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He’d walked into a place full of danger for a woman he barely knew. Now? Now I had no doubt he was doing whatever he could. It wasn’t a guarantee, but I had to help him. Give him enough time to put anything together in order to find me.

If it wasn’t enough... at least I’d know that I’d tried.

I wished I had talked to him. Told him the little words that had been on the tip of my tongue for days now. I love you. I did.

I’d been resisting saying it because it was too soon and too permanent. Just the situation dragging us closer and not the real thing. But now my heart was cracking in my chest. The thought of not seeing him again and not having said that? It might be the thing that broke me.

Focus, Kate. Is there anything that you can use?

I scrunched my eyes tight, bracing against the pain pounding in my skull. At first glance, it looked the same as the other abandoned buildings I’d been in for their parties. But it wasn’t the same. There were more signs of permanence here.

This was more storage than a space for fighting or pretend parties. There were cages on the far wall with dogs, like at the last place. But way more of them. A few larger cages housed what looked like exotic animals in the dimness. Was that a tiger?

I froze when my eyes reached the end of the line. On the bottom, in a cage, was a girl. The shape was undeniably human. If there were people in cages and not just fighting, then this was deeper and worse than I’d let myself believe.

Past the cages, a door was ajar. Beyond, people were packaging drugs. The fact that I was seeing all this—not blindfolded and no attempt on their part to hide what they were doing—didn’t bode well for me.

I pushed back against the brand new wave of fear. My body understood more than my mind—there was a good chance I was going to die.

To my right, a door opened, and a man entered. Tall. Tall enough that I had to crane my neck in the chair that I was tied to. And it didn’t matter that he was dressed casually in jeans and flannel. This was the real boss of the Riders. He exuded power and command in the same way the Resting Warrior guys did.

There was a gun on his hip, metal so dark it seemed to absorb what little light there was.

Max trailed behind him, and the comparison was laughable. Of course Max could be terrifying, but it was nothing compared to the cold stillness of the newcomer. This wasn’t a person who panicked or begged. This was a man who made decisions with quick efficiency, and a man who regarded human life with disdain, if the woman in the cage was any indication.

A couple other guys with guns strapped to their chests stood near the walls. This was the real place then. The headquarters we thought we’d been hitting before.

The boss grabbed a chair and set it across from me a few feet away. When he sat in it, he was totally at ease. This was his turf. His gaze was locked on mine, and my heart sank. We hadn’t known who was behind the Riders. It wasn’t a face you could see and leave.

Noah, I thought out at the universe. If you’re able to find me, please do it.

“Do you know why you’re here?” the man asked. His voice was low and rough. Like he’d had a lifetime of smoking.

I shook my head and immediately stopped because of the pain in my head. “No. Not really.” Pausing, I debated how much I should reveal about what I knew. “If it’s about the money,” I looked at Max, “then you had my phone number. You didn’t have to shoot my brother.”

“It’s not about the money,” the man said. “I told Max to find you again after he so stupidly gave you away. It was his job to take care of you. Loose ends aren’t a thing that I allow in my organization. Especially when those loose ends are seen with ex-SEALs who have a reputation around these parts for fucking over people like me.”

I sucked in a breath. They knew who Noah was. That changed everything. They knew he would try to get to me at all costs. Which meant there was every chance that they were setting a trap for him—for all the Resting Warrior men.

“I was going to take care of her,” Max insisted. “Just thought I’d have some fun first. You don’t think people would bet on her? Or to have her? She’d bring in ten times more money than her brother owed. But it won’t happen again. Promise, boss. You heard her. I already took care of the brother.”

“The other thing that I can’t allow in my organization? Unreliable people.” In a blink, he pulled the gun from his holster and shot Max in the head. I screamed out of reflex, every animal in the room suddenly loud with the unexpected sound.

His other guys barely flinched.

Max’s body fell to the ground, and all I could do was stare at it.

“How rude of me,” the man said, holstering the gun with one smooth motion. “We haven’t even been introduced. You’re Kate Tilbeck, and you can call me Simon.”

I wasn’t going to fucking call him anything. He’d just killed someone in front of me. I was going to be sick.

Max was awful. He’d killed my brother. Had sold me to Noah. Had destroyed my home and beaten my brother within an inch of his life. And still, seeing another person shot to death in front of me was more than I was ready for.

“Ignore him,” Simon said. “He wasn’t worth the air he breathed.”

But I couldn’t just ignore the way blood was seeping out onto the packed dirt floor.

“Look at me.” The words were deadly soft. No room for argument. It was the voice of a killer. I lifted my gaze to the man across from me. “Do you know what you’ve done?”