Page 39 of Vendetta
Eli Crizer didn’t tolerate betrayal.Not from outsiders, but especially not from his own fucking blood.When the offer came down, one night with Dylan in exchange for a seat at the table, he took it.Not because the approval he’d garner was worth that much to him.It was because shewasn’t.Not anymore.She’d made her choice.
Now that choice had made him a liability.Dylan hadn’t just walked away, she’d run.And the only thing he knew for certain right now was that she hadn’t done it alone.
They’d torn through her apartment the same night she vanished and found nothing.No notes or burner phones.Hell, there was nothing to indicate she even packed a bag.Just the scent of her cheap perfume and the ghost of a girl who used to believe in him.
Ned’s had been scrubbed too.He’d had his men go over every inch -- the freezer, staff room, and storage.His niece left no trail or clues behind.Dylan had vanished like smoke, and that wasn’t an accident.Someone had fucking helped her, and that someone was strategic and fast.Eli was now the one scrambling to catch up.
Dylan was the fucking reason he was here now.His niece wasn’t just a threat to the operation; she was a stain on his name.She’d betrayed him.He was choking on the rage that threatened to consume him.Rising from his seat in the corner of the room, he started pacing like a caged animal.The muscles in his neck were tight, his fingers itching for another smoke, but he didn’t light one yet.
Across the room, Peggy slumped in the metal chair they’d tied her to.Her lip was split, and one eye was already swelling shut.Trucker, one of his enforcers, stood next to her, rolling his shoulders like he was ready for round two.
“She’s not talking,” Trucker muttered.
“She will,” Eli said coldly.
Peggy lifted her head, shakily.Fat tears rolled down the older woman’s face.“I swear I don’t know who helped her…”
“Bullshit,” Eli snapped, his voice low and dangerous.“You were the one always covering for her.Running drinks for her.Watching out for her.”
“She’s my friend,” Peggy muttered.
“She’s a fucking liability,” Eli growled.“And someone helped her run.Someone helped her make me lookweak.So, unless you want Trucker here to do permanent damage…”
“I don’t know his name!”she shouted, wincing as Trucker stepped forward again, holding a pair of pliers.“I don’t… I just heard her call him Jason.He’s a delivery driver.He works at that medical place --INeeda.”
The room went silent.Eli paused, turned back to her.“Now we’re getting somewhere.What’s his fucking name?”
“Jason,” Peggy cried as Trucker waved the pliers in her face.
“Last name?”
“I don’t know,” she said, her desperate gaze fixed on those pliers.“I never got a last name.I swear!”
“How do you know he works at the warehouse?”Eli wanted to know.
“He made deliveries toNed’s all the time,” she said.“He always drives that white cargo van.I never saw him drive anything else.”
“So, we need to talk to Freddie,” Eli said more to Trucker than to Peggy.“See who Jason is.”
Peggy exhaled in relief, thinking maybe her ordeal was over.But it wasn’t.
“Describe him,” Eli said, gaze snapping back to her.“Now.”
Peggy licked her split lip.“Tall… six-four, maybe?Dark hair, dark eyes.Beard.Wore a cap sometimes.He’s real quiet.He doesn’t talk a lot.”
Eli stared her down.“And how’d he find the lake house?”he asked, voice sharpening.
“I don’t know.”
He took a step closer.“How’d he find it?I took Dylan’s phone so he couldn’t have tracked her by GPS.”
“I said I don’t know!”Peggy cried, shrinking back.
Eli grabbed her face, his fingers digging into her cheeks.Trucker stepped forward, the pliers in his hand gleaming in the light.
“Last chance,” Eli hissed.“How did he know where she was?”
“I told him she left in a black sedan.I -- I didn’t know what was happening.I thought it was just a private party she was working.She looked scared, and I got a picture of the license plate, okay?I showed it to him.”
