The Devil You Know (Ashby Crime Family Romance Book 3)

by KB Winters

  “I think I know why, but unless you tell me I have no way of knowing if I’m right or not.” This was a personal issue for both of us, though no one ever really talked about it. Our actions, individually and as a whole said a lot about the stains and scars that particular brand of abuse had left on all of us.

  Kat sighed and turned in her seat again, big blue eyes so serious as they took in my face, assessing my sincerity.

  “Madison tracked down the McLaughlins and when she realized where they were staying, she came to me because she thought I was in on this whole trafficking thing. Once she realized who I was, and that I’m trying to stop the child trafficking, she asked for my help. I actually give a damn about her and her sister, even though I don’t have to. When she was in trouble later, she called me. Me, Terry.”

  The uptight, incredibly competent businesswoman was gorgeous and beyond appealing, but this passionate firebrand, ready to jump into the fire to help out a kid she barely knew? She was fucking irresistible. I nodded.

  “And we’ll find her Kitty Kat. You have my word.”

  The look of relief and the flash of a smile that played around the edges of her lush mouth had my foot pressing harder on the gas. Time was a key factor because there were a few direct routes straight to Mexico which meant we had to find her before the driver left the truck stop.

  An hour later we pulled into the giant monstrosity of a truck stop and Kat jumped from the car and made her way around to the back of the car. When I caught up to her, the crazy woman had traded those sexy as fuck stilettos for a pair of pink ankle socks and white sneakers. “What? You’ve never heard of a wardrobe change?”

  I shrugged. “Uh, not right at this moment. In a truck stop parking lot.”

  “Sneakers are made for running, Terry and I need to be able to do that,” she said and pulled a nickel Walther PPK from her purse, attaching the holster to the back of her shirt. “And this is because pencil skirts are a bitch to run in.”

  I scratched my head. “I thought that was a dress.”

  Kat rolled her eyes with a playful smile. “It’s a good thing you’re not a professional stylist,” she said and unceremoniously yanked her shirt from the skirt all the way around, flashing a glimpse of toned, pale flesh. “Ready?”

  “Yeah. Stay close.”

  Kat shook her head. “We don’t have time for you to play overprotective big brother Terry. I’ll go inside and charm the truckers and tourists inside; you go talk to the guys eating in their rigs or buffing their trailers.”

  She didn’t wait for me to give her all the reasons that was a bad idea, instead Kat flounced inside with an extra swing in her hips.

  I watched for a beat longer than I should and made my way to the first row of trucks preparing to leave the stop. The first three guys hadn’t seen shit and even if they had, they weren’t inclined to share.

  “Hey, you seen this girl?”

  The guy shook his head with a shrug. “Sorry man, but there are a few lot lizards inside if you’re interested.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” I grunted and moved on to three more truckers who hadn’t seen Madison. “Hey man, have you seen this girl?” At his skeptical look, I sighed. “She’s the kid sister of a friend who hired me to find her.”

  The trucker scratched his goatee and shook his head. “Saw her about ten minutes ago. Some old dude tried to sell her; said I could drop her wherever I was headed next. That’s some cold shit. She’s just a kid. I told him to fuck off.”

  “Thanks. Any idea where they went?”

  “Nah. To the other side is my guess, fewer cops and less visibility from the road if you get my drift.”

  I did. “Thanks,” I told him and plowed my way through another half dozen no’s and two more men who’d passed on the offer of transporting or buying a teenage girl.

  “Terry.” Kat rushed over to me and put one hand on my shoulder, which I tried to ignore in favor of the rapid words spilling from her lips.

  “Slow down.”

  Kat sucked in a deep breath, frustration illuminating her blue eyes under the yellow lights of the parking lot. “I got a room number from one of the waitresses.”

  She was so excited I didn’t want to be the one to wipe that look from her face, but we had to be careful. “Madison is there?”

  She nodded. “Said the guy she works for was willing to pay good money for a few hours of work and once I convinced her I wasn’t looking to home in on her side hustle, she gave me the room number. Said the new girl was there now when I told her my man liked ’em young.”

