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I have a brother, and my father is a rapist. Great, another fact I need to deal with. Another fact I can focus on once I’ve gained my freedom. “What do you want from me? Are you still dead set on revenge? You don’t think your brother has handled that enough?”
He looks me right in the eyes. The darkness in his is terrifying, but I don’t dare look away. The words roll off his tongue smoothly.
“I don’t want revenge from you anymore, Celia. Now, I only want answers.”
3
Nic
While Soo is very good at his job, he can’t seem to find a record of Lucas’s movements leading up to the auction. Which seems impossible since my fucking brother has never made any effort to shield his life from me before.
Why would he do this? The only answer that comes to mind is revenge. Me getting revenge against Ricci isn’t enough for him; he wants his own taste. And maybe he thinks Celia can give him that or offer him a way to hit Ricci even harder.
I spin away from Soo’s bank of computers and grab a liquor bottle from his bar. Not even bothering with a glass, I tip the bottle against my lips and take a long draft of the amber liquid.
“That’s unsanitary,” Soo says, still typing away at his computers.
For half a second, I savor what it would look like to throw the bottle against the screens, watch all that glass shatter and break on the floor. I’m not a man who loses control like this. I pride myself on control, but it seems Celia brings the worst out in me.
Even now, I want her body under my hands to both hold and destroy. To show her this rage eating me up from the inside out.
Soo works some magic on the screen and pulls up some maps. I replace the bottle and cross the room to stand behind his chair. “What am I looking at?”
On the screen is a smattering of red dots all over the city, in almost every corner. Soo points to the warehouse on the map and then the mansion. “Usually, Lucas’s movements center around our main hubs. Even when we are busy and have to go out for shipments, he always ends up back at one of these two places. But this time, it’s like he knows I’m tracking his phone, and he’s purposefully made a pretty little map that shows us fuck all.”
I wave at the map. “How long have you been tracking his phone? And why?”
Soo levels me a look. “Because your brother has been acting strangely. He’s never where he’s supposed to be these days, and he completely missed helping plan the event tonight. Now I guess I see why. He’s been busy.”
He has a point. Leading up to Celia’s auction, I’ve barely seen Lucas, the last time being when I caught him and Celia together in my office. The image of her touching him shoots a new hole in the tattered remains of my control.
“What can we do about this mess? Can you remove his fake leads so we can see where he’s been?”
Soo shakes his head. “No, I can’t. We need more data to layer over this. It might help us narrow down his authentic movements better.”
I fist my hands at my sides. “What kind of data? My patience is wearing thin.”
“You think he’ll hurt her?”
How can I possibly know what’s inside my little brother’s head? My brother is an enigma. He hides his pain, his rage, beneath layers of broken glass. There is no reaching him unless he wants you to reach him.
“I don’t know. She represents revenge, and maybe he thinks he can get to Ricci on his own by using her?”
I brace my hands on the edge of his desk and grip the sturdy wood tighter in my grasp. “Help me, Soo, because if he hurts her, I’ll fucking rip him apart. I’ll tear this goddamn town to the ground if that’s what it takes to find her.”
No doubt sensing how close I am to snapping, Soo doesn’t respond to that but goes in another direction. “Let’s say he doesn’t plan on hurting her. What do you think he wants with her then? What can Celia give him that required him to take her first, that he couldn’t get out of her at the house during the time she was locked up there?”
I’d kept my brother away from her the best I could while she’d been my guest. Since the first night, he’d made it clear he wanted to kill her. In fact, had I not walked into that cell when I did, he would’ve snapped her neck. My heartbeat races against my ribs, and the blood swooshes in my ears. I have to find her, and standing here looking at fucking computer screens will not give me an answer. I strip my suit jacket off and throw it on Soo’s counter. Then I roll my sleeves up to my forearms, grab the bottle of liquor, and walk out.
