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P ain splintered through Levi’s fist when he planted it into the wall.

“That’s not going to help a damned thing,” King said.

Levi looked around blankly at the vacant warehouse.

Sara was gone.

Taken away by her father.

And he was left lost, adrift in a never-ending ocean of anguish.

He should have told her about the money. He should have sat her down and told her that he took the money, but that he gave it back.

Everything had changed after they had connected that night in San Francisco long ago.

His world had been altered after they had hooked up. He had never been the same after they had made love.

He had feelings for her.

But now it was too late.

She hated him.

The perp who had kidnapped Sara was also gone.

The perp had been taken away by the lawyer.

“I’m pressing charges against you all,” Tom Markem had said as he untied the kidnapper and helped the man to his feet.

“Fine. I’ll be pressing formal charges for attempted kidnapping,” West spat right back.

“Who are you?” Markem glared.

“I’m West.” The Aries operative smiled.

“You murdered my partner,” the kidnapper said, glaring at Levi.

Levi shrugged, his mind was elsewhere on Sara. He could hear the idling car outside and he was seconds away from going out there and forcibly taking Sara, but Rowan put a hand on his shoulder and slowly shook his head.

Levi clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw started to ache.

“And there are more charges,” Markem informed West before he slid the kidnapper’s arm up and around his neck to help the man stay upright.

“Prove it,” West said. “I see the shit piling up way more with attempted kidnapping and murder charges.”

“You want to chime in here, King?” West asked King.

Their Aries leader shook his head. King seemed content to let West have the ball and the younger man ran with it.

“You’re way out of your league here,” West goaded.

“I’ll add in torture charges.” Markem glared.

“Don’t forget your guy there stabbed a government official,” West’s eyes gleamed.

“Gov…what?” Markem ran his shocked gaze around them before landing on the one called King.

If they were really officials, then he and Jack Jones were fucked, but Markem doubted any of the men in front of him worked for the US government.

“Nice try,” he said.

King slowly smirked.

And the man’s slight smile sent a chill down Markem’s spine.

“Let’s roll, before Levi punches down a wall or something,” King said, bringing Levi back to the present and the pain in his fist.

It hurt like a bitch, but not as much as his heart hurt.

“Where are we going?” Levi asked once he was sitting in the back of King’s rental SUV.

“To the hospital,” Rowan said from the spot next to him.

“I don’t need the hospital,” Levi snarled.

West turned around in the passenger seat and shot him a glare.

“Not for you, dumbass. We’re going to see Aiden.”

Levi closed his eyes and thunked his head against the backrest.

Of course they were. Aiden was wounded, and they needed to be there for him.

Only Levi had forgotten everything in the face of losing Sara.

“And after that, we are going with Stolts and Carson to take down Kevin Wilson, Chester Miller, and their boss Edward Stewart.

Now that sounded like a good fucking plan.

He wanted to kill something right now, and Kevin Wilson was just the ticket.

“We’re going in as backup,” King said.

Levi glanced up and found King gazing at him via the rearview mirror.

His boss knew him all too well.

“If he does anything stupid, he’s history,” Levi said and yeah, the words came out in a low growling voice but so the fuck what?

“Drug trafficking and money laundering,” King reminded him.

“Don’t forget the video of them killing someone,” Levi said, and met King’s stare with a challenge in his eyes.

“If they resort to violence, we will answer in kind.” King returned his eyes to the road.

Violence.

Levi was used to that from the military up and including both Aries and Deckman Defense and Security.

The only softness in his life had been Sara.

Now that she was gone, he had no reason to change who he was.

He had no reason to become a man to be admired. He was shit, and had been from the moment he had taken Jones’s money. That he gave it back didn’t really matter at this point.

“I’m coming back to Aries full-time,” Levi murmured.

“What the fuck?” Rowan said, his voice a hiss in the quiet of the car.

They shouldn’t be surprised. They all knew him and what he was capable of. He had tried to hide it from Sara, but look what had happened in the end.

She was better off without him.

He was no fucking hero.

Two days later…

Aries hit the Velvet lounge when Chester Miller was having a weekly meeting in Kevin Wilson’s office.

Quietly, King and Rowan had the customers and employees exit the building.

With Stolts and Carson there, the DEA badges saved the argument, and the exit had been orderly.

Locked and loaded, Levi stood down the hall along with the rest of Aries as the DEA took the lead.

His finger itched.

He hoped Wilson would put up a fight. The guy deserved to be dead for putting Sara in danger.

“Police,” Stolts shouted just before another officer slammed the office door with a battering ram.

The wood splintered.

Snick.

Snick.

Stolts and the closest cops dodged back and out of the way of gunfire.

Glass broke from inside the office and Levi spun around and sprinted for the front door.

He was out and around the side with both Rowan and West on his ass.

Sure as shit, Kevin Wilson had crawled out of the window and was running down the alley.

Levi charged after the guy, and Wilson kept turning and firing behind him. Levi ducked and kept on going.

A painful grunt sounded from behind him and Levi shot a look over his shoulder to see West fall.

“No, no, no,” Rowan rasped, catching a hold of West before he could hit the ground.

Levi didn’t watch any more.

Rage lent him fuel and he gained on Wilson. The fucker might have a lead on him, but Kevin was not in good shape.

Levi held back from opening fire on Wilson when the words King spoke earlier kept spinning on repeat.

“Don’t kill them. We need their testimony to bring down the big fish,” King had said.

Running through the streets of San Francisco after a killer, Levi wasn’t going to make any promises.

Especially now that Wilson had shot West.

“Levi!” King’s voice came via the device in his ear.

“Copy,” he responded via the comms.

“West is okay. Don’t kill Wilson.”

“I make no promises!” Levi snarled and leaped up the steps and into the apartment building Wilson had disappeared inside.

“That’s a fucking order.” King’s growl was dark.

Levi didn’t answer.

Ahead of him, Wilson had grabbed a lady and was using her for a shield. The woman’s groceries fell into the hallway.

“Get back or she’s dead,” Wilson said.

Levi didn’t respond, he just kept coming.

Would Wilson shoot him?

Probably, but right now, Levi didn’t give a fuck. All he felt was the bloodlust.

Wilson jerked his gun from the woman’s head and aimed it at him. She screamed and bit Wilson’s hand.

Wilson slammed the woman’s head into the wall.

Snick.