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1
GRIFFIN
Iglanced at the empty chair where Natalie usually sits. I’m not sure what I’m more upset about, missing proof of her not betraying us, or not knowing where she is now.
Loyalty means everything to me, but Natalie’s situation is off. I just can’t believe she betrayed us. Someone framed her, I’m sure of it. Probably her mother or someone involved with her. I just can’t wrap my mind around Natalie going against her brother and the hotel. She has been nothing but dedicated to us.
“Just find her,” Mason orders, rapping his pen against the table. “Find them both.”
He has been back to his grumpy self ever since he found out his sister was possibly compromised two weeks ago. Especially after a family member already betrayed him. I think the only reason he hasn’t completely gone off the rails is his relationship with Teagan. What started as a tremendous pain in our ass turned out to be our saving grace.
“We’ll find her.” Teagan’s voice calms Mason immediately. Tank, Dallas, and I all nod in agreement.
Mason’s shoulders relax, and he sighs. “I know, but it’s taking too long.”
“How about I go out looking for her?” I offer. “The old-fashioned way.” For the last ten years or so, tracking has been done almost exclusively virtually. With technology evolving, surveillance cameras and us being able to tap into almost every electronic device in the world, it’s made going out physically seem useless.
“I agree.” Dallas slaps his palm onto the table. “The old-fashioned way is going to be our only chance. Natalie is smart and knows too much to get caught any other way. But I should be the one going.”
Before I can object, Mason lifts his hand. “I’m sorry, Griffin, but Dallas is right. He should go. I need you here, and he has more experience with that kind of tracking.”
“So he gets to go because he’s old as dirt?”
“Yes,” Dallas answers, unimpressed by my jab at his age.
“Kindergarten kids stay here,” he adds under his breath, so only I can hear.
Asshole.
“I’m going to check her apartment again. Do a full sweep, looking for anything we might have missed the first time.” I can’t stand the way he folds his arms and looks around like his word is law and nobody had better say otherwise.
What I hate more is the feeling that my hands are tied. I can’t step aside and let him look for Natalie on his own. If this were anyone else, in any other situation, things might be different. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. He’s had enough experience.
This is Natalie. Not some random target. And she’s more than Mason’s sister—at least, she is to me. But what do I do? Announce that? Sure, and get my balls cut off. It would be beyond stupid and selfish to admit there was more to us than a strictly professional relationship. Not that we were ever serious—and it’s because we were never serious that it’s not worth bringing it up and complicating things. It doesn’t matter howclose Mason and I work together. He might trust me with his life and his secrets, but his sister? That’s another story.
“I’ll go with you. Two sets of eyes will make the work go by quicker.” And I’m not waiting for him to give me the okay, either. I’m not asking for permission.
We exchange a glance, and I lift an eyebrow. Go ahead. Keep fighting with me. I almost wish he would, but he says nothing, only giving his head the smallest shake before shrugging. “Whatever you say. Time is of the essence. I can’t waste any more of it dealing with temper tantrums.”
“Careful,” I warn. “Much more of that, and I might knock the dentures out of your mouth.”
“Enough.” Mason’s angry stare lands on me, then on Dallas. “This bullshit isn’t helping. Get it together. Find her.”
If only it were that easy.
I follow Dallas out of the room and into the hall. Natalie’s suite is on the seventeenth floor. We take the stairs from Mason’s, neither of us saying a word. It’s safer that way.
A cursory search was done of Natalie’s apartment when she vanished. At the time, there was a little more panic—after everything Mason went through to get Teagan back, the fear that their psychotic mother had also targeted Natalie was real. As far as we know, she was just as much in the dark about her mother being alive as Mason was before Beverly showed her face for the first time in years. Mason was terrified his sister had been taken, that somehow their mother’s twisted psyche had resulted in more violence and cruelty.
Right away, that theory died when it became clear Natalie took precautions before leaving. This was not a woman who was kidnapped in the dead of night. Her CIA training told her not to leave anything behind that would lead us to her, but also not to take anything that could be easily traced. Finding shehad destroyed her electronic devices and wiped her hard drives drove the point home.
She was on her own and did not want to be found.
Dallas uses the pass key to access her suit. Only Mason and Nat have a whole floor to themselves since there are the two who usually stay at the Hotel all the time. Their jobs as the manager and the decision maker demand all of their time. We step into her apartment, and right away, the familiar scent of Natalie’s perfume overwhelms me. Vanilla with notes of orange, cinnamon, and sandalwood. It’s subtle, something I’ve smelled a million times and never consciously connected to her. Smelling it now sets off a bitter pang deep in my gut. Loss. Regret.
Could I have stopped this from happening somehow?
Big surprise, no such emotions burden Dallas. I’m fairly sure he swore off genuine human emotion before I was born. “Let’s split up. I’ll take the bedroom, bathroom, and office. You can have the rest.” As usual, his word is law, and he marches off to the bedroom without missing a beat.
