Page 64 of Mine to Protect

Rhett wanted to laugh. “All right. But you should be very frightened of me.”

Angelo closed the gap, getting right in Rhett’s face. “You’re nothing to us, and we’ll break your legs without thinking twice.”

“That wouldn’t be a smart play,” Rhett said calmly. “What is it that you want with Chris, Jackie, and Joe?” He held his ground, his nose scant inches from Angelo’s. It took all the positive energy he could muster not to punch him in the face. “Just tell me. Maybe I’ll be inclined to share what I know.”

Angelo tipped his head. “If you were smart, you’d tell us where he is right now. Otherwise, we’re going to have to get it out of you the hard way.”

“And if I’m not so bright?”

“We’ll beat it out of you,” Frankie said.

“I’m not a fan of that option,” Rhett said, holding up his hands. “I’m going to reach into my back pocket and pull out my cell to text Chris. I don’t have his exact location, but I can get it.”

Frankie put his hand on his weapon. “You’d better not fuck with us or else.”

Rhett wanted to ask theor else what?question but opted to refrain from sarcasm. That never ended well, and he didn’t really feel like taking a punch to the gut. The old Rhett would have done exactly that because feeling a little physical pain let him know he was alive.

Now, just picturing Shelby in his mind gave him the same sensation.

“Okay. So, I’m texting Chris,” Rhett said, not too loudly but with a fair amount of inflection. Because he didn’t have Chris’s contact information, he couldn’t actually do it, but he would send a group message to all the important people.

His mom and his brothers, including Miles. And then he remembered the number that Chris had set up for his sister to use. That might work to contact him.

He quickly drafted that text, letting them know he had engaged the enemy.

He stole a glance at the few texts from Emmerson about Nathan being in the park, off duty, and that he had eyes on the vehicle at the north end of the circle where the campground started.

And that it was empty, with the keys inside.

Nathan was currently moving it.

That was good.

Miles had also texted a long update about the situation at the station. Rhett didn’t have time to read it all. Keywords had to do with five arrests in the Mortelli organization and that Tony Gorga might not have had anything to do with the fake police report, but that it may have been a disgruntled member of his organization who’d been in prison until a year ago.

That was an interesting piece of information that Rhett could use. That meant this entire thing took on a different twist. If Tony Gorga hadn’t ordered this, and it was coming from somewhere else, that was both good and bad. Good because Tony Gorga might be a criminal, but he had a code. If Joe had been given walking papers, he’d stick with it.

Of course, there was the Albert thing to deal with, too. That still might be enough to piss off Tony Gorga.

Maybe.

Rhett glanced over his shoulder, staring at the other site. He gave a slight head jerk, hoping that Chris saw and understood that it meant for him to get the fuck out of the tent.

With his weapon.

“I’m telling him that this is where the fun begins because we’re not only going to fuck with you, but we’re also going to take you down,” Rhett said.

“Excuse me?” Frankie drew his gun, lunging in Rhett’s direction, shoving it into his side.

Rhett grunted.

God, he hated the way metal felt, even when there was fabric between it and his skin.

“Who do you work for?” Rhett asked as Frankie patted him down, removing his weapons.

All of them.

Fucker.

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