“You’re right. She won’t like that,” Kenton murmurs, handing Justin his phone back.

“Lane is our in to Paulie, but before we take him out, we are going to rattle his gilded cage. If things with his wife go how I think they will, she’ll send him packing. This will be unexpected, so his guards will be scrambling to cover him. That’s when we’ll strike, using Lane to contact his man and tell us where Paulie is.”

“Sounds a little too easy,” I mutter, and Justin’s eyes move to me.

“Most wars are ended in silence,” he says quietly, and I see Aedan’s head shake and his lips twitch.

“Justin is one scary motherfucker. I don’t even question it anymore.” He shrugs then stands. “I need to get back to business. As soon as you guys have a plan in place, call me. My brothers won’t ask questions, and you’ll have more backup,” he offers, patting Justin’s back then shaking each of our hands before walking out of the office.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that Aedan is Aubrey’s brother,” Kenton gripes, and Justin stands.

“It’s not important. You know what she is to me, and that’s all that matters,” Justin says, standing and putting a gun into the back of his jeans.

“I didn’t even know you had a girlfriend.” I frown, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he mutters then grins. “I have a wife.”

“What the fuck?” I whisper.

“Why isn’t she here?” Kai asks, studying him.

“She’s never coming back to Vegas. She’s with my mom and dad. My dad, who owns more guns than even you. She’s safe with our daughter at my parents’ home.”

“Did I fall down the fucking rabbit hole?” I ask, looking around, hearing Kenton chuckle at my side.

“This information is making me second-guess your relationship with Aedan,” Kai says, and Justin’s eyes move to him and his back straightens.

“I personally don’t give a fuck about the guy. My wife was scared out of her fucking head when she ran from him and her family. I know he loves his sister, but he will always put business first, and that shit isn’t okay with me. If you doubt my loyalty, then that shit’s on you. I have proven on more than one occasion where my loyalties lie.”

“No one in this room is questioning your loyalty,” I assert calmly, and watch his body visibly relax. “But you know, Justin, even if you don’t have a relationship with Aedan, you’re tied to him, and that is something we should have heard about before now.”

“Aubrey doesn’t exist for anyone. She’s been through enough. We all have one goal, and that’s to take Paulie out. I think you can each understand now why this job is just as important to me as it is to any of you,” he says, moving toward the door. “Now, if we’re done gossiping, let’s get back to the house. I have some shit to take care of before we take Lane on a trip out to Dino’s.”

“Lane’s mine.” I look at each of them, making sure they understand. “He drugged Maggie. I don’t know what his plan for her was, but I’m not naive enough to think he didn’t plan on taking advantage of her,” I finish, feeling the anger I’ve been holding in expand with each breath.

“He’s yours,” Justin affirms quietly, and I can see in his eyes that he knows what I’m feeling, but when he speaks, I can hear the pain in his words and recognize that he, more than anyone, knows what could have happened. “Paulie Jr. drugged Aubrey. She…” He shakes his head, running his hands over his hair and dropping his eyes to the floor, and his voice catches when he speaks. “She went out with some girlfriends, and he drugged her after she didn’t give him the attention he wanted. I’m grateful the drug erased her memory of what happened, but she still knew after she woke up in the hospital that she had been violated. If I had known what happened to her when I killed that motherfucker, I would have tortured him before taking his life. His death was too quick, and far too painless.”

“Jesus,” Kenton whispers, while Kai growls, “Motherfucker,” under his breath.

“I’m sorry, man,” I say, but the words aren’t enough.

“It didn’t happen to me, but I promised my wife it wouldn’t happen to anyone else. That drug—the drug Paulie used on her and the one Lane used on Maggie—they were the same. I’ve never heard of it used outside that circle.”

“That’s why you’re here?”

“That’s why I’m here,” he agrees then looks through us before heading out the door.

*

“THIS PLACE CREEPS me the fuck out,” Justin says from the driver’s seat as we head down a sandy dirt road in the middle of the desert toward a house. I can barely make it out through the headlights and dust Kai and Kenton’s SUV is spitting up in front of ours.

“Exactly what is this place?” I ask, and Justin looks at me, the lights of the dash bouncing off his face.

“Imagine a horror movie, and then add the mob to that shit, and this is what you would come up with,” he explains, and I look over my shoulder at Lane tied up in the backseat, and even in the dark, I notice his eyes are filled with fear.

“You picked the wrong side,” I tell him quietly, hearing him groan through the gag and duck tape covering his mouth.

Pulling up to the dark house, I watch a large man wearing a wife-beater, jeans, and boots, with a shotgun resting over his shoulder, walk up to the passenger side of Kai’s SUV. Seeing him nod and walk off toward the house, he comes back out a few minutes later, getting on a four-wheeler. Following behind him and the SUV in front of us, we drive out for miles, ending in the middle of the dark desert. Getting out when we stop, I look around then watch as the guy, Dino, heads a few feet away and pulls open a hatch.

“What the fuck?” I hiss, seeing that down a set of stairs set into the ground is a concrete room. The walls are covered with different tools, with a metal-framed chair set in the middle bolted to the ground.

“Told you this was the shit scary movies are made of,” Justin whispers from my side, and I look at him then open the back door, drag Lane out, and then yank him down the stairs into the room.

Pushing him into the metal chair in the middle of the room, I rip the tape off his mouth and pull out the gag, tossing it to the floor.

“I can’t believe you betrayed me,” I murmur, cutting the plastic ties holding his wrists together. As soon as he’s free, he does what I knew he would do. His arm swings out. Ducking under his fist, I lift my elbow, ramming it up under his chin. His head flies back and his teeth gnash together so hard, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few broke. Grabbing a long leather strap off the wall, I wrap it around his throat and pull back. His hands rip at the strap trying to pull it off, but I hold it tighter.

“What the fuck we’re you thinking?” I ask close to his ear, as his face turns purple.

“Pretty sure he can’t answer if he can’t breathe” Kenton says blandly from my side, so I loosen the strap and listen as Lane sucks in hair while Justin secures his hands to frame of the chair.

“You’re gonna die.” He laughs, rolling his head on his shoulders. “You’re all gonna die.”