“Did you see another body today?” Justice asks, one hand yanking his hair straight up.
“Of course not.” It can’t be her. It absolutely can’t be her. My hand trembles as I pull my phone from my pocket and dial. The call goes directly to Alana’s voice mail. I left her in bed early this morning. “It can’t be.”
Justice is already on the phone, calling our men.
No, this makes no sense. I know that she left her place and went to her cousin’s safely that morning. This is not her.
But as I look at the screen, I recognize that necklace.
It’s Alana’s.
Fire lights me from within. Then reality smacks me. I grab my phone and click to an app to see a pink blinking light. “She’s at Nico’s.” Yeah, I chipped her when she was sleeping after going too many rounds with Sokolov.
Justice exhales loudly. “You didn’t.”
“Yeah, I did.” Why in the world is he surprised?
My phone buzzes and everything settles inside me as I see that it’s her. My shoulders relax. “Hey, baby,” I answer. “I’m coming to get you.” I hear muffled sounds. “Alana?” I ask. Her voice comes through tinny, as if far away.
“I don’t understand, Nico,” she’s saying. “Where are we going?”
“Shut up or I’ll shoot you.” Nico’s voice is higher than normal.
The words come through way too clearly. Heat roars down my torso, warming the freezing crystals inside me. I click mute. Why would Nico be threatening her? “She’s in trouble with Nico. Where are our men?”
Justice looks up. “We have two teams outside his place.”
“Go in—take her now,” I say, already running toward the elevator, not liking where my thoughts are going. Nico has always been in the background, and much of the time I spent watching her, he was right there. But he’s family, so his constant presence made sense to me.
Justice and Kaz are on my heels. I turn and plant a hand on Kaz’s shoulder. “I need you here on the computers.”
“Got it.” He returns to his console as Justice and I ride the elevator. I’m running for the door before it opens and barrel outside to my armored SUV. “Get out.” I pull my driver out and jump inside. I don’t need anybody else on this. Justice barely makes it around the front and inside before I punch the gas.
He slams his door. “Jesus, hold on a minute.”
“No.” I can’t believe it. I’ve never felt fear like this. In fact, I’m not entirely sure I’ve felt fear since I was kidnapped as a kid. She has to be okay.
He reads the screen on his phone. “They’ve just breached the front door and they’re headed up to the penthouse.”
I lift my phone to my ear and try to listen. Everything’s muffled. This isn’t making any sense. Why would Nico want to hurt her? How is her necklace on the body of a dead girl? “Call Kaz. I want a deep dive, deeper than before, on Nico Beaumont.”
“I’m on it,” Justice says, barking orders to our team before giving instructions to Kazstone.
I listen. Her voice is muffled. “Nico, talk to me. Where are we going?”
Shit, does that mean they’re not in the penthouse? I strain to hear better.
“Trust me, I’ll get us out of here,” he says. Then there’s the sound of a running vehicle.
“He has her in a car,” I mutter.
Justice listens to his phone. “Our team breached the penthouse. Nobody’s there.”
“He got her out of there somehow. They’re in a vehicle. Look on the street,” I bark, my ears ringing. I am going to tear that asshole apart molecule by molecule. She’s in danger and I’m not there. I’m not entirely sure there’s a God, but I think about praying anyway. If there’s anybody who should be saved, it’s Alana.
I hear her cry out and it’s like fingernails shredding me from within.
“Damn it,” Nico swears. Something shuffles loudly and then a large crack echoes.
I can track the woman, but time isn’t on my side. Nico could hurt her, maybe even kill her, before I can get to them.
The phone goes dead.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Alana
“You have a hidden elevator in your penthouse?” I lean back against the seat, acutely aware that he’s tied my hands and put the seatbelt over me. I can’t move, and I’m still in shock that my cousin, my wonderful older cousin, has a gun pointed at me as he drives us rapidly away from safety.
“Of course I have a hidden elevator. Don’t you?”
“No,” I burst out. “I live a normal life.” Well, except for the secret computer room in the basement. Turns out Nico has one in his basement as well with a door to a private garage. We’re out in the street before anybody knows what’s happening. Okay, I want to throw up, so I draw in several deep breaths and look over at the man I thought I knew. The last nightmare finally opened the cracks in my memory. “I remember you.”
He glances at me. “I was worried about that when you said you were having nightmares again.”
“Why?” I cry out, struggling against the restraints. I can see his face and his hands in my memory now. He’s only fifteen years old, but he’s tall, and he’s gangly, and he’s fighting with my mother.
“I didn’t mean to throw her through the window.” He grips the steering wheel tightly. “I told her I loved her and that age didn’t matter. I tried to kiss her and she said no, and I don’t know what happened. I saw red.”
