Page 167 of Carnal Wagers

“No.”

“What the bleeding fuck do you mean no?” My grip on Shiner slipped, and he groaned through his teeth. With a little toss of his weight that had him cursing me colorfully, I hefted him back up. “I’m not asking, Brody. Alizé’s not LK. Now, I’ve got some plates for you to run.”

“No.”

“Brody…” I growled, huffing my anger through flared nostrils, but tempered my tirade. Even now, when I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him again, I had to remember his brain worked differently. When he wasn’t going off on a tangent, he was often too direct for everyone around him. Just because he said no didn’t mean that was the end of it. “Explain.”

“You said she’s been taken by Sosa.”

“Mercenaries hired by Sosa.”

“Then there’s no point. She’ll be dead before you get to her or mangled beyond repair. Leave it be. You have an emotional attachment to this woman. Otherwise, you would see this is pointless and let it go. For anyone else, you already would have.”

“She’s not anyone else. She’s—I’m not debating this with you. Just run the goddamn plates.” Paulie listed them off and gave a basic vehicle description: color, make, and model. “You got those?”

“Yes, and…apparently, you’re searching for a microcar owned by a seventy-four-year-old Cathy Michaels in Arizona.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I ground out as we reached the glade.

“Told you. There’s nothing to be done.”

“Shut your mouth.”

Dark-gray clouds shadowed the sun, threatening a storm. They were a mirror to my dark mood. There had to be a way to get to her.

“I can’t reach Liam. Have him call Sosa, sweet-talk him, see what it’ll take to get her back.”

Liam was the smoothest of the three of us when he wanted to be.

“Even if he negotiates with the cartel, it’s too late. They’ll torture her to get to you. You’ll never find her alive.”

“Your confidence is awe-inspiring.”

“You want me to lie?”

“I want you to act like my brother. I need you to get out of your head and understand I can’t lose her.”

“You will.”

“You motherfucking fucker. Don’t say that. Don’t you even think it.”

“You sure she’s worth this?”

“I know she is. She’s…she’s everything.”

The pause on the other end of the line dug into my rib cage and held my insides captive. Reaching the helicopter did nothing to assuage this helpless feeling. I didn’t depend on others, ever. I’d kept even my brothers at a distance in case there’d be a day they had to live without me. Now I was left with no other options but to let others in.

“Fine, I’ll talk with him and see what else I can do. No promises, but I’ll try to see if I can find some footage of the vehicle and track it.”

He couldn’t see my nod, but it was the most I could give while bitterness from his resistance choked my throat.

“In the meantime, call her brother.”

“Why?”

Paulie and I hauled Shiner up into the helicopter and onto a set of bench seats. Blood still trickled in a steady stream from his wounds, and cold sweat pearled across his pale forehead and neck.

“There were rumors from several sources when you two got married that all the De Villier siblings had trackers. Might be a good time to find out if that’s true.”