“Yeah, I bet that suspicion has everything to do with this bastard Antonio,” I seethe.
“We’ll find him, Damiana. He messed up, and we know what he’s up to. It’s only a matter of time now.” Gunnar tilts his head left and right, I can hear his neck cracking and popping from here.
“I just hope no one else dies before we do.”
Gunnar’s phone rings at one minute to midnight. We’ve all been waiting for this call. He lets it ring once before placing it against his ear. “Speaker phone,” I hiss.
Gunnar’s lips tighten into a thin line, but he obliges me, setting the phone on the low table between all of us. “What have you got for me?”
“This line isn’t secure,” a male voice declares through the phone.
Gunnar looks around, his eyes lingering on Aeson before he responds, “I’m with my people,” and leaves it at that.
“Okay, Antonius Wood, goes by Antonio. His birth certificate has his parents listed as Helena Wood with unknown as father. Born thirty-four years ago. But we’ve traced him back almost seventy; it’s hard to find many records before that.” He pauses, and I hear the sound of papers flipping.
“It took some digging, but he has at least seven shell corporations—one being the Vega Holdings. There could be more, but with the expedited time frame, that’s what we’ve got so far on his businesses. We have several properties listed, most of them on the east coast. He’s recently acquired a residential property within twenty miles from your current location.”
“Twenty miles from here?” I interject “What city?” The line goes quiet.
“He won’t answer you. You’re not signing the check,” Aeson supplies. Gunnar repeats my question and the man replies.
“Lakeview.”
Curses fly from most of us. “He’s probably gone for sure now.” I throw my hands in the air. He had been right under our noses.
“Wait, let me think.” Gunnar looks down at the ground. “We don’t know that he’s aware of Vanessa’s death yet, or even if he was still in town. If she was siphoning magic without him, he might have already moved on.”
“Or maybe she was just going behind his back like the two-faced bitch she was,” I snap.
“Text me the address when we get done here, but what else?” Gunnar ignores my outburst.
“I’ll send it over through the secure email we set up, along with all the other addresses we found. We’ve picked up little things here and there through the network, but we haven’t had enough time for anything solid yet. Give us another twenty-four hours and I’ll have something decent.”
“You get anything concrete on his location, I want to know immediately,” Gunnar orders.
“I have everyone on this. If he’s within a hundred miles, we’ll find him; just give me time.”
“Send me those addresses.” Gunnar smashes the end button on the phone.
I get to my feet. “We’re going to check out the place, right?”
“Yes,” Gunnar answers, then turns to Grim. “If you bring the Nemean and Damiana, I can manage the Brownie, she’s small enough not to disrupt my rift. That’s assuming you want to come,” he addresses Aeson.
“Not even the devil himself could keep me away.”
Gunnar nods, already suspecting the answer. “Meet us at the witches’ house. We’ll go from there.” His phone vibrates. Gunnar looks down and taps a few times against the screen. “I got it.”
“Come here, Omnia.” Grim beckons me forward and I wrap my arms around his torso. Calix doesn’t need to be told to join us; I feel him grab on to me from behind.
Gunnar moves to stand in front of Aeson near the couch. Her hands are on her hips as she glares up at him. “I don’t like this any more than you do, Brownie,” he tells her. “You can always change your mind and not come.”
“Just shut up,” Aeson demands.
Gunnar lets out a low growl. “If it wasn’t for you being Damiana’s friend, I would crush you.”
“You would try and fail,” she deadpans.
“Knock it off, you two.” I scowl. “Someone might think you’re flirting.”
