Page 60 of Savage Little Secret

Isaak slams the barrel of his handgun against the back of an Albanian guard’s head, knocking him out cold and letting him flop onto the ground. He points his gun at another Albanian nearby. “Put your fucking hands up.”

I glance behind me at one of the few men still willing to follow me. “Stay out in the hallway. Make sure none of the other guests in this establishment get too nosy. We won’t be here long.”

“Yes, sir,” he says with a nod.

Andrei looks over at me, uncertainty glinting in his eyes. “Let’s see if the Irishman’s lead is any good or not.”

“At least it actually led to a poker room,” I reply before heading inside, my eyes sweeping over cowering guests and Albanians held at gunpoint. I don’t miss the few escorts in short dresses holding each other in the corner of the room.

But there’s no sign of Cara. It was a long shot expecting her to be in a place of business around so many people, but part of me hoped that she would be here for some reason.

“So, which one of you is Erjon?” Andrei asks.

No one answers.

I give them one last second. “Erjon.”

Silence. They need more encouragement.

I shoot the nearest one in the thigh.

He cries out in pain and drops to the ground, grabbing at his thigh as blood stains his slacks.

“Which one of you is Erjon?” I question him as I stalk over to him, pointing my gun at his forehead. I’m not fucking around tonight.

The man shakes his head. “He’s not here tonight!”

I look over my shoulder at Andrei, who narrows his eyes and shakes his head. He probably thinks that Sean lied to me, but someone has to know something.

“Grab this one. We’re leaving,” I tell my men and Andrei’s men. “Follow us and die.”

“What? No! Stop!” the wounded Albanian shouts as our men grab him and haul him off the floor, his blood staining the expensive carpet.

Andrei steals the cigar from one of the older men playing at the table and takes a puff. “Sorry your game got cut short. Might want to cash out and head home.”

I roll my eyes and head out of the poker room, flanked by some of my men as they keep the nearby Albanians in check with their guns. If they’re smart, they won’t try to stop us on our way out. We have more men and firepower right now.

“Tell the others to wrap it up and leave,” I say to Mark as we step out of the poker room.

“On it,” Mark replies before taking off in the other direction.

“Let’s go! Hurry up!” I shout at everyone else as we rush down the hallway toward the stairwell that’ll lead us to the back entrance of the building that hosts exclusive gaming rooms for the rich.

If the Albanians keep expanding, they’ll become another problem, but one for after I get Cara back.

I take the stairs two at a time until I burst through the back door just as our men toss the Albanian into the back of a white van. “Take him to the antique shop. Step on it.”

Andrei catches up to me before climbing into the backseat of a black SUV with me, the sweet, smoky smell of that cigar lingering on his clothes. “Of course, the big boss isn’t there. It still feels like something’s off about all of this,” he mutters.

“We still need to check and see if the Albanians know anything about Cara or her kidnapping,” I remind him with a firm look. “There are too many suspects on our list. We need to start crossing some off.”

Andrei exhales slowly and nods. “Did the search team find anything in the rest of the building?”

I check my phone as a few new messages come in, my shoulders sinking as I shake my head. “Nothing. No sign of her. No clothes. Nothing. She probably was never there.”

“It would’ve been too risky to bring her to a place like that,” Andrei replies. “But maybe the Albanians have heard whispers about something.”

I give him a subtle nod, my hope dwindling. Not that I’ve had much to begin with. This whole situation is a nightmare, but I’m not stopping until my last damn breath to save Cara from it.