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“They are. And Carnifax just messaged.” Ariel’s voice sounded behind us.
I turned to Ariel, who was standing in the hallway, her broken wrist cradled to her front, the lines on her face tight from pain. She wasn’t putting much weight on her injured leg, but she shouldn’t be putting any weight on it at all.
“What the fuck are you doing out of bed?” I rushed over to her, picking her up despite her squeaked protest. “You’re not supposed to walk on your leg yet.”
I placed her back on the bed and she flinched at the movement. She’d never tell me that she was in pain. After checking the time on my watch I picked up the almost empty water glass from the nightstand. “You’re not due for more of the good painkillers for another hour. But you can take Tylenol.”
Liam had followed me into the room, his arms crossed, his eyes on me. I ignored his stupid smirk and raised brows as he watched me get out the pills, then fill the glass with water from the bathroom tap.
Ariel took the pills without hesitation, emptying her glass before sitting it back on the nightstand. “Carnifax is willing to exchange Lenny for me. He said he’ll send instructions in an hour.
Cursing, I grabbed her phone from the nightstand. The message was still on the lit-up screen, and my fingers tightened as I read it. Liam had moved and was looking over my shoulder.
“Not fucking happening.”
“Jude, I have to. He’s my brother.”
Shaking my head, I dropped her phone on the bed. “You’re not going alone.”
“I don’t have a choice. They know I’m with you. They know you’ll try to come along. And they’ll be prepared.”
Liam cleared his throat. “I’ll get our team on it.”
He walked away, leaving us in charged silence.
Taking her hand, I held it against my chest. “You always have a choice. And I won’t let you make a foolish one.”
Shaking her head, she leaned back. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
Standing up, I narrowed my eyes at her. “Watch me.”
And then I left, closing the door behind me. There was no way I’d sit by and watch while she put herself in danger.
Joining my brother in Dad’s office, we combed through real estate listings and money trails. We had slowly been building a better picture of Gladius and all its inner workings and connections, and to say it was impressive would be calling a rocket launcher a puny little gun. They had their hands in everything. And taking them on would mean we would have to use every resource we had at our disposal and those we didn’t yet.
We didn’t pause for food or a break, Freya popping in to refill our coffee cups. Only once my eyes refused to stay open did I return to my room. I had hoped to have something for Ariel before I went back to her.
But all I had was a big fat nothing.
My bedroom was silent, the door to the bathroom open. The bed was rumpled, but the room was the same as when I’d left.
“Ariel?”
My voice echoed through the large space without getting an answer. Heart sinking, I checked the bathroom, walk-in closet, and balcony. All empty. All telling me what I didn’t want to believe when she didn’t answer.
She was gone.Fucking again.
Rushing back outside, I knocked on both my brothers’ doors. “Wake up, dickheads. Ariel is gone.”
Freya’s door was the first to open, despite me not having knocked on it. “She went to Carnifax by herself?”
I nodded, my fists clenched tightly, my body feeling like it was about to burst apart at the seams.
She leaned back into her room, where Gunner was saying something that was too low for me to make out. Freya stuck her head back outside. “He’s got Carter on it.”
Gunner’s security firm was the best in the country, and Carter was a genius with computers. If there was a way to locate Ariel, he’d find it.
My brothers appeared in various stages of undress.
