Ink
THREE DAYS LATER
He tried not to wince at the papers streaming around the apartment the moment he walked in. It didn’t matter that the apartment over the garage was much bigger than the one over the warehouse; it seemed Naomi had figured out how to use every square inch of it.
Was it normal for a woman to go days with little to no sleep and now look like a small gremlin?
Complete with hair standing on end, even though it’s in some kind of haphazard messy bun, a ripped T-shirt, and a pair of leggings with holes in the knees.
Her eyes were wild, almost manic, as she studied everything in front of her.
She’d claimed a small space in the living room where the wall was bare, and lined it with more sheets, writing all over them in different colors.
He wanted to slip back out of the apartment and run to his room in the clubhouse before he tackled this crisis. First, though, he had to figure out where the hell Asher was.
He opened his mouth to ask Naomi himself, but she blurted out, “Yes! Yes! That’s possible.
Paper, I need more paper.” Spinning, she scanned the room.
She took him in but quickly dismissed him.
Then she snatched a paper off the ground, skimmed it, and rolled her eyes.
“Idiot. He would never go there. That’s far too obvious.
” Turning, she grabbed a red pen, then scratched things out and wrote new notes, using the wall as a backer.
Okay, this might just be beyond him. First, Asher, then he’d figure out what the hell to do.
He eased out of the apartment and called out to Vulture, who peered over the edge of the roof across the road with a grin on his face. “You finally came home to see the madness for yourself, huh?”
“I was only gone for eight hours,” Ink shouted, brows lifted.
“She started that not long after you left. To be fair, she’s been doing it for the last three days, but she must have had some kind of breakthrough because she’s always cleaned it all up before you got home or Asher needed her.”
“Or a fucking psychotic break,” he muttered to himself. “Where is Asher?” he called back.
“The twins came and got him to take them to their house. They wanted to show him their rooms. They said they’d bring him back in time for bed.”
Ink glanced at his watch. He had a couple of hours. God, he hoped that was enough time, or it was going to be a rough night.
“Alright, thanks.” Steeling himself, he walked back into the apartment and ignored Vulture’s laughter following him.
He walked to the kitchen and set his things down on the counter, including the file folder of paperwork he needed Naomi to look over tonight. Though, in this state, he wasn’t sure that would happen.
“Baby girl, what the hell are you doing?” he asked, careful to keep his tone light.
“I’m trying to find that fucker, Diego,” she stated, looking back at the wall. “And what are you doing home so early? Didn’t you have to work late tonight?”
“No, that was last night. Babe, I’m not trying to be a dick, but what the fuck is going on? Why are you trying to find Diego? I thought you were avoiding him.”
“I can’t avoid him forever, and he’s gone underground.
Underground is dangerous. Underground means he can find me on his own, and I’m not going to let that happen.
The Feds have been looking for him, but he’s nowhere I suggest or tell them.
Glitch has been sending them every option, but nothing.
He’s a ghost. A fucking deadly ghost that’s waiting to strike and possess. ”
The word possess made him want to point out that she wasn’t far off, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to find out if she knew how to kill a man with a pen.
“Baby, you’re going a bit overboard, I think. Why don’t you take a break? I can make us dinner, or we can go over to the clubhouse. I heard it was Royal’s turn to cook today, and she always makes good stuff.”
He needed to get her the hell out of here before she truly descended into madness. She was in the middle of her period, but he didn’t think the blood loss would affect her this much.
Was this what the guys experienced every month? Fuck, he might not survive.
She looked at him like he’d lost his mind—ironic to him, really—and snapped, “I’m not going anywhere until I figure this out.
He’s not going to stop, and neither am I.
I’m going to find him, Ink, and the Feds are going to get him, and then I can breathe.
Then I can relax. Only then.” She spun back to the wall, glaring at it like she could mean mug it into spilling the secrets that were apparently hiding inside.
Sighing, he really wanted to call in backup, but that would make him look like a pussy. He had to deal with this himself.
And try not to lose his mind in the process. He really should have been paying more attention when his brothers were dealing with their Old Ladies’ mood swings.
He strode forward, determined. “Naomi, you need to stop. You’re driving yourself crazy. And besides, don’t they say that fresh air, food, and taking a break are a good way to figure out problems?”
He was spitting out bullshit to see what stuck, but it sounded plausible enough.
“I don’t need anything. I had crackers earlier. Did you know they come in ranch flavor now? Or something like that. I don’t know. I ate enough to keep moving. Wait, ranch! Fuck, how the fuck could I forget about the ranch. The fucking ranch!!!”
The screech was at a level all dogs within a ten-mile radius probably heard it.
Jesus Christ. He was not prepared for this.
“Baby, stop,” he barked, pouring some steel in his tone.
She ignored him, wading through papers until she found a map on the floor.
Dropping to her knees, she looked over it.
“Eureka!” she barked. “Yes, yes, I got you now, you asshole. You didn’t think I would remember, but I did!
” She waved the map around like a trophy.
“Text Glitch and tell her the New Mexico Ranch. He’s at the fucking New Mexico Ranch.
Search up Rancho. He was trying to be fucking clever by calling it by only one name.
It was a joke or something stupid. He bought it using a shell company and then had it put in one of his lieutenant’s names. That’s it!”
He wanted to tell her she was probably hallucinating, but if it calmed her down, he’d do it.
Ink: Naomi said look for a spot called Rancho in New Mexico. It might be where Diego is hiding. She also might be hallucinating. She’s lost her mind.
