Anger flooded through me as I looked down at my phone. Dino had finally responded with some news, two hours after Jeanette and I started pinging his phones, and it was not good. Angel had inadvertently gotten mixed up with Chaz Malone, a real live bad guy. Chaz Malone was a sociopath, and he prided himself on being a good businessman. The problem was, Chaz’s “business” depended on his mood at the time. He made his money any way that seemed profitable, and a lot of that was on the fringes of what was legal. Hell, I don’t think the laws of man held much appeal to Chaz, mostly because he did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, to whomever he wanted.

The words private auction zipped across my phone screen, twisting my guts and making my blood run cold. That bastard was going to sell Angel. I had gotten a lot of information from Dino in the last twenty minutes, and it scared the shit out of me. Not because it was something I couldn’t handle. I could. But because it was happening to Angel, and what could happen to her if I wasn’t around or didn’t get my ass in gear in enough time. She wasn’t even in the state anymore, and I had a few different stops to make before I could even go get her. I didn’t have time to change my clothes, but that was ok, my suit would work just fine. It was a business suit, and if there was anything Chaz would show respect to in this world, it was another businessman.

I blasted out of my office, still looking down at my phone to find Jeannette in the corner behind her desk. She was crouched on the ground in front of the safe, and I only knew that because I could see the top of her hair from behind the desk as she punched in the code and used the fingerprint scan to open the door. The familiar beep of recognition sounded before the click of the safe lock unlatching. She was already pulling money out in stacks before I could even cross the room.

“Jeannette.” It was all I could get out before she interrupted me. She was in those text messages too. She knew what I needed to do.

“There isn’t enough in here. There’s only three hundred thousand in the office safe. Banks are closed, and I don’t know where you can get that kind of cash on short notice. I doubt Chaz Malone takes credit cards or trades in gold bars.” She was all business but her hands were shaking a little bit. She was a good girl, Jeanette, and a damn good assistant. I was lucky to have her and thought maybe I would tell her so with a raise, later, after I rescued Angel from being shanghaied.

“Jeannette, my dad was a master of money. Now, investing isn’t really my thing as far as a profession goes, but I know a thing or two about handling cash. One thing Dad taught me was, never have all your cash in one place. This isn’t all of it, I just need to make a couple of stops is all.” I just need to hurry, I thought to myself. It would be over an hour drive just to get to her.

“She’s important to you, right?” Jeannette asked, worry etched on her young face. “You wouldn’t be doing this for anyone else you didn’t think of as family, would you? Normally you would just call the police, right?”

The police? Not in this situation. I call the police and they would show up to an empty warehouse. Empty except for her dead body lying in one of the rooms, a statement that you don’t fuck with Chaz Malone, or what he considers the most important thing in the world, his money. No, I wouldn’t take that chance with Angel. Not her. She was once extremely precious to me, and I was realizing, seeing her again after so long, that some of those feelings hadn’t disappeared. I would save her the fastest way possible, and if that way required money, well bully for me because I had a lot of it. Fuck that paper, he could have it, give me Angel back.

“Yeah, Jeannette, she’s pretty fucking important. Do me a favor, keep in contact with Dino, I have to go.”

“Go save the princess, Boss,” Jeannette yelled after me as I left the office and took the stairs down to the first floor two at a time. I didn’t answer her, talking would have only slowed me down.

I maxed out the ATM withdrawal at four different banks where I had accounts, then I went home and cleared my personal safe of all cash. I still had tons of money tied up, but none that could be liquidated quickly. Jeannette had joked about gold bars, but I had a stash of that, too. Precious stones and metals all accumulated value at a different rate, it was best to have a cache of all of them. The money I had, the time, I didn’t. I didn’t know how long it would be before they moved Angel from the location Dino had given me, and I had to hurry. I hit the highway and punched the button that would auto dial Dino. I was not surprised when he didn’t answer.

