No one man held the whole picture.
Which meant this wasn’t a random breach.
“This was targeted,” Luca said.“Whoever this prick is, he knew we were hunting and he sent them for her.”
“Yes,” Elias said.“And they must have paid dearly for the information.”
Rafael lowered himself into a chair with a hiss, leg bound and bleeding through the wrap.Dominic was already redoing the dressing, jaw tight.
“You’re staying,” Elias said to Rafael.
Rafael laughed, sharp and humorless.“Like fuck I am.”
“You can’t run,” Elias said.“And I will not have you place the rest of us at risk.”
“I can handle my shit,” Rafael snapped.
Elias turned to him fully.“Normally, yes.Right now, no, you can’t.”
Silence slammed into the room.
Mateo swore under his breath.“You’re not coming, Rafe.”
Elias met his gaze.“No, he’s not, but I am.”
Luca shook his head.“You don’t follow orders.”
“No,” Elias said calmly.“I issue them.And I’m done waiting.”
Kol cleared his throat.“I’ve got something.”
All eyes snapped to him.
“Havelock’s cell pinged three minutes ago,” Kol said.“Private carrier but they are sloppy with their security.I’m inside his telco now.”
Coordinates appeared on his screen.
Mateo smiled, slow and mean.“He’s moving.”
They took his car twenty minutes later.
Havelock’s driver never saw them coming.Their strike car, driven by Mateo, t-boned the car at a light that never turned green thanks to Kol and his phone.The rest of them clambered out of their secondary vehicle.Luca took care of the window.The glass didn’t shatter—it collapsed inward in a crazed web as Luca drove the breacher into the corner seam and Dominic dragged the driver, the only man in the vehicle, out screaming.
They pinned him to the pavement.
“You don’t have to die hard tonight,” Mateo said conversationally.“But you are going to fucking talk.”
The driver shook his head violently.“I don’t know anything.”
Luca lost control at the thought of not having a place to look for Mara, or a target to seek.It was rage breaking its leash.He drove the man’s head into the asphalt, fist slamming down again and again until knuckles split and the driver screamed something wordless and animal.Luca barely heard it.All he could see was Mara’s empty room.The yoga mat.The mug on the bedside table.
“Luca!”Mateo grabbed him from behind, hauling him back hard.“Stand the fuck down.”
Luca fought him for a second, muscles coiled, breath tearing out of his chest.Mateo held fast, voice low and brutal in his ear.
“Not like this,” Mateo said.“You don’t get to lose yourself like this.You hear me?”
Luca froze.Just long enough to gain control.Dominic kept pressure on the driver, knee planted, weight pinning him in place.The man sobbed now, shaking his head.
