to ease the pounding in my head but it's too risky. If the sleep is too deep I could be caught unaware by whoever makes it here first. I need to remember everything le Loup has taught me.
Trust no one. Aim for the weak spots. Try to get hold of a weapon. Shoot straight. Never stop fighting.
Less than five minutes after Luca and the Jackal leave I hear the sounds of cars and I pray, I pray so hard, that it's mon Monstre here to get me or le Loup. Anyone, someone I know, anyone but another rapist.
I know the second I see him that he is no friend of Illi's. The gleam in his eye... no, he is definitely not here to save me. There are dozens of men with him, all of them packed with weapons and smirks on their faces. My head begins to pound again.
"Ah, there she is. Utter perfection! Devareux will be so pleased to see her in such good shape."
I must have done something terrible in a past life.
Chapter Three
Illi
The kid gets back to me the minute I hang up from the Coyote but I don't hesitate in getting the car on the road again. "Odie's gone."
She swears under her breath. "Cartel?"
"D'Ardo."
She groans and curses viciously under her breath, the kid has the mouth of a true Mounty. "Where are you? I'm out on a job but... I can... I can call him. I can distract him while you find her. It might stop him getting his hands on her. Fuck."
Fuck me, I don't want to ask that of her but I’m definitely a monster of the worst kind because I’ll take it. I’d take anything to get Odie back. I can’t get my hopes up that she hasn't been touched but fuck me if this doesn't feel like my penance. I should have never fucking trusted that arrogant little cunt.
"Distract him how? Word is he's taken off with her, across state lines. He's not going to come back for you, kid."
I run every red light I come across, none of them even registering to me though there's horns blasting around me like I'd give a fuck.
She clears her throat. "I know something that he would come back for, no question. It'll buy you a few hours, just watch out wherever he turns around from. The Coyote—"
"He's tracking her. Thanks, kid. If there were any other way—"
"Don't fucking give me that, I told you I'd help you with whatever you needed and if I say something I always follow through. Odie is worth it. I'll call you once it's done."
She hangs up before I can get another word in but there’s not much else I can say to her besides she’s too fucking good for the Bay.
Too fucking good to be friends with someone like me.
I hit the highway and really let my Mustang fly, pedal to the metal, ready to cut the trip in half if I can. There isn't a cop in the city who doesn't know who this car belongs to and none of them would ever want to pull me over and deal with the Butcher, especially if I'm tearing around like this.
A blind man would know I'm not in the best of fucking moods.
Please, don't let him hurt her. Don't let him torture her with his personal brand of fucking evil. Not my baby girl.
The phone rings and interrupts my useless praying.
"Luca's on the move but they're heading back to the Bay."
Fuck. That'll be the kid.
"Is there any way you can track the place they've left her? Hack into the fucking... house or whatever?"
The asshole snorts at me. "What fucking TV shows are you binging, man? There's no such fucking thing as hacking into a house. I've got the cell towers bugged and I'm listening for anything that might tip me off to people close to her but... fuck, without bugging the place myself there's fuck-all I can do except listen and wait."
I grit my teeth. Contain the rage, it's not the little asswipe's fault. "Call me the second something pings."
I hang up and shout, "fuck!" at the windshield, as if that'll fucking help.
The rest of the drive is like fucking torture.
Two hours of driving like the Devil himself is on my fucking ass and swerving through the traffic. My head is pounding with the pent up rage in me. The poison in my blood is begging for release, to kill and maim and torture, and being cooped up