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Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sutton

I have the girl.

Bring her to the warehouse on Friday. I’ll give him both then.

What’s going on with Remington?

My associate will bring her. I will handle Remington.

You better.

I’d watched him send the messages—watched as he sealed in place the plan that offered me up as bait. And then I spent the last six days by his side and the last six nights in his arms.

Each day, we planned and reviewed and prepared for the meet, bouncing ideas off of the other Vigilante members until it felt like we had something solid.

Creed and Dare spent the last six days in the city, surveilling the warehouse. Entrances, exits, security, cameras…we had it mapped the best we could, but if I was being honest, there wasn’t much externally that made it all that different from the other warehouses in the dock.

But that was the point. They didn’t want it to stand out. Not for what they intended to use it for.

For six days, with the help of one of Robyn’s associates whose brother had been a member of the Wah Ching, Tynan fended off messages and questions that came into the Straw Sandal’s phone; our prisoner still languished in one of the back rooms, his wounds patched up…enough to keep him stable.

We had to hope that with Kang dead and Straw Sandal in our custody, there was no one else with the connection to Carson to reveal that the high-ranking member of the Wah Ching had been captured. And every day that no new messages came in from Carson, that hope was buoyed, along with my hope for Mara; his message said he’d hand us both over together, which meant it wasn’t too late. She hadn’t been given to that monster yet.

“Sutton…”

I shivered at the hoarseness in his voice, the warm press of his lips landing on the ridge of my shoulder. We lay in bed, my back buttressed by the hard ridges of his front.

“Did I wake you?” I asked, feeling his big palm clasp my hip, his fingers stretching low on my stomach.

He grunted and kissed my skin once more.

To find someone…have someone so in tune with my thoughts—my body—was the kind of thing that would’ve sent me running for the hills rather than risk experiencing it. Rather than risk one more person in my life knowing what I need but not giving it to me.

But Tynan didn’t give me a chance to run—a choice. His words—his actions—tethered me to him as surely as if he’d put a collar around my neck. He gave me what I needed, whether it was punishment or tenderness, whether I wanted it or not—and more often it was easier to want the punishment than it was the tenderness.

But not tonight.

Tonight I wanted this tenderness, and of course, he knew it.

His lips kissed along the side of my neck until they reached the tender spot under my ear, his tongue flicking there until I started to squirm. My hips wriggled against his hardening cock until his hand on my hip finally slid toward the ache between my thighs.

“Tynan.” My breath caught, his fingers paused just at the seam of my pussy and his lips bit into my neck. “What is it?”

At times, I wondered what was more frightening to me—how well he could read me or just how equally well I could read him.

His deep breaths flowed hot against my skin.

“Say it,” I begged. “Whatever it is.”

My heart jackhammered into my chest. There was one thing that hadn’t been said—one thing that seemed to hang on every look and word and touch over the last week.

“Please, Daddy.”

He groaned, and then his strong fingers delved between my thighs.

I gasped, pleasure whipping like a warm tornado through my body as he rubbed and stroked my clit. With a moan, I slid my leg back over top of his, giving him better access.

“I want you to promise me something.”

My body tried to still, but the flutter of his fingers over my swollen clit made me shudder.

“I can’t promise I won’t do something dangerous or risky. I can’t promise I won’t do everything in my power to bring Carson down and find Mara. No matter how many orgasms you hold back from me—” I broke off with a cry, pleasure snapping through me as he rubbed harder and pushed me over the edge.

My hips bucked, heat flushing through me.

“I don’t want you to promise me you’ll be someone you’re not,” he said once my breathing started to slow, his fingers resuming a steady strum over my clit, coaxing another swell of pleasure to start to rise.

“Then what?”

His fingers slid to my entrance, thrusting one and then two and then three inside my clenching muscles before he then positioned the head of his cock in their place.

“I want you to promise me that you know you’re not alone anymore,” he rumbled, imprisoning my hips as he pushed his massive cock inside me with a low groan.

He loved to do this—to pleasure me first before fucking his fill. Sometimes, it was one orgasm. Other times, well, I lost count at how many times he broke me apart before he claimed me.

