The back door wasn’t locked, wasn’t chained, which reassured me that Aaron had come through, making it easy for me to slip inside. My boots were silent on the concrete floor as I headed toward one of the rooms in the back where Max spent most of his time. I slipped my hand in my pocket, wrapping my fingers around the knife I’d slid in there. It was smaller than the one secured to my boot, but it was handy in a fight. As nice as it was having backups just in case Max made Aaron do a search of me, neither of those blades reassured me as much as the cool metal of the gun at my back, tucked into the waistband of my jeans.
Sporadic lights illuminated my path as I walked toward the back corner, which held one of only two rooms in the entire place that didn’t have an open ceiling. The door was ajar, two masculine voices trailing out from it. I had no way of knowing if that was Aaron in there with Max, but I hoped like hell he was. I slipped closer on silent feet, my back against the wall, keeping an eye on my surroundings, just in case the cleared security had been a ruse.
When I was a couple feet away from the open doorway, I could make out one of the voices as Max’s. His tone was level, almost bored. “What’s the situation?”
“Secured and restrained.” That was definitely Aaron, and I felt the barest hint of relief that at least that part of the plan was in place.
I knew there’d never be a perfect time to walk in, that Aaron wouldn’t be able to give me a signal for when I should walk through that door, and the longer I spent out here, the farther the guys Max had sent out for Evie got. I took the two steps to the door, then walked into the poorly lit room in which Max took care of business. He was sitting at his desk, leaning back in his chair, his body turned away from the doorway. Aaron was standing in front of the desk, his back to me, but from the stiff set of his shoulders, I knew he heard me come in. Very little was done in Aaron’s presence without him knowing about it.
“Max.” I forced the single syllable out, just barely restraining myself from leaping over the solid piece of wood furniture that stood between us and killing him with my bare hands. All I could think about was the orders he’d given to end Evie’s life. I’d feel nothing but pure pleasure if I snuffed out his pulse.
He turned his chair to face me. His poker face was exceptional, and if it wasn’t for the brief flicker of surprise in his eyes, I would’ve thought he’d almost expected this. “Well, well, well. I should’ve fucking known.” His posture was relaxed, his elbows braced loosely on the arms of his chair, showing me he didn’t find me a threat at all. Didn’t matter that he wasn’t surrounded with his normal level of security. Didn’t matter that it was only Aaron—who now stood off to the side, facing me—in the room.
Taking a couple steps closer to him, I said, “We need to have a little talk.”
He hummed and nodded, interlocking his fingers as they rested over his stomach. “Yeah, I think we do.” Then he flicked his eyes to Aaron and addressed him, “Pat him down and take his gun.”
I cursed internally, having hoped he wouldn’t order Aaron to do it, yet knowing he would. I could only hope Aaron wouldn’t strip me of the knives I had, too.
Aaron made quick work, patting me down efficiently, making a big show of pulling the gun out of my waistband, but not going for either of the knives I had on me.
“You know, I have to say I’m surprised by you,” Max said. “We figured someone was helping our little Evie, someone within the ranks. And with you disappearing over the last few days, all clues pointed straight to you. And yet even with all that, I gotta tell ya, Kid … I was sure it wasn’t you. Honestly didn’t think you had the stones for something like this. Going up against the head of the whole fucking crew? Your brother’s gotten stupid since he walked away if he sent you on this suicide mission.”
“Not going to be a suicide mission at all.”
“Oh, yeah? What makes you say that?”
“Because it would only be a suicide mission if you want all the evidence of you embezzling twelve point seven million to get sent to every major news outlet and the fucking cops. But you know what? It’d almost be worth it just to see you go down like that.”
He laughed then, a cold, chilling sound, and reached down to open his drawer. I tensed, ready to go for my bigger knife if forced to.
What he held up, though, wasn’t a gun. But it was something equally chilling.
