“Got it,” I say, typing as she speaks.“Anything else?”
She closes her eyes and wrinkles of focused thought thread across her forehead.“Trees.A lot of them.But no neighbors.Just woods.”
That’s enough to go on.I start cross-referencing the details with every property in Reyes’s name within a hundred-mile radius.There are more than I expected—safehouses, rentals, fake names tied to shell companies.But then one address jumps out at me.
A small single-family property about an hour north of where Daniela’s phone last pinged before she went dark.It fits everything—woods, isolation, age, layout.
I switch to Street View.The screen fills with the image of a sagging old house, two stories tall, its yellow paint faded almost white.
“Belinda,” I say, turning the screen toward her.“Is this it?”
Her breath catches.“Yes,” she whispers.“That’s where I was.”
Vinnie exhales slowly, rubbing his forehead.“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
I don’t wait.I’m already grabbing my keys.
“Hawk,” Vinnie warns.“Wait.”
“I’m not waiting,” I snap.“You said it yourself.She’s barely back, which means Dani just got there.If I leave now, I can make it before?—”
“Before what?”he cuts in.“Before he kills her?You don’t even know what’s waiting for you out there.Reyes could have ten men on site.Or worse.”
“Then I’ll take ten guns,” I growl.“I’m not sitting around while she’s—” I can’t finish the sentence.My throat locks.
Vinnie’s expression softens.“Hawk, listen.I get it.I do.But she went there for Belinda.Belinda’s safe now.Dani did what she went there to do.If you go storming in without a plan, she dies for nothing.”
I look at him, jaw tight.“Are you going to stop me?”
He doesn’t answer.He doesn’t have to.The silence between us is answer enough.
I shove past him, out the door.
