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“Is he alive?”
“Yes. Want us to—”
“Extract the information you need first. Who he is. What he wants. And most importantly, who sent him there with those photographs and the threat.”
My heart skips a beat at the realization I haven’t yet told Rio what that man said to me in the club. I still need time to process what it means, but now I don’t have that luxury. Especially if Rio’s men are about to try and “extract” information…
“Are you going to kill him, Rio?”
His face shutters and his eyes are unreadable when he stares down at me. “Do you want me to answer you truthfully, Bianca?”
“That’s a yes, then.” My hand convulses, and I look down, shocked to realize I’m still holding on to the gun.
I don’t even have anywhere to holster it. He gave me a gun but no holster. I chuckle again, feeling as if I may be losing my mind. If I haven’t already lost it.
“My team will do what is required to get the information we need. So we can confirm who is behind this threat to our family and the business. And then we will stop the threat, once and for all. Is that not what you wish, too?”
“Of course. Only…” I have to tell him. “There’s something I need to share with you about—”
“Boss?” Danelli is back in Rio’s space, only this time there’s no hint of a smile whatsoever on theconsigliere’sgrim face.
Rio’s gaze homes in on Danelli. “What?” he barks out.
“We can’t find Emilia. Or the nanny. They’re not down in the bunker, nor are they upstairs. Everyone else is fine, and there’s no sign of any struggle, but there’s no trace of your daughter, sir. None at all.”
26
“Courage is found in unlikely places.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
Rio
“Emilia’s gone?”Bianca’s voice squeaks out of her, barely there, and her face drains of color.
The distraction stops me from going into a full-blown meltdown. But only just. I grab her by the elbows as her legs begin to crumple and help her gently down onto the top step of the front entrance.
Then I sit beside her. “Breathe,” I direct, pressing the back of her head down until it rests between her knees. “Just breathe. And keep your head down until you don’t feel like you’re about to faint anymore.”
I stroke her hair, trying to keep my touch gentle despite the furnace of rage that has ignited inside me.
I look up over her head at my second. “That explains the comms, then. The woman wasn’t here in the house when she took Bianca’s call. So, chances are itwasan EMP.”
Danelli’s eyes are stricken when he nods his agreement. He knows his team has failed me, and he knows there will be consequences for that failure. Out of everyone here, barring perhaps Bianca herself, Danelli understands my moods better than anyone. He knows my calm exterior is deceptive, and that the longer I hold everything in, the greater the explosion will be. It is only a matter of time.
But right this minute, Bianca needs me.
Me, not my inner monster. I wrestle the darkness back down into the box where it needs to stay. For now.
“Search the grounds,” I tell him. “If itwasa pulse, then it must have been small. Local. She may well have set it off herself on her way out.”
“But the men at the gate confirmed they didn’t see anyone leave…”
Danelli is right. And on the road in, we didn’t pass anyone coming the other way. I don’t believe she would have had that much of a head start. She likely thought she’d soothed our nerves when she reassured Bianca that everything was fine here.
I raise my head, my gut screaming at me with an undeniable message. Time to listen.
“The river,” I snap at my second. “There’ll be a boat.”