“This evidence, you mean?” Between his thumb and forefinger, he twisted a tiny black tube back and forth. One I wouldn’t have taken a second glance at merely a week ago. But now, today, seeing it had my face draining of color, my heart thudding against my chest, my skin burning up. Because Evie had shown me that same little black object a couple days ago. The one she’d managed to hide for five years. The one that had been tucked safely away in her purse when I’d left her with Gage.
Every possibility went through my mind as to how he’d have that here, each worse than the last. I wanted to glance at Aaron, see if I could read anything in his expression, but I didn’t dare. “Where’d you get that?”
Max hummed and flipped the object between his fingers, back and forth, back and forth. “It wasn’t easy, I can tell you that. Your Evie is a tricky one. And, of course, with her working with two guys who were once in the crew, well … Made shit difficult for me. Speaking of, do I have you to thank for sending Frankie back to me looking like a goddamn MMA fighter?”
When we’d left Frankie at Evie’s house all those days ago, I hadn’t bothered to pay any attention at all to what kind of damage I’d done, too focused on getting Evie out of there. Couldn’t say I was devastated to hear he’d taken a beating, especially when it was delivered by my hands. “He’s lucky I didn’t send him back looking like a fucking corpse.”
Max let a smile creep over his face. “See, that’s what I liked about you, Kid. You always did enjoy the physical aspect of the job, didn’t you? And you were damn good at it. But you never had the heart for it. Not like Frankie. He’s a complete fuckup, can’t get his head out of his ass, could never stand against guys like you or Ghost, but he’s a sick son of a bitch who loves doing the kind of fucked-up shit I have no problem sending his way.”
“I don’t need a history lesson on Frankie. I know the asshole.”
“Do you?” he asked with a chilling smile on his face. “Do you know what he’s been up to the last twenty-four hours, then? Seems he redeemed himself a little for that botch on the boat five years ago. And not managing to get her at her house.” Max’s hands clenched on the desk, the only sign that he was well and truly pissed off about those hiccups. “Even with two guys helping her, she was bound to slip up sooner or later. I just didn’t think she’d practically fall right into our laps.” He tipped his chin toward Aaron as he leaned forward, his forearms braced on the desk. I wanted to turn and lock eyes with Aaron as he walked by, wanted to get a read on what the hell was going on, but I didn’t dare look away from Max. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, what he was going on about. And what it meant that he had something of Evie’s here with him.
There was a scuffle then, the sound of muffled grunts, and my heart stopped at what I saw coming through that doorway when I turned. Aaron followed behind as Frankie dragged Evie in, one fist wrapped tightly around her hair, the other on the hands bound behind her back. Her mouth was duct-taped, her hair was matted with a dark red stain on her hairline, and there was a bruise blooming on her cheek.
“She wouldn’t give any information, so I had to rough her up a bit. She’s a mouthy little bitch, isn’t she?” Frankie said with a smile.
I didn’t even need my knife. I was going to kill him with my bare hands.
I took half a step toward them before Max cut in, saying, “Uh-uh,” at the same time Frankie’s hand tightened on her hair, yanking her head back. She tried not to make any noise, tried not to show how it was affecting her, but I heard a muffled grunt with each tug of Frankie’s fist against her hair.
Darting my eyes to every inch of her body, I took
stock of everything else, noticing the wide rip in the neckline of her sweatshirt, part of the top of her bra showing. She had bruises on her neck in the shape of fingers, and my nostrils flared, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. It took everything in me to stay where I was, not to move forward, not to help her … get her to safety.
“Notice those bruises on her neck, did you?” Max asked. “Seems Frankie’s got a little pent-up aggression in him. Especially after your little bitch head-butted him. That got him a bit more worked up than he already was.”
Frankie’s nose was darkening at the top, the skin below his left eye a deep purple, and it nearly brought a smile to my face because that was my girl.
“Now that I’ve showed my hand, Kid, I think you can see why I said this was a suicide mission for you. You’re both here and we have the evidence. You don’t have a lot of leverage.”