  I glared at her cheeky smile. “Gross, Kitty Kat.”

  She shrugged and smiled but the way her gaze kept tracking the rooms behind us, proved she was still worried as hell. “We got the room number, Terry, that’s what matters. Let’s go.”

  She grabbed my hand and tugged me towards the flat two-story building that held about a dozen rooms.

  As soon as we reached the designated room, I yanked Kat back until she was behind me, safe. Protected.

  “Door’s open,” I whispered before she could chew me out for manhandling her.

  Instead, behind me I heard the snap of a holster and the sound of her gun being prepared to shoot. That’s my girl. At the threshold, she reached around me and pushed the door open, leaving me free to sweep the place.

  “Fuck me, it’s empty,” she growled.

  It was empty but it hadn’t been for long. “The cigarette butt is still smoking. We didn’t miss them by much,” I told her even though I knew nothing but finding the girl unharmed would ease Kat’s guilt and her worry.

  “We have to keep looking, Terry. I have to find her.”

  How could I deny her anything when she set those big blue eyes on me like I was some kind of goddamn hero? I was nobody’s hero, just a man in a position to help. A man who would do just about anything to help this particular woman. “We will, Kitty Kat. I swear.”

  Her shoulders relaxed and Kat’s lips pulled into a half-hearted smile.

  “That’s the only reason I’m letting you get away with calling me that dreadful nickname. Come on, moonlight is burning.”

  I followed her, as it seemed I always would.

  Always.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kat

  Three fucking hours later and we were no closer to picking up Madison’s scent, which put me in a really bad mood. It was well after midnight and lack of sleep and the long drive was getting to me.

  “There’s another number programmed in here,” I told Terry and I could hear the excitement in my voice as I tapped it and listened to it ring. And ring. And fucking ring.

  “She’s not answering.”

  Terry snorted. “She’s not on vacation.”

  I knew I shouldn’t have taken offense, but immediately I stiffened at his mocking, condescending tone, refusing to let Terry see just how much his words bothered me. Right. Of course, she’s not on vacation. She was kidnapped and she’s probably dead already.”

  A depressing thought I refused to think about until I was staring at cold, lifeless eyes.

  “I didn’t mean any—”

  “Forget it. Obviously, they’re not gonna let her answer the damn phone.”

  Which meant it was time to admit when I was beat and call in reinforcements.

  “Hey Cal, I need your help for a quick minute, maybe two.” He was the most brilliant person I knew, especially when it came to techy shit and my kid brother was always willing to help.

  The line was silent for so long I thought maybe the connection had dropped. “Hello? Cal?”

  “Cal is busy.” Bonnie’s voice was stiff but I ignored it in favor of more pressing business.

  “Right, sorry Bonnie. Can you get him please? It’s kind of an emergency.”

  “I said he’s busy,” she said much more slowly and with a whole lot of fucking attitude.

  “And I said put Cal on the fucking phone, Bonnie! I don’t have time for your pregnancy horse shit.” She s
tarted to say something else but I was too fired up and too pissed off to listen. “I’m looking for a little girl who was kidnapped by your church perverts. Do you think you could possibly have my brother call me back when he’s not busy?”

  I hung up before I said something I might have to apologize for later and dialed Sadie.

  “Kat? Where the hell are you? It’s crazy around here and you’ve disappeared.”

  “I guess Jasper’s been too busy to explain,” I told her and gave my mother a quick rundown of the past few hours. “She called twice, the final time right before Ravager fucked us royally. I assume he’s being dealt with?”

  I could hear my mother’s hot breath through the phone. “As soon as we find that bastard, he’s mine,” she growled, her voice vibrating with anger. Rage. “Any luck finding the girl?”

  “Not yet. We just missed her at two different stops. I was hoping Cal could do his computer wizardry to track a number but Bonnie’s being a real bitch right now. What’s up with her?”

  She’d been quiet at dinner lately, but things were too crazy in my life right now to worry about a sullen pregnant woman.

