Chapter Twenty-One
t hat kiss I shared with Grace before I left was probably the best kiss of my life.
It was not the hottest I’d ever had. It wasn’t even the hottest Grace and I had shared, but it was the best. I couldn’t get the soft brush of her lips on mine out of my head as I drove to the small hotel a few miles from here.
Hotel is too nice a word for it. Motel would still be too nice a word for it.
I recognized the place. Some guys from physical therapy had stayed here. Too many pieces of their mind or bodies gone to do much besides exist. I was lucky. I had the guys and Grace, even if it was just those damn letters. They gave me just enough hope to keep going.
The motel, hotel, portal to hell stood in front of me.
One whole outbuilding listed to the side, missing pieces and looking thoroughly done with existence.
I wondered briefly if the owners were part of some mafia using this as a front for money laundering.
I stepped inside the lobby and the stench of mold and cigarette smoke hit my nose like a battering ram.
The whole place reeked like they pumped the smell through the vents.
The front office wasn’t so much an office as it was a window with a cutout to slide cash through. It was empty. Good. I didn’t need the office or the attention. Tink gave me the room number already. The idiot thugs had ordered food to be delivered, and that had given us the in we needed.
I headed up to the second floor, which was a bit of luck for me.
This hellhole didn’t exactly have windows that could open, especially not on the second floor.
Surprisingly, it had modern key card locks on the doors.
It would be a pain to have to break into the office for some master key.
I pulled out my phone as I rounded the corner and loaded the app Tink had developed for this sort of occasion. Bless that insane man.
The room was the last down the hall, which would make it harder for the guys to run. Fools. There wasn’t even an elevator in this god-forsaken place.
I held the phone up to the lock. Per Tink, all I had to do was push the big blue button, and wait for the light to go from red to green, and I was in.
I waited.
And waited.
No luck. My guess was that the lock was malfunctioning. I refused to believe Tink’s app didn’t work. He was a genius and got us into much more secure places than this.
Old-fashioned kick down the door it was.
I clocked the security cameras on my way through the building.
They were fake. Before I’d even gotten here, I’d made sure my plates were covered.
My car is a dime a dozen and doesn’t stand out.
I had a plain black hat and a plain black coat on.
Generic boats. This wasn’t my first rodeo.
I knew to cover my tracks. The only thing left was the fun part.
I pulled my leg back, aimed for just below the lock, and slammed into it with as much force as I could muster.
I only wanted to do this once so I could catch the fuckers off guard.
The door gave way with a crack and swung inward.
I rushed into the room, gun first, sticking to the wall and blocking the exit as best I could with my body, just in case one of them got brave and ran.
I cleared the bathroom, checked the closet, and then moved into the main room.
There was nothing.
No bags.
No guys.
No goddamn towels on the floor.
No wrappers in the trash.
Nothing.
Before I panicked, I messaged Tink to verify the room, but the sinking feeling in my gut and tingling on my spine told me I already knew
This was a setup.
I pulled my home security feed up on my phone and checked on Grace as I ran from the room. The service in this part of town was lacking and a loading screen froze on the app.
I growled.
I ran faster.
NO.
No fucking way did they get to her. I pushed myself faster than I had in a long, long time.
The scar on my thigh protested like never before.
I hadn’t pushed myself this much since I lost that chunk of myself in the blast. It didn’t matter.
The pain was an afterthought, easily ignored and pushed to the back of my mind.
Only Grace mattered.
The phone rang as I got to the parking lot.
“Tink,” I ground out. “Tell me this wasn’t a setup.”
“I should have seen this coming.” His voice was edged with stress. “It was too easy. Fuck. Never mind now. I got into your security feeds. Ares, she’s not there.”
I slammed into the car in my rush. I thanked whatever God there was for push start so I didn’t have to fumble with keys. The engine didn’t roar to life. That would have fit my mood and given me some satisfaction. As it was, I had to suffer my rage and panic alone.
“The room is a mess,” Tink said after the phone connected to the Bluetooth in my car. “There’s clearly been a fight.”
I gripped the wheel tight as I peeled out of the lot.
