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“What do you mean?”
Dante began chewing on his lip. “I was desperate, Magnus,” he whispered.
“Hey,” I said and waited until he looked at me. “I get it,” I said. “Nothing changes,” I added softly.
He nodded and then said, “I hired kids who I suspected might be a part of the ring. Some were, some weren’t. I never fucked any of them,” he added quickly.
I nodded because I knew he wouldn’t have been capable of that. “Go on.”
“If I could get the kids out without giving myself away, I would. Sometimes it meant getting rid of their handler.”
He cast me another tentative glance so I merely nodded. I knew what he was saying and even though the cop in me rebelled at the idea of vigilante justice, the pragmatist in me knew it would have been the only way to help the victims.
“I couldn’t save them all,” Dante murmured and then his eyes were back on the window. “Some didn’t want to be saved.”
I knew his thoughts were on Aleks.
“So your search led you to Chicago?” I prodded.
“Yeah…about a year ago. There was a power struggle going on and this guy named Eduardo Santero had just taken over the business. One of the kids I hired had been in the ring at one point, but he’d gotten out.”
“Remy,” I murmured.
Dante nodded. “Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” he said softly.
“What do you mean?”
“He managed to escape Santero’s ring only to end up with a pimp who turned him into a junkie,” Dante said. He shook his head. “I offered to get him into rehab...”
“What’s his link to Aleks?” I asked.
“When I would hire the kids, I’d ask them if they’d seen Aleks. He has a distinctive birthmark…it’s in the shape of a heart on his collarbone near his neck. If he’s wearing a shirt with a low collar, it’s easy to see.”
“So, Remy recognized the birthmark.”
“Yeah. Only kid who ever did…I’d thought I’d won the fucking lottery. Turns out he and Aleks were held in the same house when they were first taken. Remy was a couple years older. He told me Santero was working as a handler for the ring at that point.”
“So Santero became your link to Aleks.”
“He did. Remy was moved to a new house a few days later so he didn’t know what happened to Aleks. When I met him last year, I asked him to call me if he saw or heard anything about Aleks. I never really expected to hear from him…he was my last hope, though, so I kept calling him to see if he’d heard anything. He never called me back.”
“What about Santero?”
“That’s where things get complicated,” Dante said quietly and I saw him cast me a sidelong glance.
When he didn’t continue, I said, “Tell me.”
He hesitated before saying, “Am I talking to Magnus, my boyfriend or Magnus, the cop?”
Under any other circumstances, I would have been thrilled to hear him referring to me as his boyfriend, but the question had me on high alert. I glanced at my watch and saw we still had plenty of time to catch our flight so I pulled the SUV over to the side of the road and put it in park.
“When all this shit settles down, I’m going to ream your ass for even asking me that question, and not in the way you like,” I said. “But for now, I’m just going to say that anything you tell me…anything…stays between us.”
“It’s not just my story,” he said softly.
Understanding dawned. “You’re talking about Ronan’s group.”
His eyes widened slightly. “You know?”
I tilted my head at him. “I’m a cop, Dante. Did you really think I wouldn’t figure out that the men who work for Ronan aren’t just bodyguards?”
“So, what? You’re just okay with it? With me…”
I leaned across the console and snagged him by the back of the head. He eagerly met my kiss and tried to follow me when I pulled back.
“I swear to God, Dante, if you question my feelings for you one more time-”
He kissed me to silence me and then pressed his forehead against mine. “Sorry,” he murmured.
I nodded slightly and then pulled back to put some space between us. “I’m a cop second, Dante. I’m a member of our family first. And I always protect my family…”
Dante covered my hand with his and nodded. “Santero tried to kill one of his former victims, who also happened to be in a relationship with one of Ronan’s men. Ronan stopped him and he made sure Santero and his brother wouldn’t ever go after that man again, or either of his lovers.”
Lovers with an ‘s.’
I considered his words for a moment and then realization hit me. “You’re talking about Jonas,” I said. “He’s in a relationship with Mace and Cole. I met them at the wedding.”
