Page 111 of Perfect Sin

Sin

The lights go out,and all hell breaks loose. I can see Shane and Tessa drag Raven toward the safe room. Lucien moves to my side and takes my spot with the rifle. “Shane has her. She’s safe,” he reassures me.

I’ll believe it when I see it. I take the stairs two at a time. It’s pandemonium on the main floor. People are stumbling around. Some stop to help move the injured out the door. Wading into the melee, Ford finds me and signals me toward the back. He’s got Jesse’s two friends bound and gagged in the hallway leading to the shooting range.

He steps around me and turns on the monitors in the back. One of them shows the cameras inside the safe room. “Shane got Raven, Amber, and Jen into the safe room. Tessa slipped back into the crowd after taking the pins from Raven’s hair.”

“At least she’s armed.”

“Hair pins? We need to find Jesse.”

“Those are special throwing knives, but still not enough against a pervert like Jesse. Your father’s agents have swept the area. Jesse’s gone, and they can’t find Tessa anywhere.”

I bend down in front of the two frat boys and yank the gag from one of their mouths. “I’ve got a clusterfuck of epic proportions on my hands, so you’re going to tell me where Jesse is right now.”

He spits at me. “I’m not going to tell you shit.”

I take the gun out of my waistband and tap the barrel against the side of his head. “I’m really short on time, and patience. I’m sure you’re asking yourself right now if I’m willing to pull this trigger. Let me assure you I am, and I’m capable of walking away without consequences. Start. Talking.”

He turns his face away from me. I point my gun at his friend and cock the hammer. “Nothing to say?”

Ford pulls the gag out of the friend’s mouth. “Last chance. I won’t stop him.”

“Like he said, we aren’t saying shit,” the second guy retorts.

I aim next to his leg and squeeze the trigger. The bullet ricochets off the concrete. “The next one goes in you.”

Like I expect, the frat bitch starts singing. “He had a car around back. When Tessa helped the bitch get away, Jesse dragged her out back, not without a struggle though. The cunt stabbed him in the shoulder with a long metal needle.”

My fists hunger for the feel of his flesh on my knuckles, but I lock that shit down. Raven is safe, but Tessa is out there and Ford needs me to keep it tight.

I probably should have communicated these thoughts to Ford. Before I can stop him, he cocks his arm back and lands a punch on the side of his face. “Those are our women. You looked at them and laid hands on them. Give me more or I let him put a bullet in both of you.”

I rub my jaw. “Hurts like a bitch, doesn’t it? He’s got a lot of frustration to work out. I can leave him here with you, let him blow off some steam and come back for you.”

“There’s a warehouse near the docks. He’s been meeting Len Jones down there. That’s where he took her. That’s where he brings all the girls he ropes in. The plan was to take Tessa tonight too. Jones said the boss has a thing for young brunettes.”

Ford’s head snaps up. “Damien Blackthorne?”

“Jesse’s traded up. Whitmore doesn’t have the kind of pull that Blackthorne does, and polls show he’s going to lose the election.”

I smirk at him. “You want to swim in the same pond as Damien Blackthorne? Do you think kidnapping his daughter is the way to earn his favor?”

“Who do you think sent us after her?” he responds, some arrogance coming back to him.

I point the gun at him again. “Answer me a question. Are you more afraid of me, or the gun?”

His breathing comes out in ragged pants. “The gun. You’re less dangerous without it.”

I narrow my eyes and let my past as Damien’s ghost slip over me. “Are you sure about that?” I put the gun back in my waistband and hold up my hands. “Do you have any idea what I can do with these? Pinch your nose and hold it over your mouth and I can watch while you struggle to breathe. The vessels will burst in your eyes as your body pleads for oxygen. It takes a while, and like I said, I’m pressed for time. It would be far faster to crank your head and snap your neck. So tell me, am I less dangerous without the gun?”

My phone rings in my back pocket. I pull it out and see Gerrick’s number on the screen. “Sin, Natalie’s gone. Some men broke into the safe house I had my family stashed at. They took Natalie while Tempest hid under a bed. I’ve got a traumatized little girl who misses her mom. I need your help.”

“Do you know about a warehouse at the docks?”

“There are several. It would take hours to clear them all.”

“One Jones might use to smuggle women from overseas,” I prod.