-of-factly. “You don’t kidnap women, they kidnap you.”
He raised a dark brow over blue piercing eyes and smiled. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. I did kidnap you, but rest assured, I’m not going to hurt you.”
“That’s my job,” Roger said, stepping out from behind him with a scalpel in his fingers and a twinkle in his eyes.
I rolled my eyes and relaxed. Dupre didn’t have me, just these idiots. I looked around for Trevor, and he walked in the door, right on cue. “Perfect, the three stooges are together again. What do you want?” I inhaled sharply because just then, Roger stucka needle in my elbow where it was stretched out on the rail, secured with two zip ties to keep me from getting away.
He wiggled his brows at me while I frowned back at him. He was the prettiest man I’d ever seen, all soft lips, high cheekbones, narrow nose. I blinked at him and snickered. “You were the one in drag this morning. You’re all completely insane or on the worst drug trip.” I frowned at Horse. “You shouldn’t get involved with these idiots. You’re going to lose all your respectability.”
He smiled at me, warm, sincere. “You think I’m respectable? That’s such a lovely sentiment. Are you done?” he asked Rog.
Roger pulled the needle out of me and then took the blood he’d drawn over to the counter where a nice little lab was all set up.
