Page 187 of Protecting Peyton

The detective grabbed my arm and my hair. “You’re not going anywhere.” Anger coated his voice as he yanked hard on my hair.

My scalp burned, and I screamed in pain. “Let me go.”

The homeless guy looked over and then began pushing his cart faster to get away.

“What the fuck?” I screamed and kicked. I got the detective in the shin. It didn’t force him to let go of my hair.

His fist slammed into my cheek.

Intense pain radiated across my face.

He yanked my hair, and I stumbled in my heels and fell to the ground. Then a heavy knee landed right on the cuts across my stomach and forced all the air out of me.

“Need some help?” another man yelled from the back door of the building.

The cuts across my stomach burned. “Help me,” I screamed as I pounded my fists against the detective. When I turned, I saw the other man—Shorty, Buzzcut’s partner. How did O’Connor know these dirtbags?

“Get her hands,” the detective grunted.

Buzzcut knelt down and grabbed my wrists. “She’s a fighter.” He pinned my wrists to the ground. “I like that.”

Shorty appeared behind him in a bulky coat. “I want her first.”

Buzzcut laughed. “She’s more woman than you can handle.”

I struggled, but couldn’t get free. How had I ended up here with guys that were just like Lucifer’s thugs. My nightmare was supposed to have ended yesterday.

“Fuck you.” Shorty shoved Buzzcut.

That forced Buzzcut to loosen his grip and brace himself.

I got one hand free and scratched at the brute’s face. I missed his eyes.

“Fuck,” Buzzcut squealed and pulled my hand away. Then, he slammed my head back against the asphalt.

“Get her inside,” was the last thing I heard before everything went dark.

CHAPTER 45

Zane

Pete tookout his phone as I gunned the Cayenne’s engine and then braked hard before the last turn leading to Hawk. He was calm and collected, unlike that pussy O’Connor. “We’re almost there,” he said into the phone.

Jordy and his camera magic was our only hope of finding Peyton. We all knew the time it took was a function of how many eyeballs we had on the screens. Lucas had called in Duke and Constance. Terry was still with Yates, and Winston was covering Zamora.

After Joe waved us into a parking space, we sprinted upstairs.

“I’ve got the car and the license plate,” Jordy said as soon as we reached his command center with all the screens. He pointed at the top-center monitor.

“Where are they?” I demanded between breaths.

“Don’t know yet.” Jordy brought up a map with a red dot on it not far from my house. “I can only tell you where they’ve been. So far, he’s going north.”

Duke and Constance were both sitting to the left, scrolling through footage.

“LAPD is east,” Lucas mentioned.

My gut clenched. It was as bad as I’d feared. O’Connor was not taking her where he’d said he was.