Ransom started a fucking shit show all because of pussy. It always comes back to pussy. I told him to steer clear of Magnolia Maison. Tangling with her is about as smart as carrying around a black widow on your shoulder like a fucking parrot.

Actually, a black mamba would be more accurate. Her history is littered with the dead bodies of men who thought they could tame her.

Ransom might have actually had a chance, because I’m pretty fucking sure she’s hooked on him, and yet somehow, she still managed to drag him into the line of fire. And now his sister is in the crosshairs.

Fuck you, Ransom.

The woman asleep in my bed will not pay for her brother’s bad judgment. Not while I’m still breathing.

But I can’t tell him how fucking pissed I am at him until I can get in contact with him. Right now, my messages on the dark web aren’t being answered.

I’m guessing that wherever he is, he doesn’t have an internet connection. Even if he did, the man barely checks his regular email, let alone the dark web.

Ransom works old school—through word of mouth and referrals. Generally, he only takes jobs he knows are solid from clients who won’t end up fucking him over.

But then you introduce the most powerful drug in the world—pussy. That’s why we’re in this situation.

I pull out my phone and call Magnolia. She doesn’t answer until the fourth ring.

“This better be important.”

“You think I’d fucking bother you if it wasn’t?”

“I’ll hang up if you cop an attitude with me, Saxon.”

Magnolia knows me by my alias, and she knows what I do. Shows just how bold she is that she doesn’t care. Or maybe she just knows I won’t take out a woman.

She’s right. I have lines I won’t cross, and that’s one of them.

“You hear from him?” I don’t have to tell her who I’m talking about.

“Not since he said he was going dark.”

“You get any other information on what we’re dealing with? There’s gotta be a good fucking reason he wouldn’t deliver on time.”

She goes quiet on the other end of the line.

“You better tell me every goddamned thing you know right now, Magnolia.”

“It’s bad. Real bad.” Her voice is a whisper. For a woman who’s seen what Magnolia Maison has seen—and done what she’s done—to say something’s real bad, it has to be really fucking bad.

“Tell me.”

“I didn’t know.” She sounds like she’s choking it out.

“Fucking tell me.”

“They’re running human cargo.” Shame drips from her words as my blood turns to ice.

“Fuck.” I rise from my chair and grip the back of my neck with my free hand. “Tell me you’re fucking kidding me.”

“I wish I could. I didn’t know. I would never have hooked him up with the job if I’d known. You know—”

“I don’t know shit, woman. You sell pussy. Why the fuck should I think you’d stop short of human trafficking?”

There are some people I truly fucking hate in this world, and one category would be human traffickers. Scum of the earth, and every single one of them deserves the fate they subject others to.

“I didn’t know! I would never. You have to believe me. I’ve been sold. I wouldn’t do that to someone I hate, let alone someone I’ve never met. Please, Saxon. You have to help me fix this.”

I tilt my head back to stare at the beams above me. “This is fucked, and you know it. Ransom wasn’t gonna smuggle people. You set him up for this. Was that the plan? Did you want him dead?”

“No! I love him!”

“Jesus fucking Christ. Like I believe you.”

“Then don’t believe me. Just find him before they do.”

I almost tell her that the people she hooked him up with are already paying me a half million to bring him in dead or alive, but I don’t. Magnolia can’t be trusted. She’s proven that.

Instead, I say, “Call me if you find out anything at all. You understand me?”

“Only if you do the same.”

“Agreed.” I hang up the phone with the lie still hanging in the air, knowing I’ll have to deal with her sooner or later, but I can always hope for later.

Because right now, this entire fucking game has changed. Magnolia set Ransom up to traffic human cargo, and that explains why they want him dead.

He didn’t deliver. He won’t be delivering. Knowing Ransom, he’s already let every single one of those poor fucks go with cash in hand to make their own way in the world.

And in doing it, he left himself and his sister wide open.

I glance up at the monitor to the left and fix my gaze on the spill of dark hair on the pillow as Temperance curls toward my side of the bed.

How the hell am I going to climb between those sheets and breathe in the sweet scent of her skin and be able to fall sleep, knowing she’ll never be safe until I put them all in the ground?

I can’t.

I need a plan.

Neither she nor Ransom will ever breathe easy while a single person involved in this mess lives to order them dead.

I can’t believe Ransom would run now, though. He has to know they’ll come for her if he does. He might have questionable morals, but he’s not a complete piece of shit. The fact that he wouldn’t deliver human cargo is proof enough of that. There’s no way he’d let his sister pay for his mistake.

No, he knows I’m covering his ass. We made a deal a long fucking time ago. If anything ever happened to me, he’d cover my mom, and if anything ever happened to him, I’d watch over his sister.

Well, Ransom, I’m watching over her. I just didn’t plan on getting hooked on her.

I never should have touched her at the club. As soon as she walked through the door, I knew it was some kind of setup, but watching the unholy temptation that was Temperance Ransom made me not give a shit. I was willing to take the risk because I can handle whatever anyone throws at me. Now, if I had to put money on who set it up, I know exactly where I’d put it.

On Magnolia.

One more reason I don’t trust her. She always has a hidden motive, and now I’m starting to see it. She wanted me with Temperance because she knew I’d move heaven and hell to save her brother.

After a few more moments of watching Temperance sleep, I tear my gaze away from the monitor. I have more work to do before the sun rises.