Page 3 of Victorious: Part 3

“I left at seven-thirty to get breakfast from the diner down the street. Came back around eight, and she was gone.” I show them the ring and point outside. “Found this by the bed, and there’s a sheet just inside our door like they wrapped her in it to carry her out. She never takes this ring off, but I am pretty sure she’s wearing her smartwatch.”

Ghost pulls out his laptop, moving to the small dining table to set up. “Smart watch? I can track that if it’s still powered on.”

Nitro examines the door and locks while Mace starts looking for any signs of a struggle.

“You see the blood?” Mace questions, his brow raised.

Wracking my jaw from side to side, it’s like I feel the color drain from my face. “I… I didn’t see it.”

Mace moves around the room, pointing out blood splatter markings. “There’s some here and here. Definitely a struggle. And the lamp has blood on it too. I’d say your girl hit someone with that. She put up a fight.”

“When I left her, she was naked…” Exhaling, I scrunch up my face. “You think they took her like that?”

Sin rubs the back of his neck. “Let’s focus on finding her, yeah?”

“The cat was freaked out when I got back,” I continue. “Like he’d been hiding. And look at him now.”

Dracula presses against Sin’s leg, seeking comfort from the one person in the room who isn’t vibrating with barely controlled violence.

“He’s scared,” Sin observes, crouching down to stroke the cat’s fur. “Animals know when something bad has happened.”

I tense all over at those damn words.

Sin thinks something bad has happened to my woman.

Tomy wife.

“Got it,” Ghost announces, his fingers flying over the keyboard. “Smart watch is active, moving location about twenty minutes ago. Looks like… industrial district. Warehouse 47.”

Sin places a hand on my shoulder, and I see the promise in his eyes. It’s the same look Alpha gets when one of our people is threatened. “We’re gonna find her, Phoenix. And whoever took her is gonna regret the day they were born. I promise you that.” He spins to his tech guy. “How fast can you get me everything on Warehouse 47?” Sin asks Ghost.

Ghost is already typing at lightning speed. “Building plans, ownership records, best approach routes? Gimme five minutes.”

“You’ve got three,” Sin warns, then turns to me. “Phoenix, gear up. We’re gonna show you how we get shit done Vegas style.”

Chapter Two

CLOVER

My body is heavy, like I’m swimming through molasses, and there’s this weird tingling sensation running from my fingertips all the way up to my scalp. I try to open my eyes, but they feel like they’re weighed down with anvils. But the first thing I notice when consciousness starts creeping back is that everything feels…

… wrong.

When I finally manage to crack my eyes open, the world spins as if I am on the worst carnival ride ever invented.

What the fuck did they give me?

I’m sitting in what looks like a metal chair, and my wrists are zip-tied behind my back so tight that my fingers are going numb. My ankles are secured to the chair legs, and I’m still completely naked except for someone’s oversized jacket thrown over my shoulders—probably so I don’t freeze to death before they’re done with me.

The warehouse around me is exactly what you’d expect from a Cartel operation. Concrete floors stained with God knows what, dim lighting that creates more shadows than illumination, and the kind of oppressive atmosphere that screams‘people die here regularly.’

But here’s the thing that’s really messing with my head…

Everything seems hilarious.

Like, genuinely, gut-bustingly funny.

I know I should be terrified.