18. Cole
COLE
Ihustled Lili out the door of the warehouse and into the alley. Bastian’s Range Rovers were parked nearby. I wanted her out of here, fast.
Landon and Nash stood beside the lead SUV. Nash raised a hand and opened the back door of one SUV. I saw Georgie and Lark inside.
“Lili!” a deep voice yelled.
I felt her stiffen, and I glanced back over my shoulder. And saw Brock Armstrong hustling our way.
“Landon,” I growled.
My friend moved fast and blocked Armstrong. I helped Lili into the vehicle.
“Cole—”
“I’ll take care of it.” I closed the door and whirled to face Lili’s father.
He was shoving against Landon.
“I warned you before, man, you need to keep your distance,” Landon said.
My stride chewed up the ground, and Landon stepped back. I shoved Armstrong hard, and he nearly went down.
But he’d been a fighter for years and had good balance. I kept coming and shoved him against the wall of the warehouse.
“She doesn’t exist for you,” I growled.
“I just need to talk to her—”
“No.” The word was harsh, cutting. “You don’t see her, you don’t talk to her, you don’t breathe the same air as her. Understand?”
The older man scowled. “She’s my daughter.”
I cocked my head. “Not anymore. You fucking sold her to Goodyear, so she could be Kamensky’s plaything.”
Armstrong flinched.
“That makes you filth and ends whatever parental rights you think you have. Lili is free of you now.”
“And what? You think you’re better for her?” Anger twisted his face. “A fucking fighter with a murky reputation. One look at you and I know what you are. You’ll just cover her in your muck.”
I gritted my teeth, barely resisting the urge to punch him in the face.
“Lili is her own woman. She gets to decide what she does with her life, not you. If she wants to talk to you, she’ll call.
Otherwise, you stay the fuck away from her.
” I lowered my voice. “Or I will ensure you stay away from her. Whatever it takes.”
He lost some color, but held my gaze.
I released his shirt, then spun, and headed back to the Range Rover.
Armstrong slunk back inside. A second later, Alessio and Rafe exited the warehouse.
They were holding a struggling man between them, whose wrists were bound.
He also had a black bag over his head. Bastian strode out behind them, like he’d been at a fucking dinner party.
As I watched, they shoved the man in the back of the other Range Rover.
I looked at Landon and Nash. “Do I want to know?”
“One of Goodyear’s goons touched Lark,” Nash said.
Shit.
“She broke his finger, but Bastian wasn’t happy about it at all.”
Fuck. “And why are we bringing the goon with us?”
“He’s been on our surveillance. He’s one of Goodyear’s top guards. Could know where Ava-Jane and the women are.”
“You’re going to question him?”
“Yes.”
“I want in on that.”
Nash inclined his head. “Then let’s get back to the Avernus.” He looked at my hands. “You need to clean up first?”
“Not if I’m going to get them messy again.” My knuckles were aching like hell, but I didn’t give a shit. I opened the back door and slid in. I lifted Lili onto my lap, enjoying her small squeak.
Beside us, Lark and Georgie grinned.
“Is everything okay?” Lili asked, studying my face.
“Yeah. Your dad won’t be bothering you.”
“Thanks,” she murmured.
I nuzzled her face, pulling in her vanilla scent. All I wanted to do was take her home, strip her naked, and lick every inch of her delectable body.
But I knew she’d want me to focus on finding Ava-Jane first.
When we reached the villas, the other two women hugged Lili and headed to their own homes. Lili watched Alessio and Rafe manhandle the hooded guard out of the SUV. She turned to me. “Who’s that?”
I cupped the side of her head, fiddling with her hair. “One of Goodyear’s men. We need to question him.”
Her eyes widened. “He might know where Ava-Jane is?”
“That’s what we’re hoping.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip.
I stroked her cheekbone. “Need to take a raincheck on our plans. sunshine. You go inside. Take a shower and get into bed. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
“All right.” She went up on her toes and kissed me. It was the sweetest, sexiest kiss of my life. “Cole, thank you, for fighting for me again. I’ll be waiting for you.”
