Page 150 of Stone: The Precursor

“Give them water. The last thing we need is for them to die before we get to the location.” He pulls out a bottle of water frombehind his back and tosses it to the groper. I watch him warily as he uncaps the bottle and pulls down my gag, roughly putting the mouth of the bottle against my lips. He hits my teeth, but I don’t care. The cloth rubs my skin raw, and my throat is so dry and scratchy. I swallow quickly, greedily. Then he does the same to Jacinda. Even Kami drinks her fill. I can’t imagine how humiliating it is to be forced to take kindness from a man who assaulted her not seconds ago.

The water soothes my throat, and I quickly ask as many questions as I can. “Who are you? Why did you take us? Where are we going?”

He caps the bottle and puts it behind his back. He looks at me, and I swear he’s trying to tell me something with his eyes, but instead, he looks at the man and says something in the same rapid language they used before. The smaller man leaves the van, and I hear the engine start.

“You don’t need to know who I am.” He looks at all of us. “You can keep your gags off, but remember no one can hear you where we are, but if you cause a disturbance I’ll cut your throats.” He straightens as much as he can with his height. “And I won’t care whether you belong to that bastard or not.” With that final warning, he moves backward and exits the van, slamming the door.

The silence stretches before Kami’s frantic whisper interrupts the quiet. “We have to get out of here.” Her face is pale and her eyes wide with fear.

I can still hear the low rumble of the men’s voices, but they are too far away for anything to be clear. There’s some laughter. They are joking around as if they don’t have three women bound in the back of their van. I wish he had untied our restraints. My wrists are rubbed raw, and my circulation is being cut off. I do my best to sit up and lean against the van’s wall. I turn and lookat Jacinda’s face. The handprint he left behind is red and angry. It’s starting to swell.

“What did he mean ‘who you belong to’?” Jacinda asks, her words slurred because her lips are swelling.

“I have no clue. My father is the only one I can think about. Maybe it’s one of his competitors? Maybe a ransom? I have no clue. Shit. This might be my fault. There was an attack on the gallery. This could be connected.”

Kami nods. “You are the target. The man who gave us water was speaking in Spanish. He said Jacinda and I are just a bonus. Something about the owl won’t recognize you once the boss finishes.”

My body freezes.

Chapter 69

“Where is she!?” Jace shouts, jumping out of his car and running towards me, Riggs, and Onyx.Sophia follows him, slamming the car door.

A second later, another car pulls up, and a tall man who looks like Jace exits the back of the vehicle. Fuck. It’s Cam’s older brother. I see the resemblance, and I recognize his military training in the way his eyes scan the group, scrutinizing everything.He limps our way. It indicates he’s been injured. Now I’ll have to deal with two angry brothers. Riggs’s muttered, “Fuck,” is the only response to Jace’s question.

Before Jace can say another word, Dru and Silas pull up with Jacqueline exiting a luxury SUV. Then another car pulls in, and Camryn’s other friends, Meela and Tate, leave a sleek sedan and head our way. It takes only minutes to be surrounded by her crowd of friends. Everyone talks at once, demanding to know where their friend is. Phrases like “Call the police,” start.

The man, Julian, was determined to call the police, and I had to threaten his life, explaining that if the people who took his sister and Camryn found out, they could kill them before we found them.

Moments after I calmed down, Julian and Xiomara, the bartender, showed up and saw the broken champagne bottle and the bloody symbol on the door. She was on the phone before I could stop her, calling Sophia. Xiomara recognized the symbol, telling Sophia that she needed to get to Camryn’s studio immediately. I wondered about her connection to the gang. She knew about the Mestizos. She was sweaty and trembling after she hung up the phone. Fear stamped over her pinched features.

Julian walks into the fray, his face pale and his eyes filled with devastation. He’s the first to say what no one else has. “Someone took them. They took my sister, Camryn, and another woman named Kamilah.”

Jacqueline’s anguished bellow echoes in the lot. “No! Kami? Please god no!”

Riggs has already informed me about the woman who was with Camryn. Kamilah is Jacqueline’s 21-year-old cousin. Riggs reaches out, holding her, turning her body into his much bigger one.Her cries pierce my soul. Adding to the guilt and rage swirling inside me.

“Who took them?” Jace’s voice is guttural and harsh. Sophia stands next to him, holding his hand.

Onyx answers. “The Mestizos.”

“Who the fuck are they?” Jacqueline lifts her tear-stained face, looking at Onyx.

“They’re a group. Organized crime.”

“The mafia?” Silas asks, raising a brow.

“Similar,” Riggs responds. He wants to add what both Onyx and I know. That this group is so much worse. Rapid dogs unleashing carnage.

“What the hell? Why?” Jacqueline pulls out of Riggs’s arms and whips out her phone. “I’m calling the police.”

“If you do that they are as good as dead,” Onyx states.

Jace spins around and pins me with his laser stare. “Who the fuck are these people, Stone? I know damn well you know.”

I knew this moment was coming. The moment when I would have to acknowledge what I’ve been doing with his sister. Acknowledge that I’ve betrayed our friendship. And worse now, that I’ve led the woman he warned me away from, his precious sister, right to the slaughter.

The moment I saw the blood on the wall, I contacted Riggs and Onyx, who were not far. They arrived minutes later, and it wasn’t long before Riggs took the choice away from me and contacted Jace, forcing me to calm down and think.