It was my turn to laugh then, not taking my eyes off Evie. There was no fucking way I was turning my back on Frankie. Even with Aaron there. I wasn’t sure I could trust him. Not now. Not after seeing he’d let Frankie alone with Evie. Part of me wondered if something had happened. If something had changed along the way. If maybe Max had promised him a cut of that twelve million he’d stolen in exchange for getting information from us. I’d known Aaron for a long time—he was the only guy in the entire crew besides me who Gage trusted, but money made people do a lot of fucked-up shit. And when that money was in the millions …
Still watching Evie, I said to Max, “If you think that’s the only copy, you’re a fucking idiot.”
“Of course I know that’s not the only copy.” He must have made a gesture because suddenly Aaron stepped over to grab a chair from the wall and placed it next to where Evie and Frankie were.
“Go stand guard at the front,” Aaron said to Frankie as he reached for Evie.
Frankie’s mouth drew back in a snarl, and his hand tightened in her hair, drawing her head back until her neck was taut and her eyes were wide. “What? No fucking way. I was promised I’d get to kill this cunt.”
“You also told Max that you’d already killed her. That she was dead and he didn’t have anything to worry about. And now look at the mess you’ve got us in. I said to go to the fucking front unless you want to join her on your knees in front of me with a gun pointed at your head.” Aaron’s voice was steady and calm, with no inflection, but he radiated authority. I didn’t think anyone in the room doubted just how serious he was, and I almost wished Frankie was stupid enough to spout off more. I’d love nothing more than to see him bleeding out at my feet. The only regretful part would be me not having a hand in it.
Frankie shoved Evie toward Aaron, then stalked off, flipping the bird as he went. Aaron’s eyes lifted to mine for the briefest moment as he pushed on Evie’s shoulder and guided her to sit in the chair. It took everything in me not to run after Frankie. Not to take him by surprise and make him sorry for every finger he’d ever laid on Evie. The only thing that held me glued to this spot was Evie herself. I wasn’t leaving her alone. I couldn’t.
“Now,” Max’s voice cut in, “I’m going to ask you one more time where the rest of the evidence is. Or you get to watch while she gets a bullet put through that pretty little head.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I watched with horror as Aaron took a gun from the waistband of his jeans and pressed it against Evie’s head. Her eyes went wide then, frantic, as she stared at me. She was breathing rapidly, her chest heaving as she tried to pull in deep breaths through her nose. A million things danced in her eyes, a thousand unasked questions, and I didn’t have any answers. I didn’t know a fucking thing. Nothing was going according to plan, nothing was how we’d talked about it, and now her life was on the line. Now she was in danger, and I wasn’t going to be able to do a damn thing to help her. Again.
Every time she’d ever needed me, needed someone there to help her, I’d failed her, and this was no different.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay,” I said, trying to soothe her, trying to keep my voice even and calm, but by the fearful gleam that still shone in her eyes, I wasn’t successful in convincing her.
Max laughed again. “Aww, that’s sweet. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but nothing is going to be okay until you tell me where the rest of the evidence is.”
Swallowing my fear, I leveled my voice and spoke to Max, though I kept my eyes on Evie, on the point of the gun nestled in her hair, on the finger Aaron had wrapped around the trigger. “It’s too late. Everything’s already been put into place. If Evie and I don’t come out of here, evidence gets mailed off to every major news outlet and to Chicago’s finest.”
I heard the creak of his office chair and caught movement out of the corner of my eye as he leaned forward. “Well, that’s not the answer I was hoping for, Kid. Seems we’ve got a bit of a problem. Because I’m not letting either of you walk out of here. And it would be very bad for business if anyone got wind of the twelve-million-dollar nest egg I’m sitting on, courtesy of Chicago’s favorite businessman, Blaine Pruitt. I’ve been doing this for six goddamn years, and if you think I’m going to let you two lackeys fuck this up for me, you haven’t learned a damn thing from me.”
“I don’t think they’re the ones who are going to fuck this up for you, Max. I think you did that all on your own.” The voice came from the doorway, and I slid my gaze from Evie for a split second to watch as three guys filled the frame of the door. The one in front was dressed impeccably in a well-tailored suit, the two guys flanking him at the back in dark shirts and jeans, much like Aaron, their bulk blocking out the light from the open warehouse behind them.
