I thought he’d stopped the DeLucas and ended things with their human trafficking ring for good. I’d helped clean up the mess. He assured me that it was over. The last thing I need is a target on my back because they are still operating.
Anger flows through me along with annoyance. “My sources told me they were finished. You assured me they were put out of business!” I snap at Dante, pushing back my chair and standing, pacing the office, the heat licking my skin as I can’t help dread the thought of anything happening to my family, my wife, my children.
“Massimo and his son, Santino, are deceased. It seems his wife is running the business, giving orders, and is wholly responsible for Harper’s abduction. I need every residence, property, business that she owns in Nevada.”
That’s an easy request, given the type of work that I do for a living. I plant my ass back at my desk and type away at the keyboard.
“She has nothing registered to her, but there are several shell corporations that I know for a fact DeLuca ran. Let me dig a little deeper—” I keep typing away, trying to pull up data where it’s not so easy to check.
We run background checks, credit reports, drug tests, the type of requests made by employers prior to hiring a new employee.
“Anything?” Dante asks tersely, a bit impatient as I type as quickly as I can, trying to dig up information for him.
“There’s a property in Las Vegas, on the outskirts of town. Let me pull up satellite footage and see what it looks like.” I tap away at the keyboard, putting in data, waiting for it to load.
I zoom in, surveying the data. “Wow. Yeah, there’s a nice estate in the middle of nowhere. Looks like it has some kind of storage hanger or warehouse on the property. Could hold an airplane, I’m not sure.”
“Give me the address.”
I gather the details and give it to Dante. “You know I can’t just sit on the information, knowing a girl has been abducted.”
“I’m already on it, I have a team ready, we just need a plane…” his voice trails off. “And I could use your help for other matters as well…”
I glance up at Emerson, who has been silently listening to the call on speakerphone.
She grabs my notepad on the desk and scribbles something down.
Her expertise right now is incredibly valuable. “We have a plane in Breckenridge. What else?” I ask.
Asking me two favors, that means shit is really bad for Dante if he’s still asking for help. He doesn’t cozy up to me unless it’s life or death.
“Harper’s parents are demanding custody of Zeke, and they’re going to the police to file a missing person’s report. There’s only so much that I can do…”
“Isn’t your man the chief of police?” He’s as dirty as they come.
“Yes, but I don’t own the local news stations, and if the McKennas reach out to them?—”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Fourteen
Harper
Livia’s tight-lipped smile is entirely her scheming. I’m just unsure what she’s up to. Bringing me here, into her mansion, the collar around my neck, I need to figure a way out of this—alive.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you stink.”
“Being drugged and thrown into a warehouse will do that to a person,” I snap.
She laughs under her breath and escorts me through the mansion on the main floor, down the hallway and to a closed door.
Livia opens it, flips on the light.
It’s a bathroom.
“Do us both a favor and get cleaned up.”
“You brought me here to shower?” I don’t buy it. I stare at her skeptically, and she slides her hand into her pocket.
