My next call was to Sal. He was her father and had given me the lead, so I figured I owed it to him to let him know I had confirmation of who took her. He answered on the first ring.
I tried to smooth the rage from my voice. “It was them. They have her. I’ve got a guy finding them. How do you want to do this?” As much as I wanted to go in and get her on my own, I knew damn good and well it’d be overstepping my bounds. She was his daughter, after all. I couldn’t chance causing trouble between our clubs and making things even more difficult for her and I.
Sal growled into the phone. “Get back here now. I might have something.” Then he hung up.
I raced back to the house. This time when I entered the room, there were about fifteen other men crowding it. I didn’t know who they were, nor did I care. I walked right on in and stared at Sal.
He didn’t seem to have a problem with my bold behavior. “My men here have been working day and night trying to find information.”
Frustrated with what I saw as wasting time, I reined in a smartass comment. “Good. The more people we have hunting these bastards down the better our chances are of finding her and soon.” I waved the photo Duke pointed out at him. “This is one of the guys that took her.”
Sal took the picture and nodded. ”He works for another boss, a low life who runs a trafficking operation. They work out of a port just off the island. That may be where they’re keeping the girls, but we’re not sure. My men are in the process of gathering more intel as we speak.”
Just as he opened his mouth to say something else, my phone rang. I answered it without looking. My breath stopped when one of my brothers spoke.
“We got ‘em, brother. We found a house on the outskirts of some shit-hole town about thirty miles east of the city. We got eyes on them. There are three males we’ve seen, not sure if there’s anyone else. But we know it’s them. The dumbasses kept the van.”
I forced words out. “How do you know it’s the right van?”
“It’s the same one from the picture you sent us.” He paused, like he was hunting for the right words. “Dom, brother, Jules’ cell is in the van.”
My heart damn near broke ribs it was pounding so hard. I gripped the phone tight. “Text me where. I’m on my way.” I glanced at Sal, then added, “Oh and Mac? Nobody leaves that building.” I hung up and turned toward the door. “They found her. Let’s go.”
I didn’t even care if I was stepping out of line at this point. I didn’t need to look to know they were all on my heels. Everyone loaded into vehicles as I went to get on my bike. Sal called for me to ride with him. I ignored him and straddled my bike, firing it up and spitting gravel as I raced down the drive. I needed to get there first. I couldn’t take the chance Sal would take John and I’d never get to make sure he got the punishment he deserved.
I focused on my breathing, trying to stay in control and just praying I got there before anything else happened to her. I had no idea what kind of hell I was walking into, all I knew was I had to get Jules out. If it was the last thing I did.
Never had a thirty-minute ride seemed so long. Finally, I came to the rundown, piece of shit house smack in the middle of nowhere. Knowing Jules could be in there, and not knowing what other surprises it held, scared me to death.
Pulling up I saw my brothers’ bikes. I walked around the corner to see my brothers had two fuckers face down in the dirt, their hands zip tied together. Five feet away, a girl sat in the back of an SUV, wrapped in a dirty, old blanket. She was shaking, tears running down her face. By the looks of her, she needed a hospital.
I slowly walked toward her, stopping about a foot away. I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was. “Is it okay if I come closer? I just want to talk to you.”
She looked to the right and that’s when I noticed Viper sitting next to her. She nodded and I moved a little closer, but not too close.
I looked at my brother. “How bad?”
He understood what I meant. “We’ll need ambulances, I think. At least one.”
I tried to rein in my anger and the urgency in my blood as I focused back on the girl. “What’s your name?”
Her bleeding lips trembled. “Leah.” She wouldn’t look me in the eyes.
I tried to make my voice sound as soothing as I could. “Hi, Leah, my name is Dom.”
She let out a sob and Viper was right there. With his back toward me, he enfolded her in his arms. As if protecting her from even me. Apparently, my brother had gotten attached to her. Quickly.
I took one more step toward her, my ears ringing. I needed to get to Jules. “What is it? What’s wrong?” What could’ve triggered that kind of response from her?
She hiccupped around a sob. “She said you’d come. She told us Dom would save her and the rest of us.” She shook harder and leaned into Viper.
“Who? Who said that?” I was trying hard not to scare her, but my life could be in that house. “Leah, is it Jules? Is she in there?”
With a whimper, she nodded. “Yes.”
That’s all I needed to hear. I
