Page 75 of The One Night Match

There isn’t a single surface that isn’t damaged. Blood coats the walls, bodies line the floor, and it’s nothing like it was when we left a few days ago.

“Fuck,” Colten says, his phone clenched in his hand as he checks traffic cameras in the area on the too-small screen.

Normally, he’d have his laptop on standby, but he didn’t think he was going to need it tonight.

Maybe Lexi should have included it with the shoes she had Ben hoard for her.

“Call the cleanup crew. I want this place spotless before the party ends tonight. Once we’re home, I need you to find who the fuck they’ve dragged into our business. I’m going to start doing some damage control, collecting all the evidence we have that Dennis and Vernon are dirty as fuck to ensure we keep favor with the majority of the family.”

He nods, tapping out a text on his phone without bothering to look up at me. We’ve been working together for well over a decade at this point, first as my father’s soldiers, and now as the leaders of the organization.

My phone vibrates in my hand, and I quickly answer it when I see Davis’s name on the screen. “Davis? Are you okay?”

“Okay probably isn’t the right word,” he groans.

“Where are you?”

“A few blocks from the safe house. When shit went down, your guys made a break for it, and I followed, but whoever they were meeting at the pickup point got the jump on me,” he explains.

“Did you get a good look at them?”

“No,” he sighs. “But I did hear a name that has no place in Seattle.”

“What was it?”

“Jeremy Moretti.”

My chest tightens as dread slams into me so hard it takes my breath away.

That man has no place in this city, and if I catch up with him, he’s going to find himself missing both hands for ever daring to touch my wife in anger, even if it was long before I knew she existed.

“You need an evac?” I manage to ask.

“Negative. I’ve got one of my guys on his way. I’ll meet you back at your place.”

“Thanks, man.”

I hang up and meet Colten’s eye, and for the second time tonight, the panic staring back at me puts me on high alert.

“We have to go.”

“What’s going on?”

“Riley’s missing.”

FORTY

RILEY

Idecide not to drag my very sore feet when it comes to getting back to questions.

There are a few people waiting for me, and I smile as I approach them.

“So sorry to keep you waiting,” I say to the group of women waiting. “If I didn’t eat, I think I was going to drop!”

“Oh, don’t be silly.” The short blonde woman among them takes my hand and squeezes it. “We’ve all done this event, and we know how overwhelming it can be! You’re handling it like a champ.”

My shoulders relax slightly, relieved that the three of them don’t seem like they’re going to grill me about my stance on global warming. “Thank you for saying that. It’s a lot harder in practice than it was in principle.”