“She said she didn’t want them, but she never gave them back. When I asked her about them, she…” He shrugged, not needing to say anything more.
“They didn’t show up when Cass got the notification that there was an issue with Steff’s. I was in the office when she pulled up the map.” Irish tapped his fingers on the table.
“If they weren’t showing up, and you didn’t see them at her place, Fox, then where was she keeping them?” Angel asked the question that had to be asked.
“I don’t fucking know. What is going on?” he muttered and ran his fingers through his hair.
“We need to go wherever that tracker is transmitting.” Jag stood and moved closer to the screen. “Steff could be there.”
“You’re assuming they’re together. They might not be,” Fox argued. “Cynthia could’ve been taken by someone else.”
Jag doubted that, and the longer he thought about the information they had in front of them, the more an unbelievable one formed. “Unless Cynthia took Steff,” he said quietly.
“What the fuck?” Fox’s response was expected, and if his team leader wasn’t thinking purely with his emotions, but more clinically, he’d see that Jag was onto something. “Why would you think that?”
“Her apartment is empty. She left the earrings there knowing that if we checked, we’d think she’s safe there, and you would head over there to see if she was okay. Plenty of opportunity for her to meet Steff at her therapist’s office, which Cynthiawas aware of because they were supposed to meet after Steff’s session.” Jag took a breath, knowing that with every word he said, he was putting a nail into the coffin of Fox and Cynthia’s relationship. “An appointment that was cancelled, but we didn’t know that, so given the time, we would expect her to still be at her place.”
“Fuck, Jag, I hate to say it, but I think you’re on to something.” Deal was making notes on his tablet.
“If y’all think that, then what does the flashing light mean near Acton?” Fox ground out.
If putting it out there that Cynthia had taken Steff was hard, this was even harder. “She wants us to go there.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Steff’s stomach growled,and she took another sip from the bottle of water Cynthia had given her. She’d been surprised when it had been shoved in her face. Cynthia giving her anything was unexpected, and initially she’d been worried that it had been drugged, but the seal was still intact, and she hadn’t seen any indication that a needle had pierced the bottle anywhere.
Cynthia had laughed at her and told her the water was safe, as she wanted Steff conscious so she could watch the downfall of the Alliez men.
The more time she spent with her former friend, the more she could see that she wasn’t the person Steff thought she knew. Nothing about this Cynthia resembled the Cynthia she’d worked with. The one that she’d laughed with.
Or maybe that Cynthia was a fake one, and the one in front of her was her real self. Not that it mattered. Things were about to go bad, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Steff fully believed when Jag and the others arrived, Cynthia wouldn’t stand a chance. They’d be able to take her down quicker than a deer could scamper across a highway.
“I wonder how much longer it will take for them to get here?” Cynthia mused, as she gazed out the window. “Cass probablyarranged for a helicopter to deliver them, right? Although there’s no where they can land. But all those guys could probably repel out of one. That’s kind of sexy. Pity they’re into vanilla sex. I like a man who gets rough with me. Shows me who’s boss. Tells me what to do. Fox did none of that. But that will happen for me soon. I know it.”
“Do you really think you’re going to be able to go wherever you want, after this?” Steff couldn’t believe Cynthia was being so delusional. There’s no way Jag, or even Fox, would let her escape.
Steff didn’t want her to get away. Not after what she was doing right now.
“Of course. You don’t think we’re alone, do you? I’m a valuable asset to Viktor’s business.”
“What do you mean?” Perhaps if she could keep Cynthia talking, she would be able to get her to relax enough that Steff could subdue her until the others arrived. How she was going to do that, she didn’t know, but the chair she was sitting on was wooden, and if she could break it, then she could hit Cynthia behind the knees.
An action hero she wasn’t, but Steff was determined for her story not to finish in this shitty little cabin in the middle of California. She was going to fight for the future she wanted.
A future with Jag.
“You are so naïve. There was a reason I wanted to get on the entertainment beat. There are so many young men and women that fawn over stars. That also want what they have. They’re so gullible. Whisper a few words about an amazing future, and they’re putty in my hands.”
Steff recalled now, all the times Cynthia had engaged with the crowd while they waited on the red carpet.
“How could you do that with a clear conscious? You were taking innocent people from their families and putting them intohell! You took away any hope of them having the future they dreamed of.”
Cynthia waved away her comments, as if they were an annoying mosquito. “I didn’t snatch them. I had my list of what clients wanted, and if I saw a pathetic like groupie screaming over a star that fitted what I was looking for, then I spoke to them. After I was done, I fired off a quick text to another contact who took over and did all the dirty work. It was all neat and quick for me, and I got paid handsomely for it.”
In all the time they’d worked together, Steff would never have picked up that Cynthia was wealthy. She never gave any indication. Then again, Steff didn’t flaunt the money her parents had set up for her. She would rather have her parents than the money, but she’d accepted that wasn’t to be the case.
