“Surprise!” Hope sings, and Ellie’s eyes go to her then move back to me as she shakes her head. “Aren’t they cute, Mama?”
“Very cute, Angel,” Ellie replies as I feel something warm soak the front of my tee. Looking down, I groan while Ellie and Hope both laugh. Setting the puppy down on the floor, I rip my now soaked shirt over my head then smirk when Ellie’s gaze drops to my abs.
“I gotta go shower, and head out to meet my uncle and Wes,” I say, watching her face change. “Everything’s okay,” I assure her, reading her face, reaching out and running my fingers over hers. “When I get home, we’ll talk.”
Nodding, she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth before saying, “Okay, when you get home.”
“I’ll be back down in a second,” I rush out, jogging up the stairs and hopping into the shower quickly. When I make it back downstairs, I find both Hope and Ellie in the living room, sitting on the floor, playing with Chocolate Chip and Pancake, both of them with smiles on their faces.
“I’ll be back,” I say, walking into the room and crouching down, kissing Ellie then leaning over and pressing a kiss to the top of Hope’s head.
“What do you want to do for dinner?” Ellie asks, and fuck me if that simple-ass question doesn’t do something to me.
“Whatever you want, baby. If you don’t feel like cooking, I’ll cook when I get home, or we can go out to eat.”
“I’d like to eat something that tastes good, and no offense, but the only thing you make with flavor is pancakes,” she says, making me smile.
“You don’t like chicken breasts and steamed vegetables?”
“If you add butter and mashed potatoes with gravy to that then yes,” she retorts.
“So do you want to cook?”
“I’ll cook, and then unwrap you a bar or something,” she says with a grin patting my abs.
Shaking my head I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and pull her toward me kissing her, saying, “I’ll eat whatever you cook, babe.” Then I stand, saying goodbye to Hope before leaving the house and heading out to my truck.
*
“So what do you got?” I ask, taking a seat next to Uncle Nico, Sage and Tallon in one of the metal folding chairs around a large table in the middle of the compound’s open court. Taking in the other men at the table, I notice Z, Mic, Everett, Harlen, and Wes all have the same look on their faces.
“You know we’ve been keeping our ears to the ground, and there’s always a lot of chatter, most of it never panning out. But last night, Everett made contact with a source online. This person told him they had a lead about our guy, and then they sent over a name. When we did a simple search online, we were able to pull up a picture of a Yury Letov,” Wes says, and Mic slides a piece of paper across the table with the mug shot of a guy on the front of it toward me.
“He was in Tennessee when July was kidnapped, but has since disappeared,” Mic adds as my uncle picks up his phone and starts to send someone a message.
“I haven’t showed July this picture yet. I know that’s going to be the quickest way to find out if this is the guy, but I hate pulling this shit back up when she’s finally starting to relax,” Wes says, and I know exactly what he’s saying. Ellie’s not jumpy anymore. I don’t see the constant worry in her gaze, but I know I don’t have a choice in this matter. I have to show her.
“Fuck,” I growl, ripping my hat off and running my hand over my head then down my face. “I don’t want to have to show Ellie this, but I know if she finds out I kept it from her, she’s going to be pissed, especially when she wants to help.”
“Do you want me with you when you show her?” my uncle asks, and I shake my head.
“No, I won’t show her until after Hope goes to bed. I’ll send you a message when I get her answer.”
“I’ll talk to July tonight too,” Wes says, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest.
“If this is the guy, it will be a lot easier to find him with a name attached to his face,” Tallon says, looking down at the picture.
“But this isn’t the guy who purchased Ellie,” I remind them, and Wes’s jaw goes hard.
“If we find him, he may know who the buyer was.” Mic adds.
“I still can’t believe some sick fuck is buying virgins,” Z grumbles from across the table.
“You and me both,” I growl, hoping like fuck that we catch this guy before any more women are taken. There is still no lead on the woman whose family contacted us when she was taken weeks ago. The only thing we know is she was meeting a guy she met online for dinner. The day she disappeared, so did her profile, along with the profile of the man she was meeting and their online conversations. It was like it never happened.
“We’re going to catch these guys. They will fuck up, and that’s when we’ll shut them down,” my uncle says, standing then looking at Wes and me. “Let me know what the girls say, and we’ll figure out the next step after that.”
“Will do.” I nod, watching him walk off, followed by Tallon, then I stand as well. “I’ll call after I talk to Ellie,” I say, watching Wes grind his jaw and lift his chin before getting chin lifts from the rest of the guys and leaving.
“You wanna talk to me about what went down with Ellie’s coworker?” I ask my cousin Sage, leaning back against my truck outside of the Broken Eagle’s Bike Shop.
“There’s nothing going on. We hooked up; she’s whacked; I told her to stay away; end of story.”
“She told Ellie she has a twin, and she’s the one who did what she did.”
“Heard that. Don’t buy it.” He shrugs, but I see something in his eyes that says he’s lying, or at the least that he doesn’t know what to believe.
“Have you ran a check on her?” I ask him softly, crossing my arms over my chest, watching his eyes go hard.
“Have I ever gotten involved in any of your relationships?” he asks, pointing a finger at me then growling “Fuck no, I haven’t. So drop it.”
“This isn’t about that and you know it. I’ve met Kim. She seemed nice, and definitely didn’t look like the kind of girl who would drug someone she was interested in.”
“I love you like a brother, but I’m telling you to stay the fuck out of it.”
“Run a check,” I say, watching his eyes flash.
“I ran a check; she’s an only child. So like I said, leave it the fuck alone,” he growls, storming off toward his car.
Watching him go, I shake my head, opening the door for my truck then pausing before getting in and looking in his direction. “Whenever you get your head outta your ass, I’m here,” I yell at his back, watching his shoulders sag before I hop into the cab, start up my truck, and take off toward home, where I know Ellie and Hope are waiting for me.
Chapter 10
Ellie
Sitting cross-legged on Jax’s bed, I stare down at the picture in my hands, feeling something ugly creep over me. Even though I remember the night July and I escaped from the house we were taken to, and even though I can still recall every single scary moment, I could never fully remember the faces of the men who had taken me. But now, looking at the picture in my hand, memories begin to flood back, more detailed than they ever were before.