  Sadie sighed. “I’m not sure. Maybe it’s pregnancy hormones. Maybe it’s everything else on top of being pregnant. I’ll keep an eye on her; just tell me what you need.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at how Sadie always managed to be top dog of a huge empire while also playing the part of doting mother. She was a fucking hero in my book, and one day I hoped to be just as bad ass. “I just need to track down Madison and then we’ll come home so I can deal with…everything else.”

  A sympathetic sigh sounded down the line and that one sound nearly unraveled my resolve. “It’s not your fault, Kat.”

  “I know,” I said. “But I still need to help her and to do that, I have to find her.”

  “You can’t save everyone, Katherine, dear, but I know you know that, so I’ll just say this. Be safe. Please.” There was a commotion on the other end of the line and then shouting. And then Sadie.

  “God, have mercy, what happened to him?” My gaze slid to Terry, who’d been pretending not to listen. The phone crashed to the floor and there was mayhem on the other end of the line. It was pure fucking chaos and my heart beat so loud it muted everything else, even Terry’s words.

  Please don’t let it be one of my brothers. It was the closest I’d ever come to praying but I figured the good the Ashbys did in the world had to outweigh all the bad.

  “Emmett! Who did this?” Virgil’s voice came through loud and clear and I tapped the speakerphone button. A few smacks sounded loud in the quiet of the car and then Virgil’s voice again. “Emmett just give me a fucking name, man. A name!”

  “Ma!” I shouted, my voice frantic and worried. “Pick up the damn phone!”

  Someone picked up the phone about a minute later. “Kat?”

  “Maisie, thank fuck. What’s going on?”

  Maisie sniffled, and I braced myself for bad news. “Someone beat up Emmett. Really bad, Kat. He looks…bad.”

  Shit. I turned to Terry again and the dark look on his face said he was ready to head back to Glitz, with or without me.

  “He’s all right, though? Is the doctor there?”

  “Oh his way,” Maisie said through her own tears. “He’s just real bloody and bruised, not stabbed or shot or anything. Virgil said Terry is with you?”

  “Yeah, he heard everything.”

  Maisie gasped. “Shit, I’m so sorry, Terry. We’ll take care of him.”

  “Thanks, Maze.” His voice was tight with tension, with emotions he’d never let show in front of me or anyone else.

  “Keep me posted,” I told her and ended the call. Terry’s fists were balled tight, and I knew what had to be done. “Take the car and head back to Glitz, I’ll rent one.”

  “First of all, I’d never find a place open at one in the morning. But more important, you know I can’t just leave you here after what just happened. Not to mention what happened last night.”

  But that didn’t change the fact that he was worried about Emmett. I was too, but Emmett would be fine as soon as the doctor fixed him up.

  “You’re worried and you want to see that Em’s all right with your own eyes. Go.”

  His lips pulled into a crooked smile and he laid a hand on my shoulder. “I appreciate the thought, Kat, but I’m good.”

  There it was, that damn condescending tone. Again. “I appreciate the thought, but I don’t need a damn babysitter.”

  But that argument would never get any traction because his loyalty was to Jasper first and foremost. Probably forever.

  “Fine. Let’s go back to Glitz, then.” I’d have to double back which would decrease my chances of finding Madison, but I had to do this for Terry. “I said let’s go,” I told him and fastened my seatbelt before I turned my gaze out the window, hoping against hope that I spotted Madison in some passing truck, or running along the side of the highway.

  I’ll find you, Madison, I promise.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Terry

  The drive back to Glitz was quiet and tense. My thoughts were mostly on Emmett. I knew Jasper and Sadie would make sure he was well taken care of, and more than that, they would spearhead the retaliation with the same level of energy I would. But he was my brother, my baby brother, and I wanted to be there.

  But I couldn’t, not really. Kat might say she was fine with returning to Glitz, and on some level, she was. Emmett was a brother to her, too. In almost every sense of the word, and she cared about him a lot. No one was prouder of his military service or his fight record than Kat, and the fact that she was willing to lose hours to get me back to him, meant the world to me. The whole fucking world. It only made me want her more. If that was even possible.

