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"I'll always come home safely." Once upon a time, I might have taken risks, but not anymore. I have her to think about now. I will be making it home to her, no matter what the job is or what I need to do.
"Okay," she says simply, her voice small.
"I love you, starlight."
"I love you too."
I brush my mouth across hers, and then reluctantly slide her off my lap so I can get dressed.
Brady is holed up in an old, abandoned cabin an hour outside of Silver Spoon Falls. It's in the middle of fucking nowhere, about as far off the grid as you can get in Texas. By the time I pull up outside, Dante's already there.
Brady's tied to a chair, dripping blood all over the floor. He looks just enough like Aurora to make it obvious their related, but it's clear he's lived hard and fast. He's clearly on something. Even tied to the chair, he can't stay still.
Cold fury swirls through me as I look him over. I want to rip him limb from limb, make him regret every single second she spent locked in that fucking room, living in fear. But when I go home to her when this is over, I want to go home with a clear conscience, too.
"Has he said anything?"
Dimitri snorts. "He hasn't stopped fucking talking since we dragged his sorry ass out of bed. He denied having anything to do with the abduction."
"You believe him?"
Dimitri strolls toward the cabinet over the stove and hooks a finger around the knob, pulling it open. Stacks of cash sit inside, most still neatly bound with bands to hold them together.
"What do you think?" he asks drily.
"I told you already; I won it playing poker," Brady wheezes. His nose is broken.
"That's funny," Dante says. "Because your brother noted the sequence number of every bill he turned over to the people who took his daughter. Guess what? You've got a whole hell of a lot of them here."
A moment of panic flashes in Brady's eyes.
It's enough to confirm that he's about as innocent as Dahmer.
"She's your niece, you piece of shit," I growl, planting my fist in his face.
He yowls as the chair topples over backward with him still in it.
No one makes a move to help get him back up.
I kick him in the ribcage and then step on his hand, satisfied when I hear the bones crack beneath my boot.
He screeches in pain before Dimitri and Marco haul the chair upright again.
"She spent days listening to them debate whether they should sell her to recoup what you stole out from under them or if they should just kill her and be done with it." I grip him by the throat, getting right in his face. "She'll spend the rest of her life remembering that fear, you sorry son of a bitch."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he wheezes, his face turning red.
A clatter sounds from behind me as I hit him again. Everyone else in the room turns, but I'm focused on the motherfucker tied to the chair in front of me as stark terror overtakes his expression as he realizes I'm not going to let him breathe.
"Constantine, let him go!"
I whip my head around as Dillon's voice sounds behind me.
He holds his hands up to show he's unarmed. "Let him go," he says again. "You know if you handle it this way, I won't have a choice but to investigate. It'll lead me right to your fucking doorstep. You'll end up in a jail cell, and he'll win."
"He'll still be dead."
"And your girl will be alone," he says quietly. "She'll spend the rest of her life loving you through plexiglass. Is that what you want for her?"
"How the fuck did you find him?"
"Followed you." Dillon shrugs. "Work smarter, not harder. I knew you'd find him sooner or later."
"He doesn't deserve to walk out of here."
"So break his fucking kneecaps, and I'll drag his sorry ass out." Dillon props his shoulder up against the door. "Frankly, I don't give a shit what kind of damage you do to him so long as you leave him breathing." He nods his head. "Which he won't be in about thirty seconds. Don't make me arrest you for murder tonight and break that girl's heart."
"He's right."
I glare at Dante, who shrugs. "You know he is. Until he showed up, we could have buried him where no one would find him, but that ship sailed. If you kill him now, he'll arrest you. It'll be a whole goddamn ordeal. Frankly, I think death is too easy for him. Let him rot in prison for the rest of his life."
Dimitri chuckles. "Doubt it'll be too long unless they put him in solitary. He fucked with the cartels. They have all kinds of friends in prison. He'll be dead or wish he was dead before his cell door even closes behind him."
