by Warren, Rie
I left a message and started the late night clean up. Periodically, I palmed my phone, waiting for the screen to light up.
A few messages flashed in. None from Sin.
I kept cleaning, trying to stave off my anxiety.
When I was finished, I called Sin again. No answer.
It was ten o’clock. I knew she didn’t have any functions or appointments and had been planning a quiet night in with her folks out on the town.
I put that shit on redial. Over and over again.
No answer.
No answer.
No answer.
My phone finally fucking rang with an incoming call, but it was goddamn Hunter.
“Look, I’ll call you back. I’m trying to get hold of Sin.” Exasperation punched through my words.
“That’s why I’m calling.”
Pure cold dread turned my veins to ice.
“I need you to come down to the station,” he said.
“I don’t like the sound of that.” My gut plummeted.
“Cole. All we know right now is she’s alive.” His stark voice did not make me feel any better.
Chapter Eighteen
MY BRAIN ABOUT READY to fracture apart—not to mention my heart—I sped through the downtown crosstown, zoomed across the Ravenel Bridge, went total mayhem on the Mt. Pleasant streets until I hammered into the police station parking lot.
Kickstand down, helmet off, I raced inside. I didn’t even stop when the alarms went off on the metal detectors. I jetted down the hallway, only brought to heel when two people strong-armed me against the wall face first, kicking my feet apart.
“Get Hunter Angelo,” I squeezed out of my dry throat. “He called me to come in.”
“Don’t think so.” One of the uniforms meted out.
“Oh ho.” The one systematically patting me down came up trumps with Brett’s gun. “We got a live one.”
I wriggled around, about ready to start some serious ass kicking when Vice Detective Ashe Kingston—Brodie’s woman—shot her head out of a room down the hall.
Relief swept through me as she approached.
“You can let him go.”
“He had a gun.”
“You’re packing heat, Cole?” Ashe asked, her silver eyes narrowing.
“Not mine. Some guys broke into Inksanity tonight. Took it off one of them.”
“What guys?”
“You think we could take this private.” I was still restrained, and I was about at the end of my tether.
“Let him walk,” Ashe ordered.
I followed her down the hall and into what could only be called a buzzing situation room.
Phones rang. People shouted to each other. Others bent over computers, typing as fast as their fingers could fly.
“What the hell’s going on?” My voice was barely audible in the racket.
“I’ll get Hunter and Chief Tilden.” Ashe worked her way through the room.
She returned with the tough old Chief of Police and Hunter in tow.
“I need to know, now.” Despair edged my voice. “Is Sin okay?”
“Someone hit the panic button in her house.” Hunter flipped his gaze to mine, and there was nothing hopeful in it.
“What?” Fear pressed down on my chest. “Tell me you’re not saying what I think you’re saying.”
“I can’t. Seems Sinclair was home alone. And someone’s raiding her house. They’ve asked for ransom.”
“Oh, fuck. It’s them.” I dragged my hands through my hair.
“Them? Your old tribe?” Hunter asked, immediately catching on.
I nodded, nausea making stomach acid scream up my throat. “They broke into Inksanity earlier, after hours. Fucked with my head. Talked about getting to Sin.” I looked at Hunter, my pain exposed. “They have guns. I took one off Brett.”
“That’s what I thought. Why I got you down here.” Hunter shared a glance with Ashe and Tilden. “So they knew you were occupied. They’ve been following you. They knew you wouldn’t get in the way.”
My gut clenched. I was on the verge of losing it. “Sounds about right.”
“Those skanks want to bleed her for money.”
I jerked Hunter to me. “Why the fuck are you all still here? Why aren’t you doing something?”
“Listen to me, Cole. You know I’ve been in this situation before. Ashe here has been on the other end of it. Calm your shit. We need some answers.” The deadly former X-Ops man pointed to an empty chair. “Sit your ass down. And someone get him a bottle of water!”
I swatted him away, swearing as I took a seat in the chair. “I don’t want any fucking water. I want answers.”
