Chapter 44

Devon couldn’t believe he’d missed that woman. Now, he seriously needed to get her. Maybe he would just send her information to the guy who wanted her instead of delivering her. That wouldn’t work. The money was contingent on him bringing her to the guy. He didn’t want to be implicated in her disappearance. He understood. The guy didn’t want to get his hands dirty, and Devon loved getting deep in the weeds of their work.

Back before Nichole ruined everything, he’d loved doing wet work for his father. It was fun to hurt people. He’d been responsible for more than one death, and every time he did a hit, he found a level of satisfaction he’d never thought existed.

He’d expected to feel that in Chicago, but his entire trip had been a fucking waste. Disaster didn’t even come close to how bad it had been. He was lucky he hadn’t been arrested. The dog shit had been enough to make him want to kill someone. Public transportation had been the worst. If that hadn’t been a cop on the train, he might have just punched the jerk in the face.

It would feel good to take someone out. Maybe one of the other organizations needed some work. But those groups tended to stick to their own guys. No one would trust him to take out one of their enemies. He would just have to find something to do on his own.

His legitimate business was at risk of failing, his father’s contacts didn’t trust him, and finding new contacts was difficult. Times were changing, and criminal activity wasn’t as easy to hide.

Maybe he should pack it in and give up. He didn’t have the resources he needed. His father was useless in prison. The men who his father had helped out over the years had abandoned him. Whatever he’d thought he could build wasn’t there.

He couldn’t give up without one last fight. He wanted to ruin Nichole’s life like she’d ruined his. Selling her to some guy who would spend years breaking her would be enough of a grand slam that he could retire.

Finding her was a top priority. She wasn’t in Chicago, but where had she gone? He would take the next week and search social media for mention of her. If that didn’t work, he didn’t know what he would do, but he would find a way to find her.

She couldn’t hide from him forever. Eventually, she would screw up, and then he would have her. He just hoped the offer for money was still there when he finally had her. Killing her would be satisfying, but it wouldn’t get him the millions he needed to walk away from business. Finding her had to pay off because he didn’t have that many options left.