Glitch: She’s a genius, Ink, of course she’s a little crazy too. How many geniuses do you know who were completely sane?
Ink: Whatever. Look it up while I try to get her cleaned up and fed.
Glitch: Need reinforcements?
Wouldn’t she just love that?
Ink: No.
Glitch: Fine. But if this is where they find him, you’re going to eat crow.
He’d deal with that later. Right now, he had a woman to bring back from the brink.
“I told her for you, baby. She’ll let them know and then we’ll see if they can grab it.”
She nodded, but her gaze was already back to the sheets.
“But if he’s not there, I have to find a backup.
I can’t let him get away. Him or that son of a bitch who thinks he can call me his daughter even when he sold me to the devil for his own personal gain.
” She whipped her head around and glared at him.
“He did, you know. He sold me. I figured it out only a few months after I was locked in that room at eighteen.
“All these business trips, all the money we had, it was from Diego. He’d been his right-hand man for so long, but I was the prize.
I was the one thing that would secure his place, and he was going to give me away without a thought for me or what it would do to me.
What he would do to me. I hope they find him and they make him pay. Or let me do it. I can shoot a gun.”
He was fucking glad he left his in his saddle bag, but like hell did he want her having any weapons within reach right now.
“Yes, you can, but we don’t need to do that right now. Right now, you’re going to take a break and go shower and change. You’ll feel more like yourself, and we’ll go and get something to eat.”
“I do feel like myself. This is me, Ink. I’m fucking smart, and I can figure things out. I have a brain, so I’m going to use it and take them down. I’m going to take them all down.”
“Your brain is severely deprived of sustenance, clean oxygen, and water at this point,” he muttered, but not low enough, and the look she gave him could peel paint. He flinched. Damn it.
“Fuck you, Ink. I’m perfectly fine, you’re the one not seeing and understanding. You think because you’re hot and do good ink—ha! Ink inks. That’s funny.” She snorted, and he just let his head drop forward. “Right, I was mad before you distracted me with being funny. What was I saying?”
Before he could consider the ramifications, he moved. He wasn’t going round and round for hours. It was time for drastic measures.
He scooped her up, ignoring her struggles, and hauled her to their en suite. “Ink, what are you doing?” she demanded. He narrowly missed a knee to the balls, a grunt slipping out when it hit his upper thigh. “Ink!” she screeched when the cold water blasted them both. “What the fuck?”
He gritted his teeth against the cold battering his face and then shut it off. They stood there, dripping wet, and Naomi gaped at him.
“Are you back with me now?” he asked.
“What the fuck was that for?” she demanded, shoving him until he set her on her feet, but he didn’t release her. He didn’t want her to fall in the slippery tub. “What the hell, Ink?”
“Desperate times, baby. Are you back with me now and not stuck in whatever madness you were in?”
The paint-peeling glare was back. “I’m not insane, asshole.”
“You could have fooled me. Now, you and I, we’re going to talk this shit out because I’m not dealing with this forever. I can’t stand to see you so worked up that way.”
“I’m not—”
“You are. You definitely are, baby. The entire apartment is littered with papers except in Asher’s room.
You’ve been clearly working hard to find Diego, but this isn’t the way to do it.
You’re throwing darts at the wall, hoping something sticks, but you’re working yourself into exhaustion, and I’m not letting that happen.
You can be as angry as you want with me, but as your man, every part of you matters to me, and that includes that big brain of yours. ”
The glare lessened but not her scowl. “My brain is fine. Look, Ink, just because you don’t understand my process doesn’t mean I’m wrong for it.”
“You’re not wrong for it, but Vulture told me you’ve been working on this for three days.
This is just the day that you’ve been so wrapped up in it that you’ve lost track.
Baby, why are you so determined to find him?
What has triggered this? Talk to me.” He tried to keep his voice soothing, needing her to know he was here for her.
“Because they can’t find him. Glitch told me they can’t, and I’m the only one who might be able to. I can recall things. I was with him for so long, and I’m one of the only people who can pull up those memories, even that small.”
“So, what, you’ve spent the last three days going back through your time with him, trying to find some small thing that might help? You’ve been reliving the hell you endured?”
It made his chest hurt thinking of how she was forcing herself to do that. All out of fear. Did she not trust him? Trust them? Even now, after everything?
“Hell would be going back to him because he can find us, Ink. I can’t allow that.
I can’t allow that for Asher. Because he’ll kill me.
After everything I’ve revealed, there’s nothing about me that matters.
They have what they want. They took eggs, and they’ll make more of me.
More of Asher. But Asher, Diego thinks he’s his.
That he’s got a claim to him because he had him created. And he’ll make sure to get him.”
“Baby, that won’t happen. We won’t let that happen. I won’t let it happen. You’re both safe here.”
“I’m not safe until he’s captured or dead, Ink. You can protect Asher and me, I know that, but why live with that threat over our heads forever? Why worry ourselves if I can help find him?”
“I know you think that finding him will make it all go away, baby, but all you’re doing is making him burrow deeper and deeper into your mind. You’re giving him power over you again.”
She stilled and stared up at him. He might be pushing his luck, but he couldn’t stop now. He needed her to understand.
“Every time you think about him, every time you let your fear push you into this space of reliving all the time you were around him, you let him in. You give him the space in your mind again that he has no right to be. You took Asher and ran to protect him. You wanted to get away from him, so why are you letting him back in?”
Okay, that might have been a dick thing to say, but he didn’t know what else to do. Or how else to get her to understand?