My heart beat heavy. Hungry. Hopeful.

“I promise.”

His growl accompanied the way he moved me like a rag doll, turning us so that I was lying on top of him, my back still to his front. One hand came to rest over my throat, holding my head back so his mouth was right next to my ear. His other hand flattened across my lower body, holding me down while he fucked up into me.

“You’re mine, little wasp. Mine,” he repeated low, driving into my body like he was driving the sentiment home. Like he was burying it in the deepest recesses of me where I’d never be able to remove it.

“Yours, Daddy,” I choked out. And I love you.

The unstoppable notion was like an accelerant on the ravenous fire eating through me. It devoured my cells, drunk from my veins, and stole the oxygen from my lungs. My mouth opened and shut as though it wanted to say the words—tried to form them on my tongue—but nothing came out. Nothing but the hot stream of tears down my cheeks.

I was in love with Tynan.

“That’s it. Give Daddy’s cock one more if you want my cum,” he cooed, angling his hips to make sure that his piercings hit that overstimulated spot inside my pussy. “Give me everything.”

My back bowed, and I came so hard my vision went black. I knew nothing but the crash of pleasure through me, followed by the deep roar from the beast underneath me as he came, warmth flooding the depths of me that only had room for more of him.

“You’re mine, little wasp,” he said after minutes, turning us back on our sides but making no move to leave my body. “And I will always be yours.”

The following morning, we loaded into the blacked-out sedan for the second time. It seemed so similar but couldn’t have felt more different than the first time a week ago.

Rob donned her chauffeur’s outfit while I slid into the back seat with a very grumpy-looking Tynan. He didn’t like the black dress Rob gave me to wear. Didn’t like how short and how see-through it was. But I had a role to play.

Meanwhile, Harm, Dare, and Creed rode out ahead to have early eyes on the warehouse—doing their best to ensure we weren’t walking into a trap—while Rhys set up in the office to monitor surveillance.

I didn’t think we were. Based on the communications and our intel, Carson put off the meet until today because he was busy getting ready for Amir and Uzair Shazad’s arrival all week. Partnering with Amir in his North American heroin operation was the endgame; this trafficking business and supplying Uzair with unwilling women played second fiddle to the billion-dollar drug industry.

Still, the element of surprise was our only play—and some good acting on my part.

As soon as the door closed, Tynan gripped my thigh hard enough that I’d wear his fingerprints later. At some point, the marks he left on my skin had become my favorite tattoos.

“I’m going to be fine,” I told him.

“And I will kill anyone who tries to make you not fine.”

I turned to him, waiting until his gaze found mine before I said, “So will I.”

And then we were on the road. It took a little over an hour to reach the warehouse on the outskirts of San Francisco, and his hand never left my leg the entire time.

“Pulling in,” Rob said through our comms.

“Got your visual,” Harm replied.

“We’ll move around back and start to clear from the other side,” Creed confirmed.

We’d enter through the front; Creed and Dare would enter through the back exit on the far side of the building, clearing out any cavalry that could be lying in wait.

The car slowed as we pulled up to the main bay, a single guard outside waiting for us. He keyed in the code to open the door, and I felt myself tense as we drove slowly past, his eyes squinting to try to see inside the vehicle.

“He can’t see,” Tynan assured me, and it would’ve made me feel better if he hadn’t removed his hand at that moment, preparing for what came next.

“I have eyes on Carson. Four men with him,” Rob said.

Five men. Five wasn’t bad. I breathed just a tiny bit easier. This was what we’d hoped—that he’d only bring a skeleton crew of guards for this meeting because the location of the warehouse, the business of trafficking unwilling women, and Carson’s involvement in it weren’t the kind of facts he wanted widely known.

I squinted out the window, searching for any sign of Mara or any other women held hostage in the towering rows of shipping containers and crates that seemed to stretch endlessly down this side of the building.

“Ready?”

I turned and looked at him, my big stoic protector—the man who’d lost so much yet would do anything—risk anything for me, including losing me. My heart thudded. I loved him.

