Page 41 of Link (Dragon Riders MC 1)
Oh, no.
“Link, there’s something you’re going to want to see,” he said.
Hope started crying as my mind jump-started into fight mode. I rushed out of my office, pointing and motioning for Sly to guide me to whatever the fuck was happening. I shushed Hope softly in the phone, trying to calm her down while also trying to calm myself down.
What the fuck had happened since I last saw Joanna?
“Hope, you’re on speaker,” I said.
The guys all turned and looked at me as I set my cell down onto the bar table.
Thank fuck for late hours.
“All right. Tell me everything that happened. Start from the beginning,” I said.
As Hope rattled off the phone call she had with Joanna, Ash turned his laptop toward me. And right there, plain as daylight, was a picture of my girl. My woman. The incredible human being that had swept me off my feet. Tears streamed down her cheeks with her body clad in a very pathetic excuse for a bikini. And it was posted all over the dark web.
Hope sobbed over the phone. “That’s all I know. It took me a few tries to remember the combination of numbers she spat out. Link, you have to help her. They’ve taken her because of me.”
I sat down beside Ash. “Hope, I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?”
“Y-y-yeah. Yeah. I think so.”
“Good. I need you to know that you’ve done well. I also need you to know that I’m going to get your sister, come hell or high water. But I need you to do something for me. You listening?”
She sniffled. “I am, yes.”
“I don’t want you to pick up your phone at all unless I’m calling.”
She paused. “But what if—”
“No calls. Only my number. Even if you think it’s Joanna. Because we don’t know what’s going on and we don’t know if Skeleton’s going to try and make a play for you. All right?”
“Is he going to do that? I mean, do you think—”
I stole Ash’s laptop and started clicking around.
“I don’t know anything right now. So, until we do? You only answer for me. For this specific number. Got it?”
She paused. “Okay. Yes. Got it. I just saved your number into my phone.”
“Good. I’ll call you the second we have something. Okay?”
“Please find her,” she said breathlessly.
“You have my solemn word that I will.”
I hung up the phone with her and cursed myself for not having that woman’s number. What the fuck? How the hell did I not have Joanna’s number? Right. Because I kept showing up at her house instead of calling. Like a regular fucking person.
“Damn it!” I roared.
Sly stood behind me. “We have to believe this isn’t a hoax.”
Ash nodded. “Especially with Hope sounding that way.”
I stood from my chair. “I want a front row ticket to that auction. Ash, can you set that up?”
“I figured you’d want me to do that, so I already did it while Sly was getting you.”
I patted his shoulder. “Great. What’s the alias?”
Bowser walked up to me. “Michael Slavic. Though, I don’t have time to make much of an I.D. up. However, we do have the option to send someone with a great deal of money in a bag. And you know how skeezy Skeleton is. He’ll take that shit in a heartbeat over having anyone check you for identification.”
I licked my lips. “All right. Here’s the plan. We gather ourselves and ride before the auction starts. But if shit pops off before we can get there? I want one of our prospects to step up to the plate. It’s time they started doing some shit around here anyway.”
Bowser paused. “You think they’d be ready for something like this?”
I shrugged. “Not my fault if they aren’t. Prospects understand what they’re getting themselves into with a lifestyle like this. If they can’t take the heat?”
Bowser nodded. “I’ll go get Rak on the phone. He’d be the one to pull this off out of anyone.”
Ash spoke up. “What do you want the rest of us to do?”
I turned around and stared at the clock on the wall behind the bar. Broad fucking daylight. It wasn’t even lunch time yet. It boiled my blood that Skeleton rushed Joanna at her office like that. Right after breakfast, as if those assholes didn't have anything better to do. I made a silent vow to myself to wipe them off the face of the fucking planet. By the time I was done with Skeleton and his crew, there wouldn’t be anyone left to run the Golden Assholes.
“What’s our next move, Boss?”
Ash’s voice pulled me from my trance, and I drew in a deep breath.
“Sly?”
“Yep?”
“You got any details on that auction for me?”
He typed away on the keyboard. “A bunch, actually. Skeleton doesn’t just take in-person bids; he takes online bids. I’m making Rak an account now, just in case.”