“Yeah, well, we’re not about to go in half-baked.” Hunter drew up a chair across from mine. “How deadly are these dudes?”
“They have it in for me. They’ve figured out Sin is important. You do the math.”
“Have they ever killed?”
“Probably.” I closed my eyes, seeing Sin with my mom, braiding her hair. I swallowed that boiling acid in my throat.
“They deal?”
“Yeah.”
“They were street kids?”
“Yes!” I pumped to my feet and paced around. “Fuck! Hunter, really? None of this matters right now. Sin is in DANGER!” I pounded my fist on a desk and the room rang with sudden silence. “And if you try to go fucking Coolio on me right now, I’m gonna start throwing punches.”
Ashe stepped up to me, playing good cop. “What can you tell us about the house. Do you know the layout?”
“No. Jesus Christ. Her dad hates me. Never stepped foot inside.” My heart was strung out, beating furiously. “Please. Please. Just save her. For fuck’s sake.”
“We got one more thing to talk about, Cole.” Hunter approached the front of the room where he bullhorned, “CLEAR THE FUCK OUT EVERYBODY!”
The silence when the room emptied was astounding. My ears rang. My thoughts spiraled inward.
This is all my fault.
I didn’t even want to think about what they were doing to Sin at that very moment.
“Cole’s coming in with us.” Hunter planted his fists and spread his legs, surrounded by me, Ashe, and Tilden, the only ones left in the room.
“What?” the rest of us chorused.
“You heard me.”
“No way.” Tilden, the man Brodie called Sipowicz, grunted. “No fucking way.”
I stared, goddamn stupefied as Hunter continued to argue my case. “He’s going into the Academy.”
“I am?” I asked.
“He is?” Tilden frowned at me.
“What?” Ashe took a break from checking her weapons.
“Yeah, so . . .” Hunter tapped his knuckles on a deserted desk, which just reminded me they should already be at Sin’s house.
“So fucking what?” Tilden asked. “He’s not a cop yet.”
“Well, you let Brodie Steele go in when Detective Kingston here got snatched . . .”
“Jesus Christ, Angelo. I didn’t let him do shit. You went renegade. And I don’t even want to know what happened at that MC last December. You’re just lucky I turned a blind eye and gave you a job regardless.” Tilden’s stained tie hung loose around his neck like he’d wrenched it free a few thousand times. He glowered at me. “You got a history with these guys?”
“Yeah.”
“Then no.” Tilden slammed his hand down beside Hunter’s, strafing a look at me. “His presence could escalate the situation. I want to go in, no talks, and neutralize the threat immediately. There will be no negotiating.” He spoke to the three of us. “This is a high profile case. Sinclair Chatham is a human being. A woman you all know. So you two”—he pointed at Ashe and Hunter—“are heading up the retrieve.”
Hunter started to argue, but I agreed. “Fuck. You know what this feels like.” Guilt, responsibility, worry . . . it swam to the surface and threatened to drag me into the darkest undertow. “They’re in her house for two reasons
. They want to get to me. And they're desperate for money. Just go in there and get her out safely.”
More shouting ensued—their voices pounding into my head, a nonstop percussion—until I boomed, “STOP! It doesn’t matter. I don’t matter. Just get Sin back. Now!”
Chapter Nineteen
IT WAS EERIE STANDING outside on the Battery with no one strolling the promontory. No one in the park. No one at-fucking-all talking. The entire block had been cordoned off, evacuated, surrounded by police cruisers, ambulances, and fire trucks.
Situation contained.
I needed something to contain my rage.
Most electrics had been cut off. The only light came from the spinning reds, blues, and whites on top of police cruisers, and halogens set up on the sidewalk, aimed at Sin’s house.
This wasn’t stealthy enough for my liking. Hell, it wasn’t stealthy at all. The guys had to know they were surrounded, which to me made the situation even dicier. The only bonus was hopefully Sin knew help was on the way.
