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That sounded more like him, and I ground my teeth. “She can be in any fucking lane she wants, and you’d be wise to realize that.”
He exhaled deeply. “As long as she doesn’t get back into cahoots with the Irish, I can deal with her.”
Andrei stared at me, and I met his gaze once before he stepped forward. “We have questions.”
Damien raised his brows. “Why do I get the impression I’m in trouble? Didn’t I do what you asked of me—make amends with the girl?”
The girl. I could tell there was still work to do, but he’d done something. He’d tried. “I need to know about the lenience on payments in exchange for information,” I told him.
He tilted his head. “I didn’t give anyone lenience,” he said.
“We’re behind on payments, and we saw the letter. Irish was offered lenience in exchange for information. They wanted to know how to cash in on the money after killing Ciara, and it was your job to collect.”
“I just made amends with her,” Damien said, raising his voice. “Go and ask her if you don’t believe me. There isn’t bad blood between us at all.”
“Then what the fuck is this?” I asked, lifting the paper and slamming it down in front of him. The letter that granted immunity to people for information—information that he would have received. He looked over the sheet, shaking his head as he read it.
His eyes widened as he held it up. “Why the fuck would I have done something like this without consulting you?”
“You’ve been against having Ciara here since I decided to bring her. Why would you change your mind?”
“Because you fucking love her, and if I didn’t change my mind, I’d lose my job and the only family I’d ever had,” he shouted. He pointed toward the beach. “Go and ask her if you don’t believe me. I don’t have anything to hide.”
“Your sister is your family,” I retorted. “Why would you need us?”
“My sister took away the only family I had. She’s the reason I lost my fiancée, and it was her own selfish decision to bail on our parents that got them killed. She’s no more my family than a sewer rat.” Spit flew from his mouth as he spoke the raw, undiluted truth. Because of Nadia, their parents had been caught in a trap and executed. She was supposed to be on the lookout, but she bailed to party. She’d been remorseful, but it had still been her fault, and everyone knew it.
Nadia had made mistakes, and we had all forgiven her for them. I hadn’t lost anything because of her mistakes, and I wouldn’t turn away a good employee because of some animosity, but it made sense why Damien would turn his back on her.
“I’d rather you fucking kill me than accuse me of betraying you like this, man. You’re my family.”
I looked at Andrei, and remorse flashed in his eyes for a moment as I considered. I saw them all as employees. I tried to keep everyone at an arm’s length, but as he called me his family, I realized that I’d allowed them to slip through the cracks. He’d become more than a loyal employee over the years, and I should have seen it. If he were anyone else, I would have killed him for even suspecting this, but I hadn’t. I’d searched for proof because he did mean something to me.
But I couldn’t allow myself to feel that right now. Not until I was sure he was cleared of the things I accused him of.
I saw where he’d come from on the beach, and I saw that Ciara had still been outside when we’d left, but I didn’t fully believe that he’d changed his mind and made amends. I couldn’t believe it until I knew for certain. I drew back my curtains and strained to see the beach. She was no longer sitting there, and I furrowed my brows, scanning again.
“Where is she?” I snarled at Damien, scanning again and hoping I miraculously spotted her out there.
Andrei didn’t hesitate before storming from the room and through the house. Damien shook his head. “She was there when I came in here.”
I knew he was telling the truth, but fear coursed through me all the same. I waited for Andrei to shout that he’d found her, but as he rushed from room to room, I realized what had happened. I could feel it in my chest that she wasn’t near, and I whipped toward Damien, grabbing him by the throat and shoving him into the glass window. I heard a crack, but I didn’t care. Not as Andrei continued searching the house.
“What did you do?” I snarled in his face.
“I’ve been in here with you the whole time. I haven’t touched her, man. I swear it. I had nothing to do with this.”
Andrei’s footfall came back into the room as I slammed Damien’s head back into the window again. This time the glass shattered, and I threw him to the floor, looking at Andrei. Fury coursed through me in a way that told my body a battle was on the horizon.
Andrei only shook his head.
“I didn’t do anything,” Damien shouted. “I’ll help you find her. I’ll do anything to find her.”
I couldn’t believe him. Not when I couldn’t think of a rational alternative. It had to be Damien because if it was him, there was a plausible way to find her. If it wasn’t, though…
If someone else had her…
“There’s another option we haven’t explored,” Andrei said coldly. “Nadia.”
