Page 89 of Swerve (Boosted Hearts 1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Neco

“All set?” Hunter said from my office door.

“Yeah, I’ll be up in a sec.”

Hunter gave me a chin lift and headed up to reception. He didn’t work in the field as much anymore, but tonight he was playing lookout for Van and me. The job we were doing required a little B&E and Hunter would make sure we didn’t get any unwelcome surprises.

I thought about Ruby, probably curled up in my bed by now, and an ache started low in my gut. Jesus, she’d been so beautiful tonight. I’d needed that. Time to play, to make her feel good, to just hold her, be with her, and not talk about the fucking case.

Or dwell on how shitty I felt for the way I’d behaved when I found her sparring with Zeke, the way I’d overreacted just thinking about her out in the field, having to use those same skills on some faceless asshole. Somehow, I had to get past my issues and figure out a way to trust her to take care of herself—like she trusted me.

My phone started ringing.

I pulled it from my pocket and checked the screen. Tomas.

I frowned. “Yeah?”

“I’ve got something,” he said, voice low.

“I’m listening.”

“Colin Edwards.”

“What does he have to do with this?” I knew of the guy, he was loaded, hid his criminal activities behind legitimate business, but he’d made a lot of enemies with the way he did business, Tomas being one of them.

“I hear he wants your girl, and he’s prepared to pay to get her.”

I froze. “Come again?”

“Edwards likes to watch, and he indulged that particular interest through the website Ruby’s images were being streamed to. He became her . . . biggest fan, you could say.”

Adrenaline started pumping though me hard and fast. “Go on.”

“He wanted her. Tried to buy her through the scum who put those cameras in her room.” He paused. “That isn’t the kind of business my associates at Imperious are interested in, but this guy is powerful enough that whoever he contacted about buying Ruby decided to make an exception. From what I hear, Edwards is getting impatient.”

“He’s dead,” I gritted down the line.

A pause. “My contact tells me there’s a meeting happening tonight, to renegotiate terms.”

“Does he know where Ruby is?”

“I doubt it, or why would he bother with a middle man?” Tomas was quiet a few seconds. “Then again, that would be too messy for Edwards. He doesn’t like doing his own dirty work. It would suit him to leave that part of the transaction to someone else.”

Which meant this middleman either knew where Ruby was or thought he could get to her when he needed to.

“That everything?” I forced out, anger, murderous rage, distorting my voice.

“Yes. I’ll text you the location.”

I hung up and pounded up the stars to Hunter’s office.

I walked in and Hunter lifted his head, eyes locking on me. “What’s going on?”

“Change of plans.” I held his stare. “I’m going to need the van.”

“Fuck,” Hunter muttered.