Cole barely got three hours of sleep, but it gave him enough of an energy boost to at least be able to function. He swallowed two painkillers for his headache, drank three glasses of water, and wolfed down a sandwich. At least after consuming some food and liquids—of the non-alcoholic variety—he felt somewhat more human, although the minute he thought about Millie, he almost chucked the sandwich back up. He didn’t want to contemplate what she was going through, because when he did, he wanted to risk it all and tell Tanner to go fuck himself in the ass with a red-hot poker.

God, he missed her. He couldn’t stop his mind from replaying images of them together. On the boat, in his bed, that night in the bar when she’d told him she wanted him. And then when he’d pushed inside her for the very first time…

This plan of his and Draven’s had to work. The saying ‘caught between a rock and a hard place’ had never resonated so much—or caused so much agony and soul-searching.

He got on the phone and started making calls. After an hour or so with no luck, Cole spoke with an ex-colleague who mentioned that a guy they’d both been in the cadets with, a Luke Harris, now worked at Chicago PD. Cole trawled through social media and managed to locate him. A couple more phone calls, and he had a number.

Ten minutes later he cut the call. Luke had promised to do some digging and get back to Cole if he found anything. Tanner didn’t have a criminal record, so if he was involved in anything illegal, he’d avoided getting caught so far. However, if there were any rumors, Luke vowed he’d get to the bottom of them.

Almost immediately, his cell rang. Draven.

“Found out anything?” Cole asked.

“Yep. You at home?”

“Yes.”

“On my way.”

When Draven turned up, he helped himself to a beer from the fridge, but when he offered Cole one, his stomach lurched. He shook his head.

“What’ve you got?”

Draven took a long pull from the bottle. “You said Tanner Fuckhead was a football coach, right?”

Cole nodded. “I did.”

“And he’s not the big guy you said, right? The head honcho kind of coach?”

“No. From the very few things Millie said, he’s pretty junior. I think they keep him around more because he fucked up his knee on their watch. Why?”

Draven slipped his phone from his inside pocket, tapped the screen, then handed it to Cole. It was open on the website of a five-star hotel on Fifth Avenue.

“You think he can afford to stay there on his paycheck?” Draven said.

Cole’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s where he was staying when he was in New York?”

Draven nodded. “Wanna know what I think?”

Cole didn’t need him to share, because he’d already guessed the answer. “Drugs, or maybe given his sports career, steroids.”

“Yep. I bet the slimy bastard is dealing juice to the young kids. Selling them the dream. Get bigger, stronger, jump ahead of the competition, yada yada.”

“That’s fucked up,” Cole said.

“No, that’s Fuck Head.” Draven grinned.

Cole managed a faint smile. “In other news, I found a contact in Chicago. As it happens, I was in the cadets with the guy. He’s a detective now, which works in our favor. He’s agreed to poke around, see what he can dig up.”

“Excellent.” Draven stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Is he clean?”

Cole frowned. “As I recall, he was a bit of a rebel. I was pretty surprised when I heard he’d made detective. He must have cleaned up his act.”

“Here’s hoping he’s not scrubbed himself too clean.” Draven lumbered to his feet. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?”

Draven threw his arms out wide. “Where else? Chicago.”

Luke clapped Cole on the shoulder and then vigorously shook his hand. “You haven’t changed a bit,” he said. “What’s it been, six, seven years?”

“Something like that.” Cole gestured to Draven. “This is my partner, Draven. Don’t let his size put you off. He’s a pussycat.”

“Bullshit,” Draven boomed, shaking Luke’s hand.

Cole suppressed a chuckle when Luke winced.

“I know it was only yesterday when we spoke, but have you managed to find out anything at all?” Cole asked.

“I have.” He gestured at a couple of chairs. “Sit down, and I’ll fill you in on what I’ve managed to glean so far.”

They both took a seat, and Luke continued. “As I suspected, Tanner isn’t known to us at all. No criminal record, not even the hint of an arrest. However, I spoke to one of my informants, and he gave me a lead. It’s by no means solid, but the rumors are that he’s selling steroids to young kids desperate for a football career.”

“I fucking knew it,” Draven said.

Cole suppressed a victorious smile. They had a long way to go before any kind of a celebration would be in order.

“Which means my plan might just work,” Draven added.

Luke frowned. “Plan?”

Draven leaned back in his chair and crossed an ankle over his opposing knee. He laced his fingers behind his head. “How do you fancy taking part in an unauthorized sting operation, Luke?”

Luke’s face broke into a grin, and he looked at Cole. “Borderline illegal? Sign me up.”

The following day, Cole, Draven, and Luke were in a bar waiting to meet a friend of Luke’s. According to Luke, his friend had all the right attributes to help with the planned sting operation to trap Tanner into revealing his illegal activities, although he hadn’t expanded on exactly what that involved.

When Luke’s friend arrived, Cole immediately understood. The guy had the perfect build for a football player—broad in the shoulder, tapered waist, clearly someone who worked out regularly. And he’d been blessed with good genes because, despite being twenty-four, he could easily pass for nineteen.

Luke introduced them all, then flagged down the waitress. “Another round of drinks please, sweetheart.”

“Coming right up.”

As the three guys started talking animatedly, Cole’s mind drifted. What was Millie doing right that second? Was she scared, lonely, tired, depressed? Was she thinking of him? Every day that passed worsened the pain in his heart. His arms felt empty because she wasn’t wrapped inside them, and his stomach ached as a result of the constant anxiety sweeping through him.

Then his thoughts turned to Tanner, and instead of his stomach clenching, it was his fists. Just give me ten minutes alone with that fucker. Was that too much to ask?

“Cole!”

He snapped out of his daydream at Draven’s holler. “What?”

“We’ve been talking to you for like thirty seconds. Back in the fucking room, yeah?”

Cole refocused his mind, tucking thoughts of Millie away in a quiet corner for later when he was alone.

“Sorry, go ahead.”

They caught him up with the plan. It seemed solid enough, although they couldn’t possibly foresee every eventuality. Cole was betting on Tanner’s over-inflated ego, his cocky attitude, and his financial greed to see them through.

“We need to be thorough,” Cole stated. “Tanner isn’t stupid.”

“That’s questionable,” Draven almost growled. “Relax, will you. It’s all good.”

Cole made a frustrated noise. “No, it’s not all fucking good. This is my girlfriend.”

Draven glared. “Chill the fuck out, dickhead, otherwise I’m sending you back to New York.”

Cole swallowed his anger and stored it up for when he could let loose on the real source of his pain and frustration. “Fine. Okay, let’s go over the plan one more time. I want to make sure nothing goes wrong. My future and Millie’s safety are what’s at stake here, not to mention my brother’s livelihood and our inheritance.”

“Before we do, I just want to make it clear that this will never stand up in court,” Luke said. “It’s entrapment at best. At worst, we could all be in deep shit.”

Draven flicked his wrist dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. The court thing doesn’t matter because we don’t want that either. We just need to make Tanner think we’re gonna push it that far. Like all bullies, he’s a fucking coward. By the time we’re finished, he’ll shit his pants and won’t be able to give up the copies of Cole and me in that video quick enough. A little leverage goes a long way in my experience.”

Luke twisted his lips into a grin. “Amen to that, brother.”