Page 19 of Raw & Reckless

We draw our sidearms, moving with synchronized, predatory precision. We sweep through the side entrance while the rest of the club spreads out like a net around the perimeter, ready to drop the hammer if things go south.

Inside the cavernous, echoing shell of the warehouse, to my absolute shock, there’s no tactical team. It’s just Agent Davis and Layla.

The agent is standing out in the open near the sedan, while Layla is locked inside the backseat. My chest twists violently at the sight. I hate that for her. I know she’s spent her entire life trapped in a gilded cage, and now her own brother has literally shoved her right back into a cell.

“Get away from her,” I command, leveling my weapon dead at his chest.

Agent Davis sneers, drawing his own service pistol and pointing it right back at me. “That’s my fuckin’ line, you lowlife thug.”

I grunt, my finger tightening on the trigger, ready to put a bullet through him, when a sudden movement catches my eye. I look back toward the car, frowning.

“You don’t want to shoot an officer of the law, do you?” Agent Davis challenges. “That wouldn’t look good for the investigation. And trust me, after the shit I’ve found, there will be a more thorough, detailed investigation by my colleagues. In fact, they should be here in a few minutes. Your move.” He smirks wickedly, like he has them exactly where he wants them.

I continue staring into the car, but Layla is gone.

My brow furrows deep in confusion, a detail that clearly catches Agent Davis off guard, too. He glances back over his shoulder, realizing the backseat is empty.

A second later, Layla pops up from inside the front of the car. She had crawled over the console, picking the lock on the old sedan from the inside. Moving with the element of surprise and an absolute, terrifying grace, she reaches through the broken front partition, wrenches her brother’s spare sidearm right out of his shoulder holster, and catches him flat-footed.

I stare in absolute, breathless awe as Layla steps out of the car, keeping the gun trained squarely on her brother’s chest.

“Actually, Jeremy, it’s my move.”

She says it with her whole chest, her voice echoing off the concrete walls with a fierce, ringing authority. I couldn’t possibly be prouder of her if I tried.

Her brother goes entirely pale, staring at the barrel of the gun and then at his sister like she’s a total stranger. “Layla, what the hell are you doing? Put that down, you don’t know how to use it⁠—”

“Shut up, Jeremy,” she bites out, her hands surprisingly steady. “I am done listening to you. I am done being managed, hidden, and locked away. Your ‘protection’ was never about keeping me safe—it was a cage built entirely out of your own survivor’s guilt and pathetic need for control.”

Jeremy’s face cycles through a violent tornado of shock, denial, and pure fury. “After everything I sacrificed for you⁠—”

“Phoenix gives me true safety through freedom,” Layla interrupts, her indigo eyes flashing with a blinding light as she casts a quick, emotional glance in my direction. “I’ll choose him every single time.”

Stryker steps out of the shadows behind me, his voice cutting through the tension like a razor. “Here’s what’s going to happen,” he demands, addressing Agent Davis. “You’re going to call your dogs off and let us leave here, all of us, unharmed. You’re not going to call for backup, and you’re not going to breathe a word of this to any of your fucking colleagues.”

Agent Davis scoffs, spitting to the side. “And why the fuck would I agree to that?”

I take a hard step forward, the lethal enforcer in me taking over. “Because we’re not afraid to put a cop six feet under.”

“And,” Stryker continues smoothly, stepping up beside me, “we happened to run into a member of that mysterious international syndicate trying to kidnap your sister earlier today. The boys and I decided to ask him a few questions. Politely, of course. We’re willing to hand that scumbag over to you, giving you a massive leg up on the real threat instead of wasting your time trying to take down King’s Logistics.”

The agent’s eyes narrow, processing the trade. “In return, I just let you walk away?”

“Correct,” I answer, closing the distance between us until I’m standing right in his face. “We walk away, and you leave town. Forever.”

Agent Davis sputters, opening his mouth to argue, but I don't give him the chance. My hand lashes out like a striking viper, wrapping around his throat and squeezing hard.

“You’ll leave and never look back,” I snarl, my voice dropping to a terrifying, quiet register. “You’ll do it because you failed your sister. You didn’t keep her safe. You laid your hands on her. You wanted her to be small, obedient, and terrified of the world outside your miserable four-block radius.”

I flex my forearm, lifting the grown man up onto his tiptoes as his face rapidly flushes a dark, choking purple.

“And,” Layla chokes out, stepping closer, her voice ringing with ice-cold steel, “if that’s not enough reason to get the fuck out of town, then I will personally follow through on reporting your abuse. Not just last week, but today as well—taking me under duress and setting up this illegal trap. I’m sure your superiors will love reading that case file.”

I flash her a wide, fierce grin of pure adoration. “You heard her,” I growl at the agent, before violently releasing my grip and dropping him onto the concrete floor in a gasping, coughing heap.

Jeremy scrambles back, clutching his bruised neck and staring up at us with wide, broken eyes. “Layla… I know it’s too late now, but… I’m sorry.”

“You’re right,” she says coldly, lowering the gun just an inch. “It is way too late.”