Page 62 of His Kidnapped Irish Mafia Virgin

The last of my restraint cracked beneath the weight of that truth. I wanted to find him immediately. I wanted to drag him from whatever hole he was hiding in and make him understand exactly what it felt like to be powerless.

I picked up the next report and forced myself to read it. Anger wouldn’t help Nora. I would use my rage, but I wouldn’t let it control me. Not yet.

I spread the files across the table again, forcing myself to look at each one with fresh eyes. For days, we’d treated every past incident as problems that were finished, that wouldn’t help us find Hale.

The suspicious phone number had been one lead, but that burner phone hadn’t gone online since before he kidnapped Nora. The ambush on the waterfront had been another. The fixer we’d captured had been a third. Victor Hale’s attempt to sell Nora had seemed like the desperate act of a violent man trying to regain control.

I picked up the report containing the phone records we’d traced after the first attack. The number had appeared repeatedly in calls linked to Victor Hale’s movements, but it had also connected to several locations we hadn’t fully investigated.

Diggs walked in, a tablet in his hands.

“Diggs,” I said.“Look at this.”

He stepped closer to the table, and I pointed to the list of calls.

“The same number appears before the ambush, before the fixer contacted Victor, and again just before Nora was taken.”

Diggs frowned as he studied the records. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

I reached for another file, the one detailing the waterfront attack I’d survived weeks earlier. At the time, we’d believed it had to be Victor’s doing. I remembered the gunfire, the smoke, and the way they’d moved with military precision.

“They weren’t amateurs, and there were a lot of them. They knew exactly where I would be,” I said quietly. “They knew the route, the timing, and the number of men I’d bring with me.”

Diggs looked at me sharply. “I thought Victor gave them that information?”

I shook my head. “Victor Hale is many things, but he’s not capable of organizing an operation like that on his own. Someone bigger was behind it.”

I pulled Marcus’s interrogation report toward me and looked up at Diggs.

“Marcus Reed wasn’t just arranging for Victor to kidnap Nora,” I said. “He was working for a syndicate. A trafficking ring.”

The words settled heavily in the room, and I nodded slowly. “And Victor Hale wasn’t trying to reclaim control of Nora simply because she escaped him. He was trying to deliver her to them.”

The realization sharpened everything. Victor Hale had aligned himself with organized criminals, people whose business was built on selling human lives. Nora had become valuable to them not only because Victor promised her, but because she was connected to the O’Connor family. Taking her would give them leverage, money, and power.

I stared at the map on the table, tracing the marked locations with my finger. My anger settled into something colder and far more dangerous. For the first time since Nora told me the truth, I understood exactly what we were facing, and I knew that finding Victor Hale wouldn’t be enough. This entire network had to be destroyed.

I gathered the men in the briefing room just after midnight. The maps, photographs, and reports were spread across the long table, illuminated by the harsh white light overhead. Diggs stood to my left, Paddy to my right, and Michael leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his expression as hard as stone.

The room was silent when I entered. They all knew something had changed. I looked at each of them before speaking.

“We’re hunting Victor Hale, but he’s no longer just a man who’s hiding from us,” I said. “He’s part of a network that profits from trafficking people, and he offered Nora to them as payment for his own protection.”

The words settled heavily over the room. Paddy’s jaw tightened like he’d just heard the information for the first time. Michael lowered his eyes for a moment, as if forcing himself to contain his anger. Diggs remained still, but I could see the fury burning beneath his calm expression.

I placed both hands on the table and leaned forward. “The men who attacked us at the warehouse were organized, trained, and working for people who knew exactly where we would be. Hale didn’t have the power to arrange that on his own. He had help.”

Michael spoke quietly. “And now they know Nora is connected to us.”

I met his gaze. “Yes. That makes her valuable to them in ways Victor Hale could never understand. She’s no longer just his target. She’s leverage.”

The silence that followed was sharp and dangerous. I straightened and looked at the evidence spread across the table. “Listen to me carefully,” I said. “I won’t wait for Victor Hale or this syndicate to make another move. I won’t sit in this house and hope they make a mistake. We’re going to find them and end this.”

Diggs nodded once. Paddy’s expression hardened with approval.

“What do you need from us?” someone asked.

I pointed to the map. “Diggs, I want every safe house connected to this network identified within the next twenty-four hours. Paddy, trace every financial route the fixer mentioned and find out where their money is moving. Michael, pull every known associate, driver, and contact tied to Victor Hale and this syndicate. I want names, locations, routines, and weaknesses.”