Page 50 of His Virgin Angel

Tears fell down her cheeks, and she started to sob. “You were supposed to be dead with her. I was going to be rewarded for following him.”

“I suggest you tell me what the fuck you did,” he said.

“He, erm, he wants what you have. He believes you stole his land, his business. Piper is a means to that end.”

“Where would he keep her?”

“I don’t know. He only wanted information on the two of you. He never told me anything else.”

Jack stepped back, pointed the gun at her forehead, and fired. Before the body fell to the floor, he turned toward Drake.

“Clean up this mess.”

“Jack, you’ll find her.”

“I know I will. My biggest problem is what I will find when I do.”

Leaving the apartment, he ignored the stares, and focused on getting his shit together. His cell phone rang, and he saw it was Eric. “Talk to me.”

“Marshall Rivers is Ronald’s brother, and his name is actually Ronald Rivers,” Eric said.

“Are you fucking with me?”

“No. They didn’t grow up together. The last time the brothers lived together was well over twenty years ago.”

“He’s taken Piper. Where would he take her?”

“There’s an abandoned ranch house about five miles out of the city. The news on this is Daddy River lost it when a drug deal went bad. Killed their mother, and put him in jail for life. Since then, Ronald has been trying to take after his father.”

“Not succeeding. He wants what he can’t have.”

“I’d put money that he’d be there. The connection is lost, but you have me, and I’m awesome.”

Letting out a sigh, Jack rubbed at his eyes. “That’s where he’d be. Thank you, Eric. I’ll pay double this time.”

“This is no charge. He took Piper, and I’ve been to Exquisite. She’s a sweetheart. Just make her safe, and we’ll call it even.”

Eric hung up the phone, and Jack didn’t take time to think about those words. Climbing into the car, he got the directions toward the old ranch, and followed his cell phone as he told him to take different turns. He wasn’t going to lose Piper.

****

“It’s really true what they say about you,” Ronald said, kneeling down before her.

Piper had been able to sit up, and now she was hugging the pole that she was tied to for a lifeline.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ronald,” Marshall said.

Like so many times, Ronald ignored him. “They say you don’t have a clue about your boyfriend, and it’s true. You don’t know what a monster he is, or what he does.”

“I have no idea who you are. Jack’s a good man. You have to have him confused with someone else.”

Ronald threw his head back and laughed. “So deluded. I think I see why he loves her. It’s so much easier to fuck them when they’re completely dumb.”

She didn’t let his words hurt, or at least she tried not to let them hurt, which was next to impossible to do. His words hurt.

Jack wasn’t who he said he was?

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