44. Asher

I knewshe was gone as soon as I opened my eyes. There was an empty feeling in the bed and a stillness to the room that gave it away. My Ice Queen was gone. She thought she'd won this round and gotten away, hellbent on doing whatever she'd decided she had to without me.

I sprang out of bed, reaching for my phone immediately. I unlocked it and called Marcus. Luckily, I had service.

He answered on the first ring. "So, did you guys make up? Did she spill her secrets?"

"No, she slipped out when I was sleeping" I headed to the kitchen. A note and the necklace with the ring on it caught my eyes. I stared at it, my heart beating hard.

"Well done. You suck at this," Marcus quipped.

"She wasn't going to tell me anything. It doesn't matter. We're going after her. She doesn't need to tell me. I'll see for myself."

"Yes, but where are we going? Marcus asked.

"We'll follow her tracker on her phone." I'd already checked it. "She's heading upstate."

Marcus considered my words. "If only we could find out about Trent from someone else. Maybe Winter's dad? Though, I don't know if he knows anything."

A thought hit me. Of course, why hadn't I fucking thought of it before?

"Cole. We need to see your brother." I told Marcus.

"You think just because my brother is in a motorcycle club he'd know about a shady fucker like Trent?" Marcus scoffed.

"Yes," I deadpanned as I looked for my keys.

Marcus chuckled. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'll call him," Marcus said quickly.

The keys were nowhere to be found, and since there were no windows broken, Winter had left with the spare. "Then you need to come and get me. Winter swiped my keys."

Marcus whistled. "She really doesn't want you coming after her."

I took a deep breath and tried to calm my raging heart. "Too fucking bad." I ended the call, then got dressed, grabbed my stuff, and tried the door.

Locked. Of course it was locked. I would have laughed if I didn't want to spank her stubborn ass so badly.

Instead, I turned to the window. Prying the damn nails out would take too long.

I picked up a chair from the table and set the legs against the thin pane of glass. With a growl, I drove it forward, busting the entire window out of its frame. The glass shattered in a million pieces around the kitchen and underneath the frame. I climbed over the shards and ducked out of the hole, dropping to the ground outside.

I'd told Winter she wasn't alone anymore, and that wasn't a promise I was going to let anyone break.

Not even her.

An hour later, I was with Marcus at The Clutch. Cole looked like he'd slept there. He was listening to Marcus ramble on about Winter.

"Sounds like she's mixed up in Cove business."

"Cove?"

"The Cove, a rather misleading name for a place that deals in drugs, gambling, and flesh. Call it what you will, it ticks all boxes. Illegal gambling den, a place to buy whatever drug tickles your fancy, and a place to sample whatever kind of pussy you might have a hankering for, free from judgment. Hell, you don't even need to want to fuck the wares…maybe you get off on some other dark shit. You can do all that and more at The Cove." Cole waved his hand in a semicircle, mirroring some jackass selling time-shares in the Bahamas, his words at odds with his bright smile.

Cole eyed me disapprovingly and dropped the act. "Let's get this straight, Martino, if you let some guy take your girl up to that hellhole, you'll probably never see her again — not in one piece, anyway."

His words knocked the air from my chest. "Let is a strong word," I ground out. "This is the first I'm hearing about the place."

Cole shrugged. "The question is, what are you going to do there? You can't go running in, hockey sticks at the ready, and save the day. That's a serious moneymaking operation, and they are armed to the teeth. We had a lot of tension with them a little while back, when I decided that the whole thing was too fucking depressing to be involved with. Duncan Fitzgerald didn't like that."

"So come with us, then," Marcus suggested. "It can be a brother-bonding trip."

Cole chuckled. "I don't start trouble for other people." He scratched his stubble and considered. "Though, they do fuck with our business from time to time and bring extra scrutiny down on us. Being rid of them would be useful."

"You said they keep unwilling women there. Isn't that fact alone enough to make you help?" I growled out.

Cole's dark eyes flashed with warning. "I'm not the fucking cops, Martino. I'm no caped crusader. I can't save anyone but myself."

"So, you won't even try?" I pushed, aware I was treading on dangerous ground but unable to stop myself.

He stared at me for a long time, fire burning in his lethal eyes. Finally, he tilted his head to the side and nodded.

"Your friend has guts, Marcus. I like him. Fine. I have nothing to do today but go and pick a fucking fight. It's been a slow week." He pushed himself up and stretched. He spoke over his shoulder to one of the bikers lurking in the booth behind him. "Call the boys. Let's go and have some fun."