Shit piss hell damn. I hated texting while I was driving, and I would be slowed down if a cop pulled me over for doing it, but desperate times. With my eyes glued to the road, I pressed the keys and hoped I made sense.

Let him know there is a buyer. I’m coming now.

* * *

I made it in forty-five minutes, and thank fuck there were no cops around as I got off the interstate at the Detroit exit and made my way into the warehouse district. The whole city was like a warehouse district, actually, crumbling and dark. Fucking haunted houses everywhere with rotten porches and boarded up windows. I finally made my way down into a clean and well-lit section. The navigation beeped and let me know, “destination is on your right,” and I pulled my car through the open gates and parked by a door, directly under a spotlight. No sense in acting out a scene from a horror movie—no parking in the shadows for me, thank you very much.

I was met at my car door by a guy with salt and pepper hair and a green sweater, and I recognized him as one of the guys who had grabbed Angel. Definitely not someone I would expect out in this neighborhood, and certainly not someone I would be expecting to make a hostage exchange. I did notice the gun in his hand, though, and I guess it doesn’t matter what someone is wearing or what they look like when they can kill you with a trigger squeeze.

“You got here relatively quickly, considering you came from Toledo,” the older man said, his voice pleasant and mild. I didn’t like it. He was confusing. Bad guys should look like bad guys. This guy looked like the person ringing the donation bell outside the grocery store at Christmas. He didn’t match the profile of a hired gun—but he was one all the same.

“I thought it was important to hurry,” I replied. I didn’t really want to exchange small talk with this man. I wanted to give my money to Chaz Malone and get the hell out of there, either by walking out with Angel, or carrying her over my shoulder. I hoped she was fine to walk out of there. I would burn the place to the ground if she wasn’t.

“The girl is unharmed,” the older man said, reading my mind. “I trust you have the money?”

“I would rather give the money to Chaz myself,” I said. “Didn’t this whole situation come about because someone had his money and wasn’t supposed to?” I wasn’t trying to be funny, but the older man laughed anyway, loud and long.

“Touché, young man. And a smart move, too. Chaz is waiting inside. Your girl has been kept isolated in a room. One of the men got a little squirrely, and we thought it best to keep them separated.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, and I wanted to ask what squirrely meant in this instance, but he was already opening the door and walking inside the building, and I had no choice but to follow him. I had my own gun and several other forms of aggressive protection on my person, but it wouldn’t be smart to show my hand. With any luck, this would be a simple business transaction and I could get the hell out of there without having to break any faces. I mean, I would break faces, I was just really hoping I wouldn’t have to. I didn’t want to do anything that would encourage police involvement. Well, besides rescuing a hostage and paying off a crime lord. That was just unavoidable.

I don’t know what I expected. I had infiltrated other “hideouts” in my line of work and they were all different. I didn’t expect this one to be so...normal. It was legitimately a warehouse, with concrete floors and floor to ceiling shelving filled with boxes all stacked neatly in rows. We walked through several open rooms that looked identical to each other until we came to a small carpeted hallway that led to offices. Four men were standing at the entrance to the hallway, three standing and one sitting in a chair bent over, arms folded across his stomach. He looked rough. Actually, he looked beyond rough. I remembered him as guy number two that had thrown Angel in the back of the car with the old man. He looked like he had just gotten his ass kicked, sitting in the chair like it was the only thing holding him up and keeping him from face-planting on the floor. The second man was Dino, who was staring at me with a blank expression showing zero recognition. The other two I had never seen before, but the red head wore his pistol holster on the outside of his clothes, he was definitely protection. The fourth guy had to be Chaz Malone.

“Is this the guy, D?” the man I assumed was Chaz Malone asked Dino.

“I’ve never met him, Boss,” Dino said flatly. “I just know a guy who knows a guy that said he knew someone who was into some hard stuff that involved chubby chicks with big tits. I assume if he’s got the money in that fancy briefcase, though, then he’s the guy.”