As long as the cops got their asses in gear before Brett, Kyle, or Curtis went completely off the rails.
Swat vans—two of them—peeled into the area where cops milled around. The black-dressed officers jumped out and didn’t hesitate as they approached Hunter and Ashe, similarly outfitted, inside the perimeter that blocked me from Sin.
It was all in Hunter and Ashe’s hands—Detectives Angelo and Kingston.
My knuckles bleached white, I stared at the two of them, twenty feet away, as they issued orders.
The idiots inside had to know their time was up. All this waiting around was making me mental.
Tilden stationed himself by me just on the other side of the police tape, clamping down on my shoulder. Not a gesture of solidarity but a no-nonsense don’t you fucking dare move warning.
“You will not carry a weapon. You will wear a vest. You will stay behind the lines.” He gave me his orders.
The whole no-weapons thing was a joke. They’d already confiscated the handgun I’d taken from Brett and made sure I wasn’t packing anything else back at the station.
An unknown officer came over and wrapped me in a bulletproof vest.
Hunter and Ashe moved in, flanking the house, silent as ghosts and nearly invisible.
I listened—my heart pounding, more fear than I’d ever felt digging into my chest. Walkie-talkies sounded off around me.
“Alpha Team. In.”
“Bravo Team. At the back.”
My ears perked for any little bit of information.
A Lexus pulled up alongside the ropes, stopping right in front of me with a squeal of tires.
Regina and Leland Chatham got out. Pale-faced, pinch-faced . . . furious.
They were quickly cloaked in bulletproof vests. Then Leland stormed over.
“You better hope to hell nothing happens to her, boy.”
I wanted to fucking grovel in front of them, but all my emotions were pinned on Sin, her life, her safety. I couldn’t even tell her parents how sorry I was.
My lips moved stiffly, “I’d be in there, taking her place if I could. I’d ask them to kill me if that would keep her safe.”
Leland gripped Regina’s hand, his face a storm cloud.
He turned to Tilden. “I’ll pay the ransom. Whatever they want. Just get my baby girl out alive.”
My eyes filled. My teeth grinded together.
“That’s not an option at the moment, sir.” Tilden held his ground. “We don’t negotiate. Good men and women are already inside.”
The house remained dark, and I didn’t find Tilden’s words one bit reassuring.
If I was shitting it and I knew and trusted the cops heading up the operation, I could only imagine how frantic Sin’s parents were. Other than clutching hands and the strain on their faces, they didn’t let it show.
“Bravo team moving into place.”
“Copy.”
More silence. Darkness. Static.
Then bursts of blue light. Shouts and chaos.
“What the fuck? Are they firing off in there?” I wrenched forward, about to jump over the police cordon.
“Just some harmless flash bang,” Tilden answered. “Strobes of light to confuse the perps. Give Angelo and Kingston time to get their teams into place.”
The next couple of minutes were the most frightening of my life. Tilden moved away so we no longer heard the commotion coming over the walkie-talkie.
And still there was nothing.
No more lights.
Nobody coming out.
My nerves were stretched raw, and every minute that passed seemed to crawl. Finally someone appeared around the far corner of the house.
Hunter, carrying Sin in his arms.
I jumped the rope, pushed past all the cops, and sprinted to get to her.
“Sin!”
She was conscious. She looked at me, green eyes wide and white rimmed with shock, her face blanched pale. “Coletrane?”
“Oh, God, Sin.” I reached them as Hunter got to the nearest ambulance. “What did they do to you?
Just then her parents arrived, and Leland pushed me out of the way. “You brought this on her.”
“Leland.” Regina took her husband by the hand.
“No.” He glared at me, ignoring Regina. “You do not come near her again.”
“Daddy, please . . .”
Considering me dismissed, Leland turned to Sin and cradled her face in his large hands.
She was lifted into the ambulance, her parents hopping in right after her.
My heart thumped in my chest. I wanted nothing more than to hold Sin, comfort her, tell her how sorry I was.