I’d never had a good example for what that word meant. My entire life had been filled with those who claimed to love me, then disappointing me—and leaving me. But then I was delivered to Tynan’s doorstep, and without realizing it, he hadn’t just given me love. No. How did one recognize love without knowing what it was?

Tynan hadn’t just given me love; he’d defined it.

Love was never being alone.

No matter what happened before—no matter what happened today—no matter what would happen in the future—whether he was by my side or at a distance, his love would never leave me alone.

“Always.”

“Go get your prey.”

Our eyes locked, and I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop the words, even though they came at the worst time.

“I love you.” And then I was gone—shoving open my door and sprinting out with a scream for help like I was trying to make a break for it.

Just as we’d hoped, the guard outside the garage door quickly put in the code to close it, locking him and whoever else might be out there.

“Get her!” a voice that had to be Carson’s yelled, more annoyed than anything.

I looked over my shoulder, seeing a brutish man charging after me in the direction of the man in the center. Carson.

With one after me, that left three others between Rob and Tynan.

I looked ahead of me, the far aisle of shipping containers looming like the entrance to another world.

Behind me, I heard car doors, then Carson’s voice again, “What the—” And then a single gunshot pierced the space, followed by a grunt and then the thud of a body hitting the ground.

I looked back. The man chasing me lay like a black silk stain on the warehouse floor.

For a second, it struck me that the sound seemed to come from somewhere to my left—from another part of the building. But I didn’t have any longer to consider it before the giant hollow shell of the warehouse ricocheted with bullets.

I should’ve kept running, but as soon as I hit the shelter of the shipping containers, I flattened my back to the side and peered around the corner. I had to make sure he was okay.

Chest heaving, I watched with my heart in my throat as Tynan and Rob took shelter behind their open car doors and fired at Carson’s men.

“We need some backup in here,” Rob yelled into our comms.

“Thirty seconds,” came Creed’s response.

But the relief never came. From my end of the room, I saw more men creeping out from the other side of the car. He’d had more men inside the building.

I didn’t think of anything except warning them—protecting them—when I yelled, “On your left!”

Rob and Tynan looked just in time to fire. Five more men pinned them down with gunfire from the left side of the car.

The only person who didn’t look was Carson; I felt his eyes on me like caustic acid on my skin.

“Shit,” I muttered, seeing him come toward me, leaving the rest of his men—six of them now—to deal with Tynan and Rob.

I pulled my knife from where it was tucked into my hair, holding it steady by my side. I knew I should’ve moved deeper into the cover of the containers, but I couldn’t. My feet were rooted to the spot where I could see him.

I could run while they were outnumbered. But I couldn’t leave him.

Carson’s lip started to curl as he got closer, his steps picking up a predatory pace, but I barely moved back, watching as Rob rounded to Ty’s side of the car, the two of them working in tandem.

Where the fuck was Creed?

My heart galloped in my chest, my eyes zigzagging across the other side of the building, desperate for them to appear.

And then as the goon on the far right with the automatic rifle jerked and dropped to the ground, behind him, Creed’s unmistakable form appeared.

Thank God.

I backed deeper into the aisle of containers, lifting my knife. “Where is she?”

Carson smiled, looking at my knife as though I held a magic wand or something equally as useless in his world.

“That’s right. Run. He loves when you run.”

I gritted my teeth, my legs pumping faster as bullets peppered the metal containers beside me.

As soon as I reached the end, I turned, put my knife between my teeth, and started to climb. The way the bars and latches held the doors of the container closed, I found enough holds to be able to hoist myself up on top of the container.

“I can’t wait until he gets his hands on you,” Carson snarled, his voice coming closer.

Because of the container stacked on top of the one I was standing on, I only had the thinnest ledge on which to stand, and I didn’t dare peek around the corner. There was no need.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable.

I took my knife back in my hold and steadied my breathing, listening to him ramble to himself like his words did anything but fuel my rage.

“After what you’ve done—the problems you’ve caused—I hope he lets you watch what he does to your friend. How he flays the skin from her bones as he fucks her to death.”

Pretend to be weak that he may grow arrogant.

