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Mark takes him off his shoulders and turns him around, then rotates him to the side, so his eyes are visible. Silas’s one eye peers up at us. Plucking the phone from Mark’s hand, I hold it up next to Silas. The two marks mirror each other with near surgical precision.

“I didn’t even catch that. It looks just like his eye. Even has the horizontal line…what the fuck?” Mark looks closer at the two side by side as Silas begins to squirm, trying to break free from his grasp.

Gerald’s claws rap against the sides of the plastic dome, trying to break free.

Placing Gerald’s plastic ball on the floor, Elitza takes a step toward Mark with her arm outstretched to grab Silas. Mark catches her wrist as a flash of lethality crosses her eyes. That look must run in the family.

“Look…” He nods to Silas, lifting his phone for her to see. Elitza’s eyes dart between Silas and the phone. Tilting her head, in predatory contemplation, her fingers begin to unnaturally twitch by her sides.

“His eyes,” Elitza whispers.

Mark nods, bringing Silas back to his chest. Unwinding the snake from his arm, Mark nuzzles his nose and droops him over Elitza’s shoulders. After an uncomfortable minute of silence, Elitza is the first to acknowledge my presence.

“Where’s Patience? She needs to know about this,” Elitza asks.

“She’s with a client. She should be back by now.” I check my phone, but no new notifications have come through. Elitza’s brows draw together, making me uneasy. “What’s wrong?”

Elitza purses her lips. “One of her clients sold her my baby.”

Her words echo in my ears. My heart feels as though it’s been clutched in the grips of a cage fighter. A client would allow him access to her, make it easy to follow her and have the ability to get her alone. Fuck. My hand frantically dives into my pocket, searching for my phone. Once I find it, I open the location app. The last ping was over thirty minutes ago in one of the higher end districts. Old money, large homes, and no one to ask questions.

“What’s the client’s name?” I turn to Elitza who looks surprisingly calm given the situation.

“Lennox, I think.”

The name rings in my ears like an alarm. I was there. Right there in the same room with him at the auction. I knew the gaze he cast her way wasn’t right. Mark steps to my side instantly as he pulls up the information on Lennox.

“He was on the list of associates I gathered on her when we were…” His voice trails off as his eyes track to Elitza’s, whose facial expressions are nonexistent.

“When you were stalking my sister…yeah…” she fires at him.

“Anyway, I was only able to find a little information on the guy.” His brows draw together as he continues scrolling through the information.

“Elitza, can you call her please?”

She nods and steps away to make the call.

“What’s this guy’s address?”

Mark’s lips draw into a line as he pulls up the location. The estate is sprawling. The nearest neighbor is a quarter mile down the road. Small structures are scattered around. She could be in any one of them. The tree line butting up against the smaller buildings behind the house should provide enough coverage for us to approach with relative ease. Provided there aren’t additional bodies of security staking out the place, which I’m sure there are. Even on the map, it looks massive. Mark and I continue to discuss our approach when Elitza walks back into the kitchen, holding her phone. Her fingers flick across the phone in a clatter, visibly more anxious than she was a minute ago.

“I can’t get ahold of her.”

For the first time, I see the fear in her eyes.

“All right. We were just discussing how to get in.”

The intensity in her eyes grows as I set out the plan. If someone had Mark, I’d be incensed as well. She’s incredibly strong, placing some amount of trust in two strangers to help her. After a long silence, she turns to him, then back to me.

“Patience trusts you. I’m placing my trust in her choice. So, let’s go.”

Mark appears behind her. His eyes track down to her, and with lips pursed, he shakes his head. I’m inclined to agree with him. If she’s anything like Patience, she’ll have no problem taking care of herself. The intense gaze he casts her way is concerning.

“It would be best if someone was here, in case⁠—”

“No.” The tip of her finger trains on my body. “I’m going.” She steps toward me.

Silas slides off her shoulders onto the counter. The menacing look in her eyes sends shivers down my spine.