Page 10 of Craving Vengeance


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“Everything’s clean. Out of your name.”

“And the body?”

There was a stretch of silence and the sound of papers hastily being flipped through before Reggie spoke again. “Um, sir. There wasn’t a body. There were some… bits in the basement but no body.”

I bit back a growl to keep from letting Reggie know that there should have been a body. Ada didn’t seem like the person to deal with Owen and although I knew Chester had his nose deep in our business, he didn’t like getting his hands dirty if he didn’t have to. Which meant that there was another unknown in this equation and I hated it. “What about everything else?” I asked,dismissing the body comment. If Reggie knew what was good for him, he wouldn’t push it.

“Everything’s been transferred. You don’t own any property in the US at the moment except for your grandmother’s house.”

“Nothing else?”

A few more papers were shuffled. “Not that I can tell. Well…”

“Spill it, Reggie.” I did not have time to be pulling information from this kid.

“The guy's sister? She’s in France right now. Seems she’s looking for her daughter.”

I leaned back against the counter, running a hand through my hair. A chuckle fell from my lips at the thought that their father had taken Tia away from Ada. With Reggie’s wording, it seemed that he didn’t know that Ada’s father had the little girl. “Do you know why?”

“No clue. Just what I hear. She’s been looking around their vacation house but seems no one is there. Wherever Tia is, she’s good and hidden. Oh! One more thing, there’s a few unknown numbers showing up on the newest phone you told me to monitor.”

“Yeah, I know.”Hawk International.

“Called like fifteen times just today. You didn’t know? You must have been screening the calls. Answer it. It’s Rhys’ father. No idea what he wants but it seems urgent and a quick background check shows that he’s clean.” Reggie sighed and then added. “He was moving south last I checked and now he’s off the grid. Whoever he’s working with is good.”

There wasn’t anything else to say so I hung up, mulling over the multiple unknowns we were dealing with. This one job meant to snatch a program for Owen had spiraled into something much darker, something we didn’t understand. I leaned out of the kitchen, watching as Rhys leaned into Gianni’sside as Dmitri grabbed our fourth’s legs and draped them over his lap.

How the fuck was I supposed to break his heartagain?

Still, it wasn’t my place to keep the information from him, which was why I made my way into the living room and crouched in front of him. Like a well-oiled machine, all three of them peeled their gazes from the TV and looked at me, waiting for me to speak. I placed a firm hand on Rhys’ thigh, his eyes growing with worry.

“Rhys, there’s no easy way to say this-”

His brows furrowed. “Then just say it. Nothing good will come from sugarcoating it.” He stuffed his hand into his pocket and my shoulders fell as I realized he was falling on his crutch again.

“I have some… additional information after making sure things were cleaned up back in the States. It seems that your father and mother took Tia.”

I let that sink in, several moments passing before Rhys sat up and leaned forward, searching my expression. Just from his reaction, I could tell that this was out of the norm for the Knight family. “Why?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out, sweetheart. We’re not sure where they are but we’re pretty sure they’re safe. However, your father has been calling you, repeatedly.”

Again, Rhys seemed confused. His silence worried me but I knew that he needed more time to process the shit that was continually being thrown at him. Gianni threw me a scowl and I knew I’d have to field my men off later when they raked me over the coals for delivering an additional bucket of heavy news to Rhys.

“Why is he calling me?”

“I don’t know, Rhys. Would you like to talk to him?”

Dmitri strung an arm around his shoulder and dragged him onto his lap, placing a gentle kiss on his temple. “We’ll be right here. Whatever happens.”

He shook his head, meeting my eyes. “I just… I thought I knew all of them, you know? Mom and Dad, Liam, Ada. They were predictable in their own ways like I was. And now, none of it adds up.” Rhys’ hand was still stuffed in his pockets, brows furrowed as he tried to work through the thoughts plaguing his mind. I wished I could take them from him the same way I had done with Dmitri and Gianni, but Rhys wouldn’t react well to violent stimuli.

He might have taken out his anger on Owen, his abuser, but I doubt that in the heat of the moment, Rhys would normally choose violence. It might actually make things worse.

“Talk to me, sweetheart. What would you like to do?”

“I want to know what’s going on.” Rhys’ voice was firm and confident this time. “Everything keeps happening and everywhere I turn, it’s one more person I can’t trust. Liam, I can’t trust him either?”

Just based on the texts Liam had sent and the pure gut feeling, I didn’t think anyone in that family should be trusted–including their father. We still didn’t know why he had taken Tia but I assumed it was to pull her away from Ada. Even so, I wouldn’t trust that man as far as I could throw him. “I don’t think so, sweetheart.”

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