“Maddox…” She pauses, truly unsure what to say next.
It’s for the best. If she had continued talking, our conversation might have been overheard by Nero, a high-ranked servant in Nikolai’s crew. “Am I interrupting something?” he asks, his tone crammed with suspicion.
“No,” I reply before Agent Machini can. She’s a terrible liar. I’m not much better, but I’ve been known to play a trick or two the past five years. “What do you need?”
“Justine was spotted by a courier during a run. She’s being brought here now. Trey wanted me to let you know.”
“Is she injured?” This question didn’t come from me. It came from Agent Machini. I’m too relieved to speak.
Nero shakes his head, answering her, but his eyes remain locked on me. I’m not surprised. There isn’t a single female in this place who is respected—except Justine. I can’t guarantee that will continue if she’s left to govern this realm without Nikolai. Before India took hold of the Dvoráks’ reign, a female leader was unheard of.
“Where are they taking her?”
Nero nudges his head to the left. “To the private quarters. First stairwell past the foyer. You can’t miss it. It’s the big elaborate bastard.”
I jerk up my chin in thanks before skirting past him. When Agent Machini attempts to fall in step behind me, Nero blocks her path. “This is family business, and you ain’t family.”
“I’m going to be,” she argues, desperate not to miss out on any action.
“Going and am aren’t close to the same thing, sweetheart.” After spinning on his heels and joining me in the hallway, Nero searches for a key on a massive keychain. Once he finds the one he’s after, he locks his eyes with mine. “Do you want to say goodbye first, or are you happy to leave things as they are?”
Since it would be mighty suspicious for me to leave my fiancé locked in a room without so much as a cheek peck, I re-enter the room, curl my arms around Agent Machini’s stiff torso, then plant my lips on the top of her head. Our exchange is as innocent as fuck, but since it’s the first time I’ve had my lips on any female not named Demi in over five years, it’s as awkward as fuck as well.
“I’ll be back soon,” I murmur like I can’t feel her slipping something into my pocket.
She waves before adding words to our ruse. “Love you.”
Mercifully, Nero’s grumble about Catholic girls being the neediest means I don’t have to break a promise I made to myself four years ago. I only spoke those words to one girl who doesn’t share my DNA. I don’t plan to say them to anyone else.
“But my God, their tight little cunts are too tempting to give up.”
After moaning in a way a grown man shouldn’t when in the company of another, Nero gestures his hand in the direction he wants me to walk. When the image of Trey carrying an angry blonde outside steals his attention for a second, I slip my hand into the pocket of my jeans, smiling when my fingertip rolls over a smooth bead-like apparatus. Agent Machini is locked away like a prisoner, but once I stuff the listening device she hid in my pocket into my ear, she’ll be a part of the action as much as me—ifI stuff it in there.
Her remorse during our heated talk was authentic, but she didn’t deny my accusation that the Bureau is sitting on their hands regarding anything Cartel-related. Does that mean she thinks they’re as liable for Justine’s disappearance as I believe? Or is she here for an entirely different set of reasons?
Hopeful it’s the former, I stuff the listening device into my ear.
Two minutes after that, I enter Justine’s room on Nero’s heel. Justine’s blood-tinged hair fans across a pillow when a man with a fat head and sleeves of tattoos places her on a dingy sofa sitting in the middle of the room. It doesn’t match the elegance of Nikolai’s home. It’s shabby and outdated, and if I’m not mistaken, the couch our mother begged my father to throw out when they moved in together.
After shrugging off my confusion, I kneel in front of Justine to check the dilation of her eyes. Her skin is blistering red like she’s spent the last couple of days in the sun, her lips are parched, and she has a massive bump on the back of her head. “Was she like this when you found her?” When Nero shrugs, truly unsure, I boss him around like I’m higher-ranked than him. “Get her some water… and a bucket.” I tack on my last command when I recall how upset my stomach was in the hours following me being freed from the hole. I brought up more water than I kept down those first few days. “Do you have an in-house doctor?” I ask after recalling the one Ezra arrived with to check the wound Demi got from her uncle running his blade up her chest.
Nero nods before he switches it to a head shake. “We did. Dok was killed during the takeover bid.”
His assumption Nikolai’s disappearance centers around a takeover bid is what Dimitri’s crew is running off as well. They haven’t connected the dots the same way I have just yet. I see that changing when I update Rocco on my findings. Justine is marked and nicked all over, but a bruise on her stomach can be seen through the thin material of her shirt, assuring me her midsection was the focus of her attacker’s assault.
This is India’s doing.
I’m certain of it.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Nero announces before he heads for the door.
When the goon follows him out, the room’s silence becomes obvious, assuring Agent Machini it’s the perfect time to talk. She isn’t overly loud, but her voice is undeniably girlie. “Is Justine okay?”
Her comment swipes the last bit of hesitation from my stomach. If she were rogue like Agent Moses, she would have asked about Nikolai long before requesting an update on my sister.
Although she can’t see me, I nod. “She’s all right. Barely coherent, though. Her skin is blistering red, and her hair is a mattered mess.”
“Is there anything in her pockets that could give us a clue to where she’s been?”
