Page 140 of Captivated

Moving down the hallway, he didn’t even bother to knock on the office door before he walked into Marcello pandemonium.

Or chaos.

Two men were arguing with one another. Another—although far older—man was sitting by himself. The Chicago men were on their phones. A redheaded woman stared out the window with her arms crossed, and her expression pensive.

It was only Lucian, leaning against the far wall and ignoring his arguing brothers, quiet father, and distant sister-in-law, not to mention, Joe’s father and uncle. It was only him who looked to Joe when the man came into the office.

Of course, Joe recognized them all. He knew them all. He just didn’t care right now. Until one of their thoughts or phone calls manifested into some kind of fucking information about how they could safely retrieve Liliana, he didn’t give a shit.

“Anything?” he asked Lucian.

The man shook his head, quiet and cold. Joe didn’t think he’d ever seen the man this blank before. His control was … frightening.

Yeah, that was as good of a word as any.

“I think we’re looking in the wrong spot,” Lucian said.

Joe’s brow furrowed. “Pardon?”

“We’re looking where we expect him. Just like when we watched him before, and trailed him. We did that knowing what we were looking for, or looking at. And I think we missed something because we inadvertently overlooked something else. Do you understand what I’m saying, Joe?”

He did.

But what had they missed?

And when?

“So, you’ve got nothing?” Joe demanded.

Cory sighed. “I have aliases, man, and it’s going to take us a bit to go through shit for that, too. What do you have on your end?”

“A forty-eight hour mark that passed ten minutes ago.”

His brother sucked air through his teeth, and then murmured, “You know it’ll be fine.”

“I don’t know anything at all, actually.”

“Joe.”

Well, it was the truth.

Horrifying, but true.

Joe didn’t respond to his brother, and finally Cory got irritated enough that he asked, “What are you doing right now, anyway? I know Dad and Theo are looking into some shit.”

“Threatening people, you mean.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what they do best.”

Joe rolled his eyes as he came up to a coffee shop he recognized, and sighed. It was his third stop of the day, and he likely wasn’t going to get shit from here, either. Just like all the other places he had gone to in an attempt to backtrack Liliana’s steps in New York. He had to try something different, and he had to keep moving.

Otherwise, he felt useless just sitting the fuck around and waiting for something to happen. That wasn’t his style.

Instead of going into the coffee shop while he was still on the phone, Joe opted to end his call first, and then continue on with the rest of his business. Cory would understand … eventually.

“Listen, I have to go, but call me if—”

“Have you considered the alternative to Rich following her?” Cory asked suddenly.