Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
The raw sincerity in her words pulled me closer, and I crushed my mouth to hers, sealing that promise with everything I had.
15
REBEL
Two days later, I was hunched over my desk at the downtown office, a rough spread of schematics laid out across the polished surface in front of me. The original blueprints we’d managed to dig up were fucking worthless now, thanks to the renovations the assholes running the black site had put in place. I traced my finger along the building’s outer perimeter, my jaw tight with frustration. Piecing together the new layout was painstaking work, dependent entirely on brief glimpses through windows and scraps of conversation we’d picked up through our audio surveillance. Echo and Cross had fed me descriptions over comms, their voices low and intense as they reported back, painting a patchwork image of the interior layout.
We were damn lucky these fuckers hadn’t brought in any new prisoners recently, giving us the breathing room we needed to carefully map the place out. We’d been watching closely, knowing that when we made our move, it had to be precise and lethal. No mistakes. But the clock was ticking in the back of my head, a nagging feeling warning me that we were approaching our deadline.
My phone buzzed on the desk beside me, shattering the quiet concentration that had settled around me. I grabbed it, answering immediately when I saw Echo’s name flash across the screen.
“Rebel,” he barked without preamble, his voice tight with tension. “They brought someone new in last night. Surveillance caught him speaking, and there’s something familiar about his voice. But I can’t place the fucker. Wizard’s tied up right now. Skye’s sick, so he’s out. I’ll get Cruze to try to pull a visual from one of the feeds, but for now, all we’ve got is audio.”
I cursed softly under my breath, shoving the schematics aside as I grabbed my laptop. “Send it over. I’ll run voice recognition.”
I fired up the secure software, my fingers flying rapidly over the keys as the audio file Echo sent pinged in my inbox. I opened it and hit play, the static-filled sound filtering through the laptop speakers. At first, it was barely audible—just distant voices muffled by the walls. But then a man’s voice rose clearer, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Ice-cold recognition shot down my spine, making every muscle in my body coil tight. I knew that fucking voice, had heard it before in the shadows of a previous club operation, one that had nearly gone sideways and risked exposing some of the people we protected—whose new lives depended entirely on the secrecy we provided. The bastard they’d captured knew things we’d fought hard to keep buried. The threat had just gone from pressing to deadly fucking urgent in a single heartbeat.
“Fuck,” I growled, my voice rough with barely contained fury.
Echo caught the shift in my tone instantly. “You know him?”
“I’m positive it’s Pietro Sullivan,” I bit out, my fingers tightening on the phone until my knuckles ached.
"Wasn't he a client?” Echo asked, and I could practically hear his scowl in his voice.
“Yup. We dealt with that motherfucker three years ago. If it’s him, and he’s surfaced, he could out other cases and fuck with everything we’ve built.”
“King is gonna be on a warpath for that one,” Echo muttered.
I grunted in agreement. “We need to do this now. This isn’t a wait-and-see situation anymore.”
Understood,” Echo responded swiftly. “We’ll keep combing the audio to try and figure out where they are holding him in the facility. How are the schematics coming?”
“Got enough to make the breach. Coulda been more detailed, but this is bad enough that we need to end it fast.” My jaw clenched as I stood, already grabbing my jacket and keys. “Tell King I’m headed over. We have to shut this shit down ASAP.”
“Copy that,” Echo replied.
I disconnected, shoving the phone roughly into my pocket, my mind racing at a furious pace. The black site had just become an immediate threat to everything we stood for—our protection, secrecy, and fucking reputation. No way we’d let these motherfuckers keep operating on our territory, especially now that we knew they’d taken Sullivan. And whoever the fuck else they’d snatched.
As I stalked toward the door, I couldn’t help but think of Clara. Her soft, trusting expression and vulnerability. A surge of protectiveness tightened in my chest, hard and uncompromising. I needed to make sure she was safe and completely untouched by the storm that was about to hit.
The ride to the orchard was a blur, my mind laser-focused on the information Echo had delivered, every muscle in my body coiled tight with tension. The late afternoon sun was beginning to dip lower as my bike roared beneath me, eating up the miles back to Clara as my thoughts churned over the next moves the club would have to make.