It took me a minute to place the guy in front, but as I stared at his dark hair peppered with gray, his aristocratic nose and clean-shaven face, a spark of recognition flared, and this was either the best possible outcome or the worst, because it seemed that Blaine had decided to pay Max a visit.
“Hope that piece of garbage at the front wasn’t anyone important,” he said as he walked farther into the room, glancing to the left at where Evie sat in the chair in front of Aaron, then to the gun pointed at her head. When he turned to look at me, his eyes settled on my face for a couple of seconds before he turned to Max. He unbuttoned his suit coat and tucked his hand into the front pocket of his pants, casual as you please. “This is quite the shit hole you have here. You’d think with twelve million and some change you’d be able to afford a nicer headquarters for your crew.”
Max’s face turned red with rage as he stood from his chair, leaning over his desk. “You fucking bitch! You sold me out.”
Though her mouth was covered, Evie’s eyes sparkled like she was smiling, and then she moved the arms from behind her back, sliding her hands free of the rope and letting it fall to her feet, and reached up to peel the tape from her mouth. “I didn’t, but I sure as hell wish I had.”
“What the fuck…” Max breathed. And then before I could move, before I could blink, before I could even really consider how Evie’d been able to get out of her restraints, I watched in horror as Max reached under his desk and pulled out a gun, pointing it right at her. “Should’ve done this myself five years ago.”
I didn’t think before I dove toward her a split second before a shot rang out.
EVIE
It all happened so fast. The blink of an eye, really. One minute Aaron had his gun pointed at me, and the next he was using the distraction of Blaine to loosen my ropes enough so I was able to slip free of them. Then there was shouting, the angry look Max fixed on me as he pointed a gun straight at my chest. Riley crashed into me from the side, knocking me off the chair and onto the floor at the same time the earsplitting sound of a gunshot rang in the small room, followed almost immediately by another. His full weight settled harshly on top of me as I slammed into the cool concrete floor, the force of which knocked the wind out of me.
There was so much commotion, so many voices, none of which I could focus on. All I could do was st
are at the ceiling and wonder why Riley hadn’t gotten off me yet. And then I felt the wetness at my shoulder a moment before Aaron was above us, rolling Riley to the side as Riley’s loud groan filled my ear.
“Jesus, Kid,” Aaron said, kneeling next to us, his focus on Riley. “Can you hear me?”
Was he asking that because the shots had been so loud in the tiny room? My ears were ringing, but I could still make out everything he was saying, could still hear movement from elsewhere in the room, other voices, too. Once again noticing the wetness seeping through my sweater onto my skin, I reached up to press my fingers to it. Red-stained fingertips met my gaze when I brought my hand in front of my face.
“Is Evie okay?” Riley asked, his voice frantic and strained. “Did she get hit?”
Even as I heard Aaron say, “She’s fine, man. You did good,” I still took stock of my body, thinking I’d somehow gotten shot in the commotion, that my body had gone numb from the shock. But Aaron was leaning over Riley, all his focus on him, and everything clicked into place. The gunshot. Riley knocking into me from the side. The bloodstain on my shirt.
It wasn’t my blood. It was his.
“No…” I breathed, scrambling up on my knees to look down at Riley. Dark red pooled under his shoulder, the stain spreading. Someone was calling my name, but I couldn’t focus on anything but the sight of Riley lying in front of me and his bloodstained shirt.
I reached out, running my hands over his face, over as much of his body as I could reach, making sure he was okay. His eyes were focused on me, blinking up at me, and I wanted to drown in them. I didn’t realize I was crying until Riley reached up with his good arm and wiped the flow of tears with his thumb.
“It’s okay. I’m okay,” he said.
“Evie!” Aaron snapped, shaking my shoulder to finally get my attention. “I need you to put pressure on the wound so I can help him sit up. Can you do that?” He grabbed my hands and placed them on either side of Riley’s shoulder, then used both of his to apply pressure to mine, showing me what to do.
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