“Don’t kill the messenger,” he says. “You remember me telling you about the information my contact dug up on her in the beginning? About how she went to juvenile detention to protect an older guy who was hacking with her? Well, he’s the guy. Erik Dolan. They’re back together and he’s with her right now. Her parents had a restraining order against him when it happened, so maybe they’ve secretly always been together. For years.”

And here I was stupidly thinking things couldn’t get any worse.

Like an idiot.

If Flint had kicked me in the stomach, it would have felt better. I honestly thought that nothing else about Lila could shock me and then boom.

One more big fucking surprise.

To find out after all the time we’ve spent together that I never really knew her at all is devastating.

“Give me the damn address,” I say.

“Why? So you can go in there with guns blazing and shoot people up? No way in hell. It’s for your own protection. I can’t let you run off to get yourself into the kind of trouble that even my legal expertise can’t get you out of.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t shoot anyone.”

I’m not sure I believe that any more than he does.

“Oh really?” he says with a doubtful look. “How would you feel if you burst in there and see Lila in bed with another man?”

My gut tightens another notch. Flint isn’t helping. The thought of Lila being with another man is killing me.

“You’re about a quarter inch from a murderous rage,” Flint continues. “It’s written all over your face. You’re mad as hell, and I don’t blame you. And you have every intention of doing him bodily harm the first chance you get. Don’t bother denying it.”

“I need to talk to Lila. Not him. I don’t give a shit about the guy. Lila and I have unfinished business that has to be dealt with. One way or the other, I’ll find her.”

“For the last time, I’m not giving it to you,” he says. “Jesse is rounding up a couple of the guys now. We’re going to ride down to Atlanta this afternoon and pay her a visit. Without you.”

Fear catches in my throat. If Jesse is planning on paying her a visit, it might not end well.

“What are you planning to do?” I ask.

“Use our persuasive skills to make her see our point of view,” he says with a shrug. “You know how this works. Threaten her and if that doesn’t work, threaten someone she loves. Everyone has a weakness that can be exploited if they care about someone else. In Lila’s case, the Achilles heel is her parents.”