I started moving forward, but Leland barked, “Don’t even think about it.”
The ambulance doors slammed shut in my face.
I locked gazes with Hunter, hoping he could help me out. He just shook his head.
“But you guys let Brodie go with Ashe when she was—”
“That was different. Ashe didn’t have any other family around, and she’d already put Brodie on all her paperwork.”
I watched the ambulance scream away, lights flashing, sirens blazing.
“Fuck!” I needed to hit something.
Turned out to be my lucky night because just then Ashe strolled from the house, quietly murmuring threats in Curtis’s ear. She had him cuffed, his arms cinched tight behind his back, and she kept jerking him harder.
I stalked up to them before anyone could stop me.
I drew my fist back, so primed to punch something. Kill someone. My fist snapped forward so fast Curtis didn’t have time to react. My knuckles slammed into his mouth with a loud crack that only made me want to beat him ’til he no longer drew breath.
He spun out of Ashe’s hold and hit the ground at my feet.
I hauled him up, my hand clamped around his throat. He dangled half a foot off the ground.
“I ever lay eyes on any of you again, I’ll kill you.” Another punch from my hard fist knocked him out cold, and then Hunter dragged me away.
“That was your one freebie, son,” Tilden ground out. “Time for you to get gone so we can finish cleaning up this mess.”
I watched in a mad fury while Curtis, Kyle, and Brett were loaded into the cruisers before pacing to my bike.
Chapter Twenty
THAT NIGHT WAS NOTHING short of maddening, one of the worst in my life. I couldn’t go to the hospital. Sin’s dad had all but stated he’d get a restraining order against me if I so much as tried to see Sin. He’d made it clear she never would’ve been in danger in the first place if it weren’t for me.
And he was absolutely right.
All I could do was wait.
Hunter’s updates provided little relief. She’d be okay, he said. She’d been bruised a little but not raped, not seriously harmed. Shook up more than anything. I didn’t ask him if she’d mentioned me, and he didn’t offer any info on that subject either. So I probably didn’t want to know
either way.
I wouldn’t feel better until I could see she was okay with my own two eyes. Hold her in my arms.
The story was all over the news with Sin and her family being so high profile. I couldn’t get away from it if I tried. In the end, I had to turn off the TV before I lost my shit. I tried to sleep but couldn’t. I sat on the floor with Pincushion in my lap, for once deafened to her nonstop noise.
First thing the next morning, I called the hospital Hunter had told me they brought Sin to, but no one would tell me squat because I wasn’t related to her.
That was just fucking unacceptable.
I could go there and demand answers, but I didn’t want to get into a shouting match with Leland. He and Regina didn’t deserve that and neither did Sin. So I sucked it up and bided my time.
When I got the word Sin was okay and being released from the hospital, I was at Retribution. It was the night after Curtis and his gang of dickheads had broken into her house. I almost collapsed on the floor in relief. The news spread through the clubhouse with subdued cheers while I quickly dried my eyes. I left soon after. I wasn’t in the mood to party. I just wanted to see Sin.
I ached for her.
I gave it one more day before I rolled up to her house on my Harley in the middle of the afternoon. I didn’t want to traumatize her anymore than she already had been, but no way in hell was I just letting her go without a serious fight.
I’d picked up a bouquet of flowers, some big pale pink blooms that were just as pretty as her, because I remembered what she’d said: every woman likes flowers. But as soon as I started walking up the path to the front door, I looked around at all the blossoms in the courtyard, bursting with colors.
Maybe I should ditch the flowers.
Maybe I should just leave Sin alone.
Fuck it.
I wasn’t about to give up now.
After ringing the doorbell, I stood with my feet braced wide on the giant front porch.
Leland opened the door, his eyes hard and flinty, his face a little haggard. “I’m not letting you see her.”
“With all due respect, sir, I’ve given you your space. Now I’m going to see Sin. She’s still my girlfriend.”
