Reed
I didn’t bother knocking. The Bull’s men barely had time to register who I was before I shoved past them, my blood running too hot to give a damn about formalities. He was waiting for me, sitting in a leather chair like he didn’t have a care in the world, a glass of whiskey in his hand, and that goddamn smirk pulling at his mouth.
“Reed,” he drawled, swirling the amber liquid. “Didn’t expect you so soon. Though I suppose I should have.”
I slammed my hands down on his desk so hard that the glass rattled. “Where is she?”
He lifted a brow, unfazed. “She?”
I clenched my jaw. “Don’t play games with me, Bull. Zinnia. You helped her. You sent her straight to Roman. I want to know where she is, and I want to know right fucking now.”
The Bull let out a slow breath, like he was dealing with a particularly stubborn child. “She made her choice, Reed. Whether you like it or not, she’s in it now.”
My vision blurred at the edges, rage curling tight in my chest. “You don’t get to decide that. You don’t get to play god with her life.”
He took a sip of his drink, then set the glass down carefully. “Neither do you.”
I lunged before I could think better of it, grabbing the front of his shirt and hauling him up. The chair scraped against the floor. His men tensed, hands inching toward their guns, but The Bull just looked at me, calm as ever.
“This isn’t going to help her,” he said evenly.
“No?” I tightened my grip. “Because from where I’m standing, she’s surrounded by a bunch of fucking psychopaths who won’t hesitate to put a bullet in her head the moment they realise she’s trying to double cross them, and you just let it happen.”
His jaw ticked, but his voice remained infuriatingly smooth. “She knew what she was doing.”
“She thinks she knows,” I spat. “Roman’s not some idiot she can trick into letting his guard down. He’s smarter than that. More ruthless than that.”
The Bull let out a short, humorless chuckle. “You think I don’t know that? I’ve been dealing with Roman a hell of a lot longer than you have. You’re emotional. That’s why she didn’t tell you. Because she knew you’d react just like this.”
I shoved him back roughly, my hands shaking. He straightened his shirt like I hadn’t just damn near thrown him across the room. “I need to know where she is.”
“She’s with Roman,” he said simply. “If she plays her cards right, she’ll make it out.”
“And if she doesn’t?” I snapped.
His smirk finally faded. “Then she dies.”
My stomach turned to stone. My fingers curled into fists at my sides. “I’m not letting that happen.”
The Bull studied me, his dark eyes unreadable. Then he exhaled, shaking his head. “I can help you get to her. But if we do this, we do it my way. No charging in like some reckless idiot with a hero complex.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Just like you didn’t need my help saving her the first time?” The Bull mocks. He takes another sip of his whiskey. “Reed, you do if you want to find her before it’s too late.”
Silence settled between us. The weight of it pressed heavy on my chest, crushing the air from my lungs.
“Fine,” I ground out. “But if anything happens to her because of you-”
“Then you can kill me yourself,” he said smoothly. “Now sit down and listen.”
I didn’t sit. I barely breathed.
“Roman’s not keeping her in his main compound,” The Bull said, pouring another drink like we had all the time in the goddamn world. “Too risky. He’s got a private location-off the grid, only a handful of his men know about it.”
“Where?”
He smirked. “That’s the fun part. It moves.”
I stared at him. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means,” he said, leaning forward, “that Roman’s keeping her in one of his transport hubs. Underground. Mobile. He doesn’t stay in one place long enough for anyone to get a lock on him.”
Panic clawed up my throat. If she was underground, if she was on the move, that meant- “We could already be too late.”
The Bull met my gaze. “That’s the risk, isn’t it?”
I sucked in a sharp breath, forcing down the sickening dread curdling in my stomach. “Then we move now.”
“No,” The Bull corrected. “We wait.”
I damn near lost it. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Roman’s expecting a reaction,” he said. “If we act too soon, we walk right into a trap. We wait for him to slip up. He will, eventually. He always does.”
My pulse pounded in my ears. I wanted to argue, to throw something, to put my fist through the wall. But deep down, I knew The Bull was right. I hated it. But I knew it.
I ground my teeth, forcing the words out. “How long?”
The Bull took a slow sip of his whiskey, then smirked. “Not long. I already put the pieces in motion. Now, we wait for the board to shift.”
As if on cue, his phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, then slid it across the desk to me. I looked down, my stomach plummeting. A single message, short and lethal.
She’s gone. Everything inside me went still.
“What the fuck does that mean?” I demanded.
The Bull’s smirk was gone. “It means Roman just changed the game.”
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