forget that fact,” I warned.
I pushed the bag toward him. “Half now and half when I’m happy you delivered as requested.”
Sonny put his hand over his heart. “I’m hurt you don’t trust me, after all these years. When have I not delivered?”
I shrugged. “You know it’s nothing personal.” I picked at something stuck between my teeth. I hated when that happened. “It’s also the most money I’ve ever forked out, so you gotta understand I need assurance first.”
Sonny removed an envelope from his pocket. He held it against his chest and smirked. “These picture are worth a fuckload of cash on the black market. The senator probably has a few more enemies than he knows about who wouldn’t mind using them for extortion and blackmail.” He leaned forward as if he wanted to confide in me. “I’m giving them to you at a rock bottom price because I like you.”
I snorted. Yeah right.
I pushed the bag toward him and held out my hand. Sonny wouldn’t sell to me if I weren’t the highest bidder. But if I needed to, I’d give the fucker every cent I owned. Fuck I’d even borrow more if that wasn’t enough.
Sonny leaned forward and grabbed hold of the bag. He zipped it open and checked inside, then quickly closed it up again and placed it on his lap.
“Give me what I paid for,” I said, itching to get a look at the contents of the envelope.
He placed the envelope in my hand. With a slight tremble I ripped the envelope open and braced myself for the contents. Locking my jaw, I flicked through the pictures while keeping a poker face.
Pictures of Eva being carried into a place with whitewashed walls and tropical plants. Pictures of a huge motherfucker walking beside Parker with my girl in his burly arms, unconscious. Pictures of her wrapped in a sheet, her hair covering parts of her face.
What the fuck had they done to her?
Rage filled me, and I had a hard time controlling myself.
Ryder and Jade were right. No way in hell Eva was there out of her own choice. Fuck, why had it taken me so long to get that?
“You look shocked.” No shit. “What is this woman to you?”
I sucked in a breath.
This woman. She was everything to me. Everything.
I’d been a dumb-as-fuck asshole, too self-absorbed in my own fucking pain to see the truth stare me in the face. If something happened to Eva . . .
“She’s the sister of a friend.”
“Ah, that explains why you look so pale. It’s personal.”
“My friend won’t be happy when he sees these pictures.”
Ryder was going to go mental. And I wouldn’t blame him. As for Sonny, the less he knew about my personal involvement the better. If he had any idea how invested I was in the outcome, the price could easily double. The motherfucker would bleed me dry and not blink an eye.
Chapter 37 — Harrison
I sent a quick text to Ryder as I drove over to his and Jade’s house.
I’ve got information. On my way to your place. Talk soon.
Seconds later, the reply came through.
Hurry the fuck up.
Ryder would never change. I’d told Sonny he was my friend earlier. Ah well, both our sisters were probably in love with assholes. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the idea that Jade could be right and that Eva cared more for me than I was capable of understanding, but I had no illusions about my own feelings any longer.
It had taken Savage’s reasoning for the truth to finally hit home and break through my thick, resistant skull, and now a question as simple as Sonny’s to make me realize that I was so in love with Eva I didn’t know what to do with myself. Fuck.
A lightness of being that I hadn’t felt in years filled me. Was this really what love felt like? I felt invincible, infallible, and completely out of my depth.
Saving her was perhaps going to be the easy part. After all, it was what I did for a living, and I was the best at it. It was the part where I told her how I felt to her face, when I finally admitted what an asshole I’d been, that scared the living shit out of me.
I was so deep in thought that before I knew it, I’d arrived at the house. Jade had come outside to meet me.
“Harrison, I’m so happy to see that you’re back.” She threw her arms around my neck