With that mental reminder, I scroll down my contact list until I land on the name Easton Decker, then press the green connect button. The phone rings several times, and just as I begin to fear I’m going to get his voicemail, I hear his voice.

“Hey, Raze. I’m sorry I haven’t called. Things have been kinda crazy around here, some family stuff, and I . . . uh, I just haven’t gotten a chance to get the funds together.” He rambles on nervously, not letting me get a word in, and it’s then I remember he’s unaware that his friend, Emerson, exchanged Blake for his gambling debts. He thinks I’m contacting him about the money.

In my hastiness to put this ridiculous plan in motion, I failed to realize they don’t even know I have the girl they’re looking for. This conversation is going to go a little differently than I planned.

“Easton, I’m not calling about that,” I reply gruffly, careful to keep my intimidation factor at play. Him thinking he still owes me a bunch of money, I can definitely use in my favor. “I have a different matter I need your help with, and if you do what I need you to do, without asking questions, I’ll consider calling us even.”

The line goes quiet as I imagine he’s contemplating all of the illegal acts I could possibly ask him to carry out. “I’ll even tell you what it is before you agree,” I offer, holding back a chuckle.

“Okay,” he responds immediately.

“I need your brother to call me on this number from a secure line.”

Another moment of silence. “Madden? Why? What’s going on?”

“I told you no questions, and the first thing you did was spout off three in a row,” I snarl into the receiver. This guy wouldn’t make it a week in my life without his mouth getting him killed.

“Yeah, uh, okay. I can do that. When? In the morning?”

“Tonight. As soon as possible.”

I hear keys jingle in the background and a door close. “Leaving for his place now. I can be there in about fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Disconnecting the call, I exhale the deep, anxious breath I held throughout the entire conversation then begin counting the minutes.

“HOLY SHIT, MADDEN! WHAT THE fuck is going on?” My eyes snap open when I hear my brother’s voice shouting from the doorway of the master bathroom. “Are you okay?”

His head swivels back and forth between where I’m lying face down on the floor next to the toilet and a still naked, blindfolded Emerson handcuffed to my bed. One minute, she’s screaming how much she hates me and wants to chop by balls off, and then the next, she’s crying about how sorry she is and begging me to forgive her because she loves me so much. I have no clue why he’s here or how long I’ve been in this position. After I threw up, everything started spinning and I thought my heart was literally going to explode out of my chest, so I closed my eyes. And now, somehow Easton is here.

His name flashes red in my mind as Emerson’s words from earlier reverberate in my ears. ‘I don’t know what the Russians did with her, and I really don’t care.’

With a surge of manic energy, I leap to my feet and charge Easton at full force. Catching him completely off-guard, his eyes bulge and jaw drops to say something, but he doesn’t get a sound out before I full-body tackle him onto the ground and begin swinging my furious fists.

“You. Fucking. Piece. Of. Shit. You. Promised. Me.” With each word, I throw a punch to his face, and despite his efforts to defend himself, I land several good blows before he manages to knee me in the gut and shove me off of him. The brutal force from his jab slices through the adrenaline, and all of the pain from my encounter with Tony earlier in the week returns tenfold. Afraid I’m going to pass out, I stumble to the sink and grab hold of the countertop, struggling to catch my breath.

Wiping at the blood streaming from his nose and mouth with his forearm, he staggers to his feet, a combination of confusion and annoyance radiating from him. “What the fuck is your problem, Madden? What happened? And why is she here?” He glances back toward the bedroom, where Emerson has now grown quiet, listening to the scuffle between us.

“She told me!” I roar, squeezing my eyes shut to block out the unbearable agony. “She told me everything!”

He stomps over next to me and slams his hands down on the vanity so hard the mirror shakes. “She told you what exactly?” he seethes.

Prying my lids open slightly, I glower at his reflection, unable to even turn to look at him. “About the Russians, Easton. You don’t have to play stupid anymore,” I spit. “You turned in the woman I love to the goddamn fucking Russians. And I swear to God, if you don’t get her back to me in one fucking piece, I will kill you with my bare hands.”

All of the color drains from his face as alarm glazes over his shocked expression.

“Don’t act so surprised. You had to know Emerson wouldn’t keep her fucking mouth shut. The second I got her naked in my bed, she couldn’t wait to tell me of y’all’s little secrets,” I hiss, my body trembling with pure hate.

“Madden, listen to me right fucking now.” His voice drops several octaves lower than normal as he grabs my shoulders and forces me to look him directly in the eye. “I don’t know what in the hell she told you, but I swear to God, on our parents’ lives: I had nothing to do with Blake’s disappearance. Absolutely fucking nothing!”

He pauses a few seconds to allow his words to sink in then continues, “The reason I’m even here at your house is because I got a phone call tonight from Raze, Kabinov’s grandson. I thought he was calling about the money I owed, because with everything that’s happened this week, I haven’t even thought to touch base with him, but that wasn’t it . . .”

“Raze? Are you fucking kidding me, Easton?” I almost have to laugh at the absurdness of my life. “You got involved with a Russian mobster named Raze? And no alarms went off in that fucking thick skull of yours that maybe, just fucking maybe, that wasn’t a good idea?”

Scrubbing his hands over his face, my younger brother blows out an exasperated sigh and mumbles, “I know. I know. I’m a dumbass, but it all makes sense now.”

“What?!” I snap. “What makes sense? What are you talking about?”

“H-he wanted me to have you call him. On an untraceable line. Said it was urgent.”

Sharp, shooting pains in my chest steal my breath yet again as I try to process all of the information. “Why? What? That’s all he said?”

“Yeah,” he nods, extracting his phone from his back pocket and bringing it to life, “he called at nine-forty-two. Look. Right here.” I drop my gaze down to the call history screen and confirm he received a call from a Raze K. at the time he claims. “I don’t know why. He wouldn’t answer any questions, but obviously, when he told me to have you call him, I assumed it had something to do with Blake. I just . . . I just didn’t know the hows or whys or anything about Emerson. I jumped straight in my car and flew over here then let myself in with my key after you didn’t answer the door or your phone. Only to find her like that, and you nearly comatose on the floor in here.”

I want to believe him. God, I want to believe him so badly. I look into his eyes for any indication of him not telling the truth. He’s my brother. My own flesh and blood. But I don’t know who to trust anymore. It feels like the entire universe is working against me.

“Madden?” Easton pulls the guy’s contact information up on his cell and hands it over to me. “You knew you were going to need that extra line I dropped off yesterday. Now it’s time to use it. Let’s get your girl back, and we’ll deal with Emerson and prove my innocence later. Time is of the essence with these people.”

I accept the rectangular device and tip my chin toward the door. “Let me grab it from the safe, and we’ll go to another room to make the call. I don’t want her to hear any of this.”