MoonMy fingers shake with rage as I read the goddamn note again.I have your beautiful wife. There is no ransom. You’ll receive pieces as I see fit.Fernandez has Madison. Forget about how he got her, which is driving Alex, my enforcer and friend, crazy. Fernandez plans to torture Madison, bringing my worst nightmares to realization. I will not lose her, and that bastard will die painfully by my hands when I find him. If he wants to talk pieces, he has no idea that the pieces of his body won’t fill a plastic sandwich bag when I’m finished with him.Austin, my counterpart in Southern California, should have wiped Fernandez off the face of the earth when he threatened Melina, Austin’s woman. I don’t give a fuck that Fernandez is her brother. He’s a danger to us all and his vendetta against Austin has now landed on my doorstep and my wife is suffering the consequences.Holding back my fury, I pull in a calming breath even though I feel anything but. The knot in my stomach slowly expands
MadisonOne day ago…It had been a long, hassle-filled day and now worry is added to the mix. Cori didn’t show for her last appointment and I just got off the phone with the client. Cori never misses appointments and I’m getting worried because she’s also not answering her cell. I lift the phone again ready to call my security team, but I’m startled half out of my chair when it rings in my hand.“Hello?”Heavy breathing fills the line and I almost hang up. “Hello, Madison. Are you missing your friend yet?” I hear. The voice is low with a heavy Spanish accent.No one but Moon calls me Madison or they’d be eating my fist. “Who is this?” I demand while my fingers tighten on the phone.The maniacal laugh gives him away. I instantly know who I’m speaking with. My stomach clenches before he speaks again and my worry for Cori shoots through the roof. “We’re about to become very good friends, Madison. Now listen carefully… a car is waiting for you downstairs. You will leave your office, take
MadisonFrom Melina’s stories, Fernandez is obsessed with his appearance. She told me he showers and washes his hands constantly. He insists that each item of clothes he wears is starched and ironed. The gold chains he displays his wealth with are absent today, but his dark chest hair shows in the open vee at his throat surrounding the rolls of fat at his neck. Add his small, dark beady eyes and I want to puke.When I don’t immediately respond to his threat about removing my clothes, he waves the knife in front of my face to gain my attention. I glance down at my dripping wet skirt and blouse. The blouse and my bra are too sheer to offer cover now that they’re wet. Losing my clothes might make Fernandez think I’m more defenseless and he’ll be wrong. I’m more than willing to lose this small battle if it gives me a mental edge. I need to see Cori alive with my own eyes before I fight back.I pull the shirt over my head, which isn’t easy because it’s sticking to my skin. With perfect acc
MoonCurrent day…I stare at the men around the table. Since opening the box, my head has realigned and I’m thinking halfway clearly. Fire burns from my toes to the tips of my fingers. I flex those fingers now. This rage is worse than hunting for the men who killed my mother and father. It doesn’t matter that the finger inside the box didn’t belong to Madison. I need to unleash everything I’m feeling on Fernandez.He’s taken the one thing I value more than any other. The void inside me at having Madison in his hands is almost indescribable. It’s an absence of logical thought and an animalistic need to draw blood. I will kill anyone who stands in my way.Alex, who is barely holding onto his sanity, will look for someone to beat to death with his fists. It won’t need to be Fernandez, just one of his lackeys, and Alex will gain a semblance of control even if only temporarily. I’ll gladly hand him the first son of a bitch we find who can lead us to my wife and allow Alex to work his blood
MadisonI don’t sleep. Every time I’m almost out, Cori whimpers. It’s been roughly eight hours according to my internal clock since I was dumped into this room with her. She’s running a slight temperature and she threw up bile earlier. We’ve had no food or water and I had to bring Cori tap water from my hands and cajole her until she drank it. I’m lying on the scratchy mattress without benefit of a sheet. I grimace at the ceiling, which I can see clearly because the light above us never turns off. The damn switch by the door doesn’t work. If my only complaint was a scratchy mattress to sleep on and a bright light, I’d be in good shape.Another groan from Cori makes me roll over and face her. From the sound of her slow, shallow breathing, she’s asleep and I don’t plan to wake her. I stand up and walk to the metal cabinet, ignoring the blood on top again. I’ve already searched it but can’t stop myself from doing it again. Nothing is inside but a metal shelf. I would slam the damn door s
FernandezThe tick in my fucking eye stops for a split second and I slam my hand against the table. “If you know what’s good for you,” I say, looking at the two idiots in the room, “you’ll get some fucking answers to my questions.” Goose and Lucas stare at me like the dumbasses they are. I have no idea what kind of name Goose is, but all I cared about when I brought him on was his willingness to take on Moon’s organization. He also has no problem with killing women and seems to enjoy it. He looks like a Goose if that’s possible. Tall, thin, a pimply face, crackhead teeth, and a neck too damn long for his body. Lucas, on the other hand, packs on the pounds mostly around his fat midsection. His body odor is more than displeasing and he needs to brush his fucking teeth once in a while. Both men are scum and right now, I need scum.A bigger problem is that Lucas is not keen on killing women. I strangled the last whore after sharing her with both men and Lucas freaked out. I swear the fuck
MoonIt’s 3 in the morning, fourteen hours since Fernandez took Madison. I can’t sleep, but I can probably drum up the energy to knock Alex on his ass. He’s silently pacing the living room while I stare at my phone. Dax and his crew are on the streets hitting bars to test the wind and see if any information is floating around about someone wanting girls and those girls never returning. I should have thought of searching the prostitute route for Fernandez before Madison went missing. I snap my mind closed on the thought. Blaming myself won’t help find my wife.“Let’s go for a drive,” I tell Alex. I can’t sit still either. Usually I would be charging full steam ahead knowing the likelihood of someone kidnapped and returning alive was extremely low. The plan would be pure vengeance—find and destroy. But this is Madison and I cannot allow my mind to think that way or I’ll fall down a hole where I can’t return from. I’m living in a void where darkness fills every square inch.I can’t lose
MadisonI’ve barely shut my eyes, when the bedroom door opens. Cori is out for the count and doesn’t stir. Fernandez walks to my bed and kicks it. “Come with me,” he says abruptly.The two men from the car are with him. The driver heads to Cori and grabs her arms. She comes awake with a scream. The younger man begins unzipping his pants and Cori starts fighting. I strike out at Fernandez, miss, and receive a backhand to the face.“You can watch them fuck your friend another time. We’re finding some privacy.” I strike out with my feet again, but he dodges and slams his fist into the side of my head, making the room spin.“Fuck you,” I say with ringing ears. The knife pressed to my neck stops me from my next comment.“That’s what I have planned.” He pulls my arm and jerks me from the bed. Cori’s scream makes me look in her direction. The driver holds her arms while the younger guy positions himself on top of her with his pants shoved down. Fernandez holds the knife to my throat and drag