At least that sound matched my mood. I ignored the laws as I sped through the streets, getting back home as fast as possible.
Rationally, I knew that Tink wasn’t lying.
I wasn’t being very rational right now, though.
I needed to see for myself. He had to be wrong.
The cameras were wrong. Something was wrong.
“I’m playing it all back now, looking for anything useful. I’ll stay on the line with you, but I may be quiet while I get you whatever I can.”
I appreciated his thoroughness. I knew he was telling me all that just to soothe me.
I wasn’t soothed.
I couldn’t respond.
My knuckles were white where I gripped the wheel.
The essence of the god my buddies named me after surging through my veins.
Ares, not for the God of War, but for the God of Brutality and Bloodlust. I could be ruthless to those that stood in my way.
I was going to burn the whole fucking city to the ground to get her back.
“Ease up on the wheel, Ares. I can hear the pleather creaking from here,” Tink said. I had forgotten he was on the line.
“Shut the hell up.” I did what he said, anyway.
“She’ll be ok. We’ll get her back.”
I didn’t respond. How could I? What was I supposed to say?
You’re right. They set me up. Lured me from Grace’s side.
Broke into my safe haven. Stole Grace. Stole the woman I loved out from under me.
My foot pushed down, and the car struggled to match the frantic pace I pushed it to.
I always hated Duke’s flashy cars, but I wished now more than ever that I had one.
“We’ve run into a bit of luck,” Tink said.
“Duke’s in town at his grandpa’s place in Hilton Head.
He’s headed to the safe house now. Sometimes, I swear we need our own town.
Where we can be the mayor, chief of police, town counsel, and own half the businesses.
I’m sure we could make it work. Sure would help with getting everyone’s asses out of trouble. ”
“Tink.”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
“Oh, did I say all that out loud?” He sounded a little too innocent. I knew what he was trying to do, and it wasn’t working.
This damn car wouldn’t go faster. I should have yanked out the governor the second I got it home from the lot. I tried to be reasonable. I didn’t feel much like being reasonable anymore.
“Don’t die before you to her, you ass.”
I eased up off the gas through the next turn. He had a point.
“Stop tracking me.”
“No. That’s counterproductive. Besides, how else am I supposed to make sure you don’t run into any cops while you drive like a bat out of hell?”
“Why doesn’t it surprise me that you can track cops’ locations?” I almost laughed. Almost.
“They shouldn’t make it so easy,” he said, sounding flippant, but I know it was only easy because he’s smart. It’s why I know I can count on him.
I made a sudden sharp turn and started going in a different direction.
I was right. I could trust that Tink would do everything he could to get information from the security feeds at the safe house.
We weren’t likely going to find anything immediately useful by going there in person.
There were still questions and hopefully, the answers to them would lead to Grace.
“Tink. Have Duke meet me at Grace’s place. I’m thinking it’s time to find some of the answers we have been looking for.” I sped down the little street leading to Grace’s apartment. Hopefully, the information that would lead to where she might be was in there and she just didn’t know about it.
Duke was already parked when I got there. His little Porsche stood out like a sore thumb in a neighborhood not yet hit by gentrification. Some god out there was listening in and granted my wish for one of his faster cars.
“What’s the plan?” He asked as soon as I reached his car. He loaded up on weapons and I was never so grateful for the fact that, despite how much he fucked around, he knew when it was time for business.
“She’s got a box of stuff from her grandmother.
I’m hoping we can find some information in there.
Then we need to head over to her ex’s place and figure out where the hell he is and what he’s gotten himself into.
If that doesn’t pan out, I’ll hang her stepdad by his ankles and shake him to see what comes out.
” I felt feral by the end. I hoped one stop would be enough to get what we needed, but I doubted it.
We cleared the building as we went up. Scared the hell out of one of the neighbors in the process, but we weren’t taking any chances. I’d already underestimated these guys once. I didn’t need to do it again.
As soon as we were through the door, we ransacked the place looking for anything from her grandmother. Given everything we know, Bill or George wanted to get their hands on her inheritance. One she didn’t even know she had.