33
HAWK
Vinnie is crouchedin front of the main screen, rewinding the footage from his exterior cameras frame by frame.He’s made sure everything has been running clean since Belinda was taken.If a leaf moves wrong on this property, he’ll know about it.
He clicks again, and the screen jumps to life.
Daniela.
She moves quietly and heads around back to enter her suite.Then she disappears into the house.
“Christ,” I mutter, stepping closer to the monitor.
“Wait,” Vinnie says, holding up a hand.
We fast-forward fifteen minutes.The feed flickers back on.Daniela reappears, coming down the front steps.She’s holding a garment bag and something small, looped over her hand—looks like a belt—and another object wrapped in white tissue paper.The shape is narrow, oblong.My stomach twists.
“What the hell is that?”I ask.
Vinnie zooms in, but the footage pixelates too much to make out any detail.“No idea.She took it from her suite.”
“She didn’t leave anything?”I ask.“A note, a clue, anything we can work with?”I drum my fingers against the desk.
“If she doesn’t want to be followed,” Vinnie says, “then no.She wouldn’t.”
I drag my hand through my hair, hard enough that it stings my scalp.He’s right, of course.Daniela is too smart for any of that.
She thinks Belinda’s life is in danger.That if Gordon Brown even gets a whiff of a sting operation, that he’ll kill that little girl right then and there.Dani loves Belinda so much—like a mother loves her own daughter—and she wouldn’t leave anything to chance.No breadcrumbs for us to follow.
She’s given herself up, plain and simple.A life for a life.
And it’s like a fucking dagger is twisting through my heart.
I hate this.I hate the waiting.I hate not knowing where she is or what she’s walking into.
Vinnie rewinds the feed again.“She was steady,” he mutters.“No hesitation.She knew exactly what she was doing.”
“Yeah,” I say.“That’s what scares me.”
He exhales through his nose.“She’s probably made contact by now.We wait for the Chef’s next move.”
I turn to him, disbelief curdling in my chest.“You seriously expect me to just sit here?”
“Yeah,” he says flatly.“I do.Because if she went to him, it’s under his rules.If we rush in, he’ll know.And if he knows, Belinda’s dead before we even get there.Dani too.”
I hate that he’s right.And I hate how calm he is, how he’s able to deal with this rationally.Of course, he’s used to crime.He was brought up in it.
So was Daniela, and I know she would agree with him on all of this.
She doesn’t want to be found.She doesn’t want anything to happen that would put Belinda’s life in danger.
I hate that the only thing worse than doing nothing is doing the wrong thing too soon.
I pace the room.The walls feel too close, the air too still.
In an ideal world, these bastards would already be locked up.Every man who ever hurt a woman, every man who ever thought pain was power, would never get to make another move.They’d never get to breathe another free breath.
But this isn’t an ideal world.I’ve known that ever since that fateful day in my father’s office.