Oh, I knew he was playing a part, but fuck me if his words didn’t ignite a fire of rage in my belly. I didn’t know what the hell he was doing being a hired goon for a crook like Malone, but I imagined he had his reasons, and I should just be grateful to have an in at the moment. Hearing someone say that shit about Angel, though, pissed me right off. Angel wasn’t chubby, she was beautiful, and it was petty to think it, but those were fighting words to me. I narrowed my eyes and glared hard at Dino, silently letting him know what I thought of what he had just said. His face remained impassive.

“I’m the guy, all right, and there is definitely money in this briefcase. How much of it I give you depends on what condition the merchandise is in.”

“Do you think you are in the position to negotiate right now? There are five of us and one of you,” the half-dead looking man in the chair finally spoke up. He laughed as he said the words, dirty strings of hair hanging in his sallow face. The open hand slap came out of nowhere, knocking him sideways and almost completely out of the chair. He groaned and folded in on himself again. “Sorry, Boss,” he whined, head hanging down contritely.

“I apologize for Bernard, he has some personal problems that he has yet to overcome,” the man who had issued the blow said as he wiped his hands on the leg of his pants. If I had just touched something so dirty I would wipe my hands, too. “Bernard here is under punishment, he knows better than to touch the merchandise, but he just couldn’t keep his hands to himself. She is unharmed, don’t worry, “he assured me hastily. “This one is a little feisty, she might need to be restrained until she is properly trained. I’m Chaz Malone, and you are?”

“I’m Gabriel Anderson,” I said as I shook the offered hand. It was so…normal. Like we were shaking hands on a deal in a boardroom and not over some illegal as hell shit in a dirty warehouse in Detroit. “I’ll do as I please with her, because after you have the money, she is mine, correct?” I was trying to make a point, and blunt talk was going to be the only thing that worked with a man such as Chaz Malone.

His eyes widened slightly at the introduction. Of course, he recognized my name, guys like him probably kept a running tab of all the money in the area. Always scouting clients with cash, I would imagine. Under normal circumstances, he was not someone I would ever do business with, but I had no choice in that moment.

“Anderson Investments, Gabriel Anderson? My, my, aren’t we slumming it today? I wouldn’t imagine you would be the type who would have to buy female company. But then again, I don’t judge.” His words made me want to punch him in the face. Instead, I laughed.

“Oh, I don’t, I assure you. But Angel and I go way back. Way, way back. So you see, this is a bit of a rescue mission, I am afraid.” I leaned in conspiratorially like I was sharing a secret with Chaz, and mock whispered, “I will be taking every penny of this payment out of her ass, you can trust me on that.”

He laughed at that and I laughed with him. The red-headed guy next to him ghosted a smile but no one else moved. I opened the case to show Chaz Malone just how serious I was about this purchase.

“There is six hundred thousand dollars in here. The extra hundred is to make sure whatever problem Angel caused to land herself in this mess, goes away. When Angel leaves with me, you all forget her name, what she looks like, or that any of you ever met her. Does that work?” Friendly businessman Gabe was gone. As I gave my instructions, I let a little of the edge creep into my voice and looked at all of the men in the room with a dead expression, especially that little dickhead groaning in his chair. I knew I was a dangerous man. I could dispatch everyone in this room if I felt like it. I had experience in this sort of thing. Well, I might have a little trouble with Dino if he felt like putting up a fight, but these other guys, they didn’t know what they were dealing with. I hoped I didn’t have to show them. I just wanted to get Angel and get out.

Chaz’s eyes widened again, the only hint that he might have understood the underlying threat I was throwing in his general direction. “Angel who?” he asked, as he took the case from my hand and gestured down the small hallway. “Eddie and D, take him to her. See that the transaction is properly carried out.” Chaz turned and gestured to the greasy man mumbling to himself in the chair. “Get up, Bernard. It is time we had a little talk about the meaning of the word, subordinate.” I didn’t wait to see what was going to happen to him, that was none of my business. My business lie behind the locked door at the end of the hall.