Page 34 of Dirty Little Secrets
I t starts with a text I don’t see. Then three more.
Each more desperate, more aggressive than the last. But I don’t respond.
Kristina’s out for the evening, and I’m curled up in our apartment, sipping wine, trying not to think about all things Xaiden.
The way he looks at me, buys me coffee in the morning when I get into work.
There’s a knock.
I expect it to be Kristina, forgetting her keys again, maybe even Xaiden, but I know the second I open the door it’s neither.
Brent’s smile is crooked. Like he already knows he’s won.
“Miss me?”
I try to slam the door, but he’s stronger, faster. A gloved hand forces it open. The wine glass crashes, shattering at my feet.
“You think you can ignore me?”
“Get out,” I growl, heart in my throat.
His eyes are wild. “I told you what would happen if you ghosted me. I gave you time, Nori. I gave you choices. You made the wrong one.”
He grabs my arm, yanking me into the hallway. I scream, but it’s muffled by the cloth pressed to my face.
Everything fades to black.
My wrists are raw. The chair digs into my back. The warehouse smells like piss and dead animal. It’s pitch black except for a small light shining on my head.
Tammy’s here too bruised and crying in the corner. Brent left minutes after he tied me up. . He handed me off like I was nothing.
“Trevor one of brent’s friend walks up. Spits on the floor and says, “You’re going to give us what we need. And if you don’t?—”
“I don’t have it,” I whisper.
He slaps me hard enough to knock my head sideways. That’s when I hear the door. Glass shatters. Gunfire explodes. Chaos.
Xaiden
Mike bursts into my office without knocking. I’ve been calling Nori and she doesn’t pick up.
“They took her.”
I don’t ask who. I already know.
“Vanta Crew.”
I freeze. Mike paces like a caged animal. “He sold her out. Landon handed her over to those sick fucks to use her as leverage.”
A crack of fury rolls through my chest. My heart beating like a rapid drum on the verge of destruction. “Where?”
“Seattle. One of their warehouses.”
I dial Leo.
Then Relic, Aiden, Mason, and Colton. All of them pick up on the first ring.
“No questions. I need you in Seattle. Tonight.”
Relic whistles. “You sound like your old self.”
“I am.”
Leo speaks up, voice flat. “They took your girl? How?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Then let’s go.”