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While King himself wouldn’t be doing the actual sweeping, since he was a more hands-on type, he employed enough people who had the skills to make things disappear, at least on paper.
“He’s heading to Chicago to see if he can pick up on anything… maybe there’s something we missed with Stylianos or one of our informants has heard something about Gio.”
I nodded, even though I knew King’s search would likely be fruitless. In the two years since we’d almost found the man who was only known by the name Stylianos online, we hadn’t had any real clues leading to him or Gio. That fact explained some of Luca’s uncharacteristic show of desperation.
He’s starting to lose hope.
I covered my eyes with my hands and felt a sharp pain shoot up my arm from the wound Aleks had inflicted on me. It was a reminder of why I was doing all this.
“This is undoing everything Aleks has accomplished in the last two years, Con,” I said softly. “The blackouts… he never had those with Marcus and the few he’s had since I got him out weren’t violent ones. His mind is so fucked up right now and his brain is trying to protect him in the only way it knows how. How am I supposed to ask him to be a part of something that did that to him? How am I supposed to ask him to give up what little bit of a normal life he managed to find in the last two years?” I shook my head and dropped my hand. “I can’t… I won’t.”
Because I knew that was the real reason Con had brought Luca here. He wanted us to find a way to accomplish both things – protect Aleks and find Gio. But the latter meant making Aleks relive every terrible moment he’d already had to survive once.
I couldn’t do that to him.
I loved Gio and I wanted him back, but it couldn’t be at the cost of Aleks’s sanity.
No, I’d find another way. I just needed to make sure Aleks was safe and out of reach from those fuckers and then I’d go back in and I’d find a way to get even deeper into the secretive network. Gio was there, somewhere in its bowels. I’d find out who Stylianos really was and I’d make him suffer a thousand times worse than any kid he’d ever put his hands on, and then he’d tell me where Gio was and I’d watch the fucker die a long, slow, painful death.
“I’m sorry, Con,” I said as I stood. As I went to move around him to head toward the stairs, Con stepped in my path.
“At least let me make you guys something to eat. Take the day to rest because I know your arm hurts like hell and Aleks looks like he hasn’t slept in years. Luca and I will stay here until you guys leave. I’ll make sure he can’t call anyone and I’ll keep him away from both of you.”
I began shaking my head.
“You can trust me, Vaughn. I know how you feel about him,” he said softly. “Aleks doesn’t know it and you might not believe it, but he’s family now and above all else, we protect our family.”
Con’s words were fierce and I wanted to cling to them because I felt so fucking adrift. I looked at him to try and find any proof that he was lying to me.
But Con didn’t lie and on the rare occasions he even tried, I could see it in his eyes. And I didn’t see even an ounce of dishonesty in them now.
He was telling the truth.
“Aleks likes grits. Do you have any of those?”
Con smiled. “My grandmother made them for my grandfather every morning for fifty years. If there isn’t a box of them in the pantry, I’ll throw my next match.”
I let out a little chuckle. We both knew he’d never intentionally let someone best him in the ring, so he had to be pretty sure about the contents of the pantry.
“I’ll bring them up in a bit,” Con said.
I nodded and moved past him, then went upstairs to the bedroom which, thankfully, wasn’t locked.
But it was also empty.
Chapter 12
Aleks
He found me pretty quickly and I felt bad when he threw open the bathroom door (which I’d actually managed to shut on my own this time) in a panic.
Vaughn took a few deep breaths when he saw me.
“Sorry,” I murmured. “I wanted to try and get the blood out,” I said as I motioned to the shirt in my hands. I’d put my own shirt back on so I could wash Vaughn’s out in the sink and while I’d managed to get the worst of the stains out, I actually missed wearing it. And it didn’t smell like him anymore.