“She fought, too. Ran, too. And just like her, you’re going to end up in a cage.”

I closed my eyes, let my exhale push slowly through my lips, and then listened. The last strains of his words died, leaving the thump of his footsteps and the agitated rhythm of his breaths.

He was so close…

“Sutton!”

Tynan’s roar filled the space, and I realized most of the shooting had stopped. But I couldn’t wait; Carson was right below me.

He stalked around the corner of the shipping container, and I watched his steps falter when the aisle in front of him was empty. Just as he started to turn his head, I made my move.

Leaping off the ledge, I tackled Carson to the ground, the bigger man instantly resorting to brute strength to try to overpower me.

“You stupid cunt!”

I clung to his back, trying to latch my arm around his neck. He pushed back, driving my back into the wall. I let out a cry of pain, my knife clattering from my hand.

He rammed me against the wall again, pain exploding along my spine and up into my neck. Meaty hands grabbed for me. I tried to tip my head back to keep out of their reach, but he rammed me into the wall again, and this time, the pain exploded in my skull.

“You’re dead,” he spat and managed to grab a fistful of my hair.

I clawed at his face, my nails digging into his eyes. I screamed as he ripped the chunk of hair from my scalp.

“Sutton!”

A gunshot punctuated Tynan’s voice, and then Carson went sideways.

We both fell to the ground, and the first thing I did was scramble for my knife. Beside me, Carson’s pained curses told me he was still alive.

The handle was warm in my fingers as I turned, seeing Carson kneeling on one leg, his other leg gushing blood at the knee. He’d raised his gun, but it wasn’t at me. My head cocked, seeing Tynan jogging down the long aisle, his weapon still locked on Carson, his first shot busting the man’s kneecap.

I looked back at the man responsible for Mara’s disappearance—for all of this. I felt the warmth of my blood trickle down the side of my neck from where he’d ripped hair from my scalp.

Fury choked me like a fist around my throat. Carson was mine. Two swift steps put me next to Carson.

“You’re going to fucking pay—” He stopped when my knife kissed his throat.

He was my prey now.

I bent forward. “Kang is dead. Your men are dead. Your operation here—done. The only thing you have left is your life,” I said low. “You want that, tell me where Mara Chen is.”

Behind me, I heard Tynan’s footsteps stop. He wasn’t close. He didn’t stand right next to me and use his stature or his weapon to intimidate Carson. No, he let me do that all on my own.

“Where’s Mara?” The tip of my knife broke his skin.

“Back corner. Cage,” he gritted, the hope to live in his gaze extinguished with wide eyes as I drove the knife through the center of his throat.

The women he’d kidnapped and trafficked never had a choice, why the fuck should he?

I didn’t stick around to see his body fall.

“Mara!” I pulled my knife free and sprinted down the aisle. I didn’t care how every footfall made my head burst with pain. I didn’t care that blood from my scalp was running down my chest.

I didn’t care about anything except finally finding my friend.

The aisles wove in a path that funneled to the back corner of the warehouse where the shipping containers housed humans. The doors had been broken open, the women inside in various shades of unconsciousness.

They were safe now. Still, my chest felt impossibly tight.

I knew I was near the back corner because I could see it on the ceiling. My steps slowed as I rounded the last container and then stopped.

Ahead of me, men—Carson’s men judging by their automatic weapons—lay in a path of broken bodies leading to the large cage at the end.

An empty cage.

No.

No. No. No.

“What the hell?” Tynan’s voice rumbled behind me, and I shot forward, weaving through the bodies until I reached the door.

“Sutton…”

I stepped inside, dragging in deep breaths as adrenaline and fear finally started to make my body shake.

A mattress on the floor. A single blanket. A bucket in the other corner.

Maybe it wasn’t Mara who’d been here. Maybe Carson lied and she was in one of the containers. Maybe…

My failing attempt at hope sagged completely when I lifted the blanket off the floor and saw the truth staring back at me; between the bars, someone had scratched a crude wasp into the floor.

“She was here.” I finally looked at him. “Mara was here.”

His arms were around me, and only then did I break.