  Still, I knew Kat better than she realized. I knew the moment we were back in Glitz, she’d slide behind the steering wheel and head right back this way to save the girl.

  The girl.

  “Maisie said the doctor patched Emmett up, just bruises and scrapes, maybe some bruised ribs. Mostly he looks worse than he feels.”

  “Thanks,” I grunted and pressed a little harder on the gas. “Still, who the fuck would do this?”

  That was the thing that bothered me. Emmett was a well-liked guy and didn’t have any enemies as far as I knew, but between our father, his mother, and being part of the Ashby empire, it could have been anyone. Any-fucking-one.

  Kat reached over and squeezed my thigh. “It doesn’t matter who, Terry. We’ll find them and make them sorry they thought they could lay hands on an Ashby.”

  Her words brought a smile to my face and the touch of her hand stripped away my concentration. It was all I could do not to drive the car straight off the road. “I know,” was all I said.

  Her phone rang again, a generic tone that she picked up right away.

  “Hello?” She snapped her fingers to get my attention and mouthed the words, “It’s her.” She held up a finger as she listened and I stayed quiet, catching her nodding to the call.

  Finally, she said, “Okay, stay calm Madison. Tell me where you are.”

  She tapped the speaker button, figuring two sets of ears would be better than one.

  Madison came on the line with a shaky voice. “I dunno, another hotel but not by the truck stop. I’m not sure how long we were on the road, but if you have my phone,” she whispered, “well your phone.”

  Madison fell quiet as if she was on a time limit and gasped. “Please Ms. Ashby, they’re talking about selling me to someone in Mexico like they said they did with Molly. Please.”

  Kat paled and I didn’t wait for her to ask the next question. I took the next exit and headed back in the opposite direction.

  “We’re about an hour from the truck stop. With no traffic this time of night, we should be there before 4 am. Which way did you go?” Kat asked.

  “Toward the border. I heard the man say to stay on 95 and the last town I saw was ca
lled Searchlight, but it didn’t look like a town to me.”

  Shit, she sounded even younger than I imagined, like she didn’t have a fucking clue, but she was out here, searching for her sister among the predators of the world.

  “We’re a good hour from Searchlight,” I told Kat. “Can she get out and hide somewhere?”

  “I’m locked in the motel room,” Madison answered. “I can see the parking lot from the window, and I don’t see any other cars around.”

  Her voice was small and shaky, scared as hell and she should be. This time of year, the roadside motels weren’t doing steady business, which made it the perfect route for traffickers of any product. Especially along this route where motel and hotel managers were happy to forego the need for IDs or legitimate bookings. For the right amount of cold hard cash, they would do anything.

  “Madison, this is Terry, Kat Ashby’s friend. I’m helping her find you. Can you see the name of the place?”

  “Yeah, Pacific Palms Inn. Room 121.”

  I entered the name into the fancy navigation system on Madison’s phone and my shoulders sank in relief.

  “We’re not an hour from you. Stay in or close to the bathroom if you can, okay?”

  “You’re gonna come for me?” Her voice was so damn small and vulnerable, like she was more than a kid. She was an innocent.

  “Of course, we are.”

  “Oh, o-okay. Thank you.”

  “Call back if you need to,” Kat told her and ended the call before she settled her gaze on me. “You can still drop me at a rental place, Terry.”

  “You know I can’t do that. Besides, Emmett is fine. We’ll be back in plenty of time for me to fuck up the person responsible, personally.”

  She shrugged. “Still.” The phone ringing in her hand startled a gasp from Kat and she laughed. “Yeah?”

  Jasper’s voice came through the phone loud and clear even before she put it on speakerphone. “Good news is that Emmett didn’t go down without a fight. Whoever did this will have evidence of a professional beating all over his face.”

  “Good, then I’ll know the piece of shit the minute I see him.” And my face would be the last thing the fucker ever saw.