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How did one old man get the drop on my brother? He must have a lot of extra security right now. Maybe they were able to subdue him. But there weren’t any signs of a struggle at the family house, and the wife was too drunk to do anything but stare at us while we combed her mansion. We left her there with her booze and the heavy sadness that seemed to stir in the surrounding air.
I took two seconds to look into Celia’s old room. It had been cleaned out, completely empty of belongings and furniture.
Telling her how easily her family erased her from their lives would hurt her, so Celia will never know.
Once we get home, I go in search of Celia. She’s not in the bedroom, and it’s past dinner time. I check the library, then circle back to my office. On the desk is a piece of paper.
I scan the scribbled frantic handwriting and gently set the paper down on the desk. Soo walks into the room and sits down in the chair. But I’m already around the chair and out the door before he chases after me. “What’s going on?”
“Celia went after him. She heard the news about Lucas on the security channel and obviously knows something about her father that we don’t.”
I spin in place a few times, cupping my head in my hands. “If he has her right now. I don’t know where they are.”
Soo takes my hands and drags them down so he can look in my eyes. “Stay calm. Throwing yourself into the fight without a plan will get you both killed. Think. Think about Celia. She needs you to help her, so think about what she’s said to you in the past. Think about anything she’s mentioned about her father even in passing.”
I can’t think around my heart pounding in my ears. Soo’s voice breaks through some of it. I only catch a few snatches of words. “Think about what she said.”
We have only talked about her father in the past. Since things grew warmer between us, we’ve been ignoring the topic because eventually, it will mean the end of something. I wrack my brain, forcing myself to focus around the rage, making a rising tide in my blood.
Soo fishes his cellphone out of his pocket and starts typing at a breakneck pace, even for him. When he curses loud and long, I finally pull out of the fugue. “What? Tell me you know where she is.”
He holds the phone up and shows me a map. “She took the SUV outside the tunnel and programmed in the address to the destination. I know exactly where she is.”
When he heads down the stairs ahead of me, I grab his arm. “No, I have to go alone. If something happens to me, or to Lucas, or to any of us, I need you here to take care of things. Make sure our business is handled.”
Soo halts on the staircase, gaping at me. “You want me to stay here while you go save Celia and Lucas alone? Not a fucking chance.”
I shove him hard against the wall. “What do you think Ricci will do if I roll up on his house with an army with me? He’ll shoot them both and then come for me with his own small battalion.”
“Fuck!” Soo shouts. No doubt hating this powerless feeling as much as I do.
I pass him and bound down to the foyer and out the front door. The SUV is still parked out front, and I send the security team inside to help Soo figure out how to proceed once I save Lucas and Celia.
The address is already programmed in the map, thanks to Soo texting it to the computer, and I pull away from the house.
It’s an hour’s drive to the lakeside place the map is taking me. A cabin? She had mentioned a cabin where her father liked to go fishing.
I can’t focus on anything but the road as I drive, or I think up scenarios in my head about what he might be doing to her. And if he finds out what she actually means to me, fuck. He’ll kill her just to mess with me.
My stomach rolls and twists, my fingers are tingly with adrenaline. I can’t fuck this up, or I could lose everyone I love in one fell swoop.
I turn the headlights off when I make it to the side road that is supposed to lead to the house. It’s smaller than what I would have expected, considering the mansion the bastard lives in. And I’d searched every inch of that house.
I climb out of the vehicle and tuck a gun into the back of my pants. No doubt he’ll take it the moment I step in the door, but I prefer to be armed.
