Page 39 of Crush (Deadly Hearts 1)

ChapterTwenty-One

Ruby

“Tell me everything,” I snap at David, who comes down the stairs, clutching my phone to his chest.

“I don’t know anything except that,” he says as I meet him halfway.

Layton comes storming back into the casino, having only made it to the door before David announced his news.

“Show me,” I say, snatching for my phone.

He holds it up above his head so I can’t reach it. “Nope,” he says. “You don’t want to see this.”

“What is it?” I ask quietly. “Is he dead?”

David shakes his head and then jumps as the much taller Layton grabs it out of his hand. “Dammit, you giant,” he grouses.

Layton glares at the phone and then hands it back to David. “You don’t have to see that,” he confirms.

“Give me the phone,” I grit out.

David relents under my steely glare and quickly flashes me the screen before he clutches it to his chest again. It was enough.

Ramsey tied up, beaten and tortured.

“Fuck!” I roar and spin on my heel, hand to my head. I push the emotion aside. I can’t let the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach slow me down or Ramsey will die there. I can’t fall apart. He needs me to be…me. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” he starts.

“FIND OUT!” I bellow and march towards the end of the bar where it sits up against the wall.

“I can find out,” Declan says calmly. “Give me a minute.”

He pulls out his phone and dials. He starts to talk almost immediately in a language I don’t understand, but could possibly be Gaelic? Who knows? Who cares? I need to get to Ramsey.

I stick my hand under the bar, directly onto the hand scanner that sits on the underside. It scans my handprint and opens up an optical scanner in the wall. I place my right eye in front of the scanner, and it scans it. I blink and it does it again. It’s highly sophisticated. The blink is imperative. It's a safety precaution so that no one can gouge my eye out in order to open it. I have to be alive and willing to blink. Good luck with that.

It’s all for a very good reason. When the door pops open a fraction, I drag it further and slip inside the humongous safe built into the wall. Inside is all of my illegal dealings in firearms, laundered cash, weapons of all kinds and pretty much anything else I don’t want the cops to find.

I bend down and grab a black holdall from under the bottom shelf. I open it and then turn to the wall where row upon row of handguns are on display. I start at the top and start to shove weapons into the bag. Guns, knives, flashbangs, a taser, a sword or two. I don’t know what I’m walking into, and I need to be prepared.

“Ruby,” Declan says from behind me. “What are you doing?”

“Arming up. What does it look like?” I snarl.

“You are not going in there to rescue him. I am,” Declan says with a tone that he probably thinks means the end of it.

Yeah, no.

He doesn’t tell me what to do. No one does.

“Where am I going?” I ask, ignoring him.

“It’ll take some time, but we’ll find him,” he replies.

I turn on him, pulling my Pangolin out from under my dress to press at his throat. “If you already know and are trying to stall me so you can swoop in and be the hero, you clearly don’t know me as well as you think you do. Tell me where he is.” I dig the blade into his neck.

He holds his hands up, but there is no panic, no fear on his face. In fact, he is aroused.

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