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“I—” Smythe scraped a hand over his longish dark hair, his narrow face anxious. “The primus cleared me to be here. I’m taking over some of Adrian’s duties while he’s on the mainland. I—”
His words tasted of truth.
“All right,” I interrupted. “Any updates? Has Adrian found her?”
“No, sir. Sorry, sir. Adrian says that…” He kept talking, but I listened with only half an ear. The bottom line was that Eden was still missing and we had no clue as to her whereabouts.
Brien and Cain entered the war room in time to hear Smythe’s report. Brien took me by the shoulder, waiting until I met his eyes.
“You have to have faith, bro. We’ll find her, I promise.”
“Yeah,” I said and even managed a thanks, even though we both knew he couldn’t promise that.
We filed into Cain’s office and waited while he contacted the island’s chief of police to see if there was any news. Cain put the chief on speaker phone, and I forced myself to pay attention as he ran down what the islanders learned that day, which again, was nothing helpful.
Whoever had kidnapped Eden knew what they were doing. But then, I’d already surmised that.
The phone call over, Brien propped a hip against his desk and looked at us. Cain was already on his feet, and I hadn’t sat in the first place, choosing instead to hover near Cain as he spoke to the chief.
During the conversation, though, I’d come to a decision. I’d talk things over with Cain first, see what he thought. Then, if he agreed, I’d go to Brien.
“She’ll turn up,” Brien said now. “They’ll make a mistake, and we’ll have them.”
I grunted, Eden’s video burning in my brain, uneasily aware I was lying to my primus by omission.
“You’re sure your mom hasn’t seen Esposito?” Cain asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I asked her flat out when she arrived to help search, and she swore she hadn’t.”
In fact, she’d broken down crying when I’d threatened to cut her off permanently from her grandson. She’d even offered to call Esposito in front of me to prove he wasn’t involved. When he hadn’t answered, she’d stubbornly insisted he’d call her back. “And then you’ll see,” she’d told me.
I’d left her then, because if I hadn’t, I might have done something I regretted.
“All right.” Brien opened Cain’s door. “I’ll be in my office. Keep me updated.”
“Will do,” said Cain.
Hanging back, I caught Cain’s eyes and jerked my head in the direction of my own office, letting him know I wanted to talk privately. I didn’t know Smythe well, and Nathan was now in the war room next to him. Until Eden was safely back in the castle, I wasn’t trusting anyone but Cain with that video.
As soon as I was safely in my office behind a closed door, I scribbled a note to Cain and waited for him to come to me.
Five minutes passed, five minutes that felt like an eternity, while I stared at what I’d written, paralyzed by uncertainty. Was I doing the right thing, bringing another person into this?
If I fucked up, Eden was dead. They’d either kill her outright or leave her to starve to death in whatever dark place they’d concealed her in. That’s if they didn’t sell her and the baby as blood slaves.
I even toyed with the idea of kidnapping Twilight. So what if Brien staked me when he found out? At least Eden and the baby would live.
The door opened and Cain stuck his head inside. “You free?”
At my nod, he closed the door and took the chair across from me.
With a heavy sigh I pushed the note across my desk. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe the bitch ran again.” They’d expect me to say something like that, and for all I knew, my office could be bugged. At this point, I trusted no one except Cain, Brien and possibly Twilight.
Cain scanned the note and slid it into his pocket, frowning. I’d told him that Eden had been kidnapped, that the kidnappers wanted Twilight in exchange.
“I told you she couldn’t be trusted.” The words were contemptuous, but his steady gaze told me he was playing along.
“Yeah.”