She spun away and dashed inside. I watched her go, thinking she looked like a night fairy, a sprite who let a mortal man get a glimpse of her beauty before she disappeared back to her magical world.
“Cole?”
Landon was waiting for me. “I’m ready.”
“Sorry to drag you away from Lili.” His smile flashed in the darkness. “It’s pretty obvious what you guys were doing in the locker room since we heard everything. I’m sure you’re eager to get back to her.”
We headed toward the casino. I could feel my friend’s smug pleasure wafting my way. “Don’t get too excited. Lili and me…it’s temporary.”
Landon was quiet for a beat. “You don’t want her.”
“Of course, I fucking want her. She’s beautiful, sweet…”
He made an annoyed sound.
“I told you before. She’s too good for me, too young.”
“And yet, you just fucked her.”
I growled. “It was…she wants me.” I realized how surprised I sounded. “I’ll give her anything she wants, until she realizes she can move onto bigger and better things.”
We reached the main building, and Landon sighed. “I wish you’d stop selling yourself short.”
Annoyed, I pressed my palm to the lock. “Can we just drop this? Let’s go and question this asshole.” I flexed my right hand. “I promised Lili I’d find her friend, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
I also knew I’d take Lili again. I wanted, desperately, to sink inside her sweet body. To once again find that sweet oblivion.
I’d give her everything she wanted, until it was time for her to walk away. To go and find the life she deserved.
“Yeah,” Landon said. “Let’s go question the asshole.”
I landed another punch to the man’s face.
Goodyear’s guard grunted, his head snapping back, and the chair he was tied to rocking. He spat a wad of blood on the floor of the holding cell.
“No one knows where you are.” I flexed my hand. My knuckles were torn and bloody. We’d been at this a while. “No one is coming for you. You think Goodyear is loyal? He’ll replace you with another thug in a suit and won’t give you a second thought. You made the wrong choice working for him.”
“Fuck you.” His dark eyes glittered.
“Where is he keeping the women he kidnapped?”
The guard glared. “What do you care? They’re all whores. They love spreading their legs. No one misses them.”
I leaned closer, towering over him. “They’re human fucking beings. They aren’t playthings for Chadwick Goodyear.” I punched him again, and again.
“Okay, Cole, enough.” Bastian’s cool voice.
I stepped back, heaving in air. The guy hadn’t given us a single decent scrap of information.
One of his eyes was swollen, his lips were split, blood smeared on his teeth. Blood had dripped down his white shirt.
“We’ll keep at him,” Bastian murmured. “You go and get some sleep. Check on Lili.”
I sucked in another breath, trying to find some calm.
“Go.”
Suddenly, wet laughter filled the bare room. I looked back at the guard.
“You’ll never find them. Goodyear is good at breaking any fucking rule he wants and never getting caught. He has so many powerful people in his back pockets. Lawyers, judges, politicians, billionaires. You’ll never find those women, and you’ll never touch him.”
A muscle ticked in my jaw. “Watch me.”
Another laugh. “If you want the women, you’d better hurry. He knows they’re becoming a liability. He’s good at snipping off loose ends.”
My chest locked and I looked at Bastian. My friend’s mouth flattened into a hard line. “Go.”
With a jerk of my chin, I walked out. Landon was waiting, holding a hand towel. He held it out and I took it, wiping the worst of the blood off.
“Get back to Lili.”
I jerked my chin up. “See you tomorrow.”
But as I walked back to my villa, my hands throbbing, I realized I was coming back to her with hands covered in blood and my knuckles swollen and torn.
Fuck, I couldn’t touch her with these hands. I’d just spent hours beating a man for information.
I stomped into my villa and didn’t turn on any lights. I went straight to my bottle of whiskey, found a glass, and poured.
Tonight was just another reminder of why I needed to stay the hell away from Lili Armstrong. Her father was right, all I’d do was stain her with my muck. I tossed back the whiskey. Time to keep my dirty hands to myself.