Dwayne shoved Yellows off him, but the smaller man was quicker. With one swift motion, Yellows yanked him off the wall and flipped him onto his back. Before Dwayne could catch his breath, Yellows straddled his chest, pinning him down with the full weight of his body. The pressure squeezed the air out of Dwayne's lungs, making it harder to breathe as Yellows rained down punches, each blow landing faster than Dwayne could react.
"No!" McKenzie screamed as she tried to pull Yellows off of him.
Dwayne tried to block the blows, with his arms, but every movement made the pressure on his chest worse. His vision began to blur at the edges, the blackness creeping in as his lungs screamed for air.
"Yellows! Stop! He doesn't know where Jazzy is! Please, let him go!" McKenzie pleaded.
Yellows landed one more blow to Dwayne's cheek before standing up and moving to McKenzie's side. Dwayne's chest burned, the pain in his face flared with each breath, which felt like he was dragging in shards of glass.
"I don't want him here, Kitten," Yellows snapped, his thin lips pressed in a line.
McKenzie's eyes went wide. "What happened wasn't his fault!"
"Where was he when this happened?"
"In the room with me."
Yellows stroked the side of McKenzie's face as he looked into her eyes. Dwayne knew that look. He had given it to McKenzie many times. Yellows was in love with her.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
"Kitten," he said gently. "I've always said that you were too naïve. If he was in the same house as his sister when this took place he knows something."
Yellows shot daggers at Dwayne as he slowly rose to his feet.
Dwayne cleared his throat before he spoke. "When Richard and I took Zee and Jazzy to the ranch, I asked my sister, who's a doctor, to come help them, because I didn't think the hospital would've been safe. Zee was out for three days, and those days I sat next to her while my sister took care of Jazzy. I was just as shocked as Zee to find out Olivia had sent Jazzy away."
Yellows laughed cynically. "What a load of bullshit. You really expect me to believe that?"
"Whether you choose to believe it or not, that's what happened." Dwayne glared at Yellows.
Yellows turned to McKenzie. "And where is Olivia, now? Whether she wants to or not she's going to tell me where Jazzy is."
"Alejandro has her. We received a video about twenty minutes ago. She's badly injured."
Yellows' jaw tightened. "Good! That'll teach her to meddle in other people's affairs."
Dwayne's blood boiled, his voice sounded strangled as he spoke, "You bastard! Are you fucking kidding me? That's my sister!"
"That bitch sent Jazzy away, she deserves everything that's happened to her and more!"
Yellows stepped menacingly toward Dwayne and McKenzie squeezed herself between them, her breasts pressed to Yellow's chest.
Dwayne, look at her posture. She's facing him. You'd better read the signs before it's too late.
Dwayne's fists clenched and unclenched at his side. As much as he wanted to beat the shit out of Yellows he couldn't lose it, not here and not now. With the snap of a finger, he knew that Yellows' men would come in and defend him, no questions asked, leaving Olivia in Alejandro's hands. He couldn't allow that to happen.
With a smirk on his face, Yellows stepped away from Dwayne, and wrapped his arm around McKenzie pulling her closer to him.
Dwayne's insides crawled with hate as he watched one hand of Yellows' hand move to McKenzie's ass while the fingers of his other hand lingered under the straps of her top.
"I'll get my men to start looking for Jazzy. God alone knows what Alejandro would do if he found her first just to hurt you."
"And what about Olivia?" she asked shakily.
"She isn't my problem." Yellows' eyes narrowed as he gazed at Dwayne. "You have ten minutes to gather whatever shit you have and leave."
Yellows removed his hands from McKenzie, glared at Dwayne one last time, then exited the room.
"I'll talk to him," McKenzie said quietly and followed Yellows.
Dwayne sighed heavily.
What the fuck just happened?
As he tried to process everything, a notification came in and he went to check it.
Kitten,
I'm going to patch you through on a video call with Richard.
The laptop buzzed as it called Richard's phone.
A brief wave of confusion crossed Richard's face as he answered, "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me. Can you talk now?"
Richard looked as though he was in some sort of locker room.
"Yeah, I just finished my shift. Why are you calling from a private number? Where's your phone? I tried calling you earlier." Richard paused.
Dwayne's tone darkened. "Richard, we've got a problem."
Richard took a closer look at Dwayne's face. "What the fuck, Dwayne. Who did you piss off?"
He quickly explained everything that had happened at the ranch after McKenzie woke up to what just happened in the room.
Dwayne watched as Richard's facial expressions went from shocked, to hurt to outrage.
Richard slammed his fist into the locker closest to him, his eyes ablaze. "That son of a bitch. No way he's going to get away with this!"
"Richard, I'm sorry that I dragged your friends into this."
Richard's jaw clenched. "They understood how dangerous the assignment was. Trust and believe that they fought till their last breath, I'm sure taking a few bastards with them along the way."
"A few officers will need to head down to the ranch to see if they left any clues. Maybe the rest of the men are still tied up somewhere on the property." A hint of hope echoed in Dwayne's voice.
Richard nodded. "And you, get the fuck outta there."
"But, I can't leave Zee here!"
Richard's jaw twitched. "Dwayne, did she move his hands when they were all over her?"
Dwayne shifted uncomfortably in his seat. McKenzie did say that they were fuck buddies but he thought she had just said that to get under his skin, guess he was wrong.
"No."
"She's an adult. She wants to be there. Let them search for Jazzy, you have to find your sister." Richard paused for a few moments, his forehead creased before he spoke again. "I know I said I supported you with this whole McKenzie thing, but I think that after you find your sister, the both of you need to distance yourself from McKenzie. Get out of the country if you have to."
Dwayne knew that Richard may have a point but was he ready to lose McKenzie again? He needed to focus on finding his sister but then he'd focus on McKenzie and Jasmine. He vowed to free them from whatever web McKenzie had herself entangled in.
"Do you have a gun at home or access to a gun?" Richard's voice cut into his thoughts.
"What the fuck will I be doing with a gun? I'm a lawyer."
Richard raised his eyebrow. "Bruh, have you seen your face? You need a gun more than I do. You've entered a war zone and you'll need to protect yourself, from Alejandro…and Yellows if necessary."
"Let me guess. You have access to a gun that's not your work firearm?" Dwayne chuckled grimly.
"I've got access to quite a few." Richard's tone was serious. "Find a pencil and piece of paper. I'll give you the address, the combination, and the password to my P.O. Box in town."
As Dwayne dug through the drawers of the desk, looking for a piece of paper and a pencil, he came across a small, pink picture album.
Curious, he pulled it from the drawer and flipped through it. One picture caught his eye; birthday balloons hung in the background with the number twenty on them as a younger version of McKenzie stood smiling, holding a little girl, about two years old, with a mahogany complexion and black tight curls.
That wasn't Jasmine.
Dwayne felt as though all the air from his lungs had been held ransom.
Was that his daughter?