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She chuckles. “You’re gonna get me in trouble with the boss, Miss Lady. It’s already well past the time you’d normally leave.”
She’s right. It’s nearly nine. I’ve been leaving at around six or seven. Dru’s already gone, but I allowed her to leave early because she had another date with Tony.
“I promise I’ll be done soon.” I clasp my hands together, and she laughs.
“Okay. Well, I’ve finished decorating and painting that whole area. Come up and have a look if you want a little break and some coffee.”
A break might be good, and I’m eager to see what she’s done. It looked amazing when I last checked. “Give me five minutes, and I’ll be up.”
“Okay. I’ll get the coffee ready. Yuri got us the good stuff.”
When she leaves, I set the invoices I’ve finished to the side and label a Post-it note with instructions on what I need to do next so I can pick up where I left off easily after my break.
As I walk out of the office, a chill from outside hits me. A look to my left shows me the fire escape door has been left open. The guards wouldn’t normally do that.
As I’d be freezing later if it stayed open, I divert to close the door.
Just before I reach it, I stop mid-stride when my gaze falls on Jeanne lying on the floor by the stairwell.
There’s blood running down her forehead.
“Jeanne!” I rush to her side and check her. She’s breathing, but faintly.
I’m about to get up to call Yuri and Vladmir, but something sharp wedges into the side of my neck.
I turn and come face to face with Esperanza smiling down at me as I sink to the floor and whatever the hell she just gave me numbs my body.
“Aww, there, there Princesca,” she coos in a sugary voice, her Spanish accent stronger. “It’s funny, though, and ironic. I should have known you were Santiago’s daughter from the moment I saw you. Seeing you now like this, with desperation in your eyes, I see the resemblance. You look just like your father before he died.”
Her words die in my mind just as they begin to process, and I realize what she means. Then darkness covers everything, swallowing me whole.
ChapterThirty-Four
Malik
Islam my fist into the wall next to me, leaving a crack and bruising my knuckles. The pain that shoots through my fingers is welcomed. It gives me something to feel other than rage.
They took Gwen.
They fucking took my wife and hurt Jeanne.
Diego. He’s a dead man when I find him.
But damn me, I left my best men here to make sure shit like this didn’t happen, yet it happened anyway.
Fucking shit like that isn’t supposed to happen when you have top-notch security.
I don’t even know when she got taken.
Yuri called me half an hour ago to drop the news I never wanted to hear, and I rushed straight to the store.
He told me that he discovered Gwen was missing and Jeanne was hurt when he’d come inside to check what time they were planning to leave.
What he found was Jeanne on the ground, barely conscious, and Gwen gone.
Jeanne’s in the hospital now. She maintained she was okay because she wanted to help find Gwen, but I insisted she get herself checked out.
I have my brothers and my men looking for Gwen. I’m going out on the street, too, but I’ve been here at the store with Leo and a few others from my senior team searching for clues.
