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“Wrong. I know you’re fucking. I’m here because no one has seen her, and she’s not answering her phone,” Carter snaps. “You were the last one to have eyes on her. So where the fuck did she go?”
Panic instantly erupts inside of me, and every part of me stiffens. My mouth goes dry, bile burning the back of my throat and my esophagus. I rise to my feet with my chest tight and every breath an exercise in futility. “I’m sure she’s fine,” I force myself to say.
We have a plan, after all. She’s supposed to be at home while I get the information we need to fool Drago, and I’ll contact her once I have the necessary pieces in hand. She agreed to it before she got out of the car. She agreed.
“How do you know?” Carter presses. He shoves his brutish knuckles into the pockets of his jeans like it will somehow stop him from hitting me again. “You said you dropped her at the house. Well, she’s not there.”
“What, did you want me to escort her inside? I pulled up to the goddamn door and dropped her off. I didn’t stay to call Edward and confirm with her that she made it safely over the threshold, no, but that’s where she’s supposed to be.”
She promised me she would stay put and wait for my call.
“I don’t know what you two think you’re doing, but things are getting serious with Prokhor. Right now, we need to draw the walls up tighter. We need to make sure everyone stays safe, especially Isabella with this business with the club and the bracelet.” Carter seems like he’s aged ten years in the past five minutes. Every part of him sags while I’ve never felt more electrified.
“We are all in this together. I understand.” My jaw hurts like a bitch, and anger swirls together with adrenaline. Where would Isabella have gone? “Did you have to hit me so hard?”
Who are her friends?
It’s my fault for not knowing. That’s the kind of thing I need to know. Who she interacts with. Where she goes.
“Apparently, I did,” Carter snaps. “Still, I don’t think you’ve learned, Ricardo.”
When our family first primed the Balestras for infiltration, we’d considered Isabella as possible marriage material before shifting the focus away from her immediately. We had information on her, but I’d let it lapse over the past few years, putting her into a neatly labeled box of no consequence.
Who she spoke to, where she often went to be social…I didn’t know.
Now she is everything. She’s the sun, and I’m the earth revolving around her. At least until we get this matter fixed, I tell myself.
“Mia is the captain of this ship whether you accept it or not. What she says goes. I support her in whatever she wants to do, and it’s time for you to bow your head and go by her rules. At least for the time being. This is her sister we’re talking about.” Carter is willing me to understand, and I do.
“I’ll find her. Okay?” It’s the only thing I can say. “Give me a chance to wrap things up here, and I’ll go get her myself. She’s probably out getting her nails done or something.”
Carter is unconvinced, his blue eyes narrowed to slits. Eventually, he nods, casting a final look at the stage. “Put some ice on your cheek. I’m sorry. You okay?”
He’d acted rashly, and the apology is more than I expected out of him. But I don’t take my eyes off him and his retreating form cutting through the crowd of horny bachelors ready to go all out before their mate’s big day.
“Yeah, I’ve been better,” I mutter.
My hands shake, unsteady, as I lift my cell to my face again. Checking the app I installed between my phone and Isabella’s to track her. The cell drops to the floor, the corner of the screen hitting and the screen protector cracking from impact.
She’s at Drago’s house. She left without me.
20
ISABELLA
Ricardo doesn't want to trust me to pull my weight? He wants to treat me like I’m the asset he moves around whenever it suits him as if I wasn’t an active participant in what went down last night? That’s fine.
I have my own men who can help me.
The car ride back to the house consisted of me sitting in the seat in borrowed clothes while Ricardo lectured me on what to do. AKA, what not to do, because he expects me to sit like a doll and wait for him to call me.
When I tried to get him to actually discuss his plans, he turned to stare out the window, gifting me with a video of his handsome profile and thick silence.
I have people who are willing to go above and beyond to work with me instead of just for me, I muse, and it’s moments like these where it’s time for me to lean into how powerful I actually am. The Balestras established their empire in this country. We have the best people on our team.
Ricardo might want to handle things on his own, on his terms, but not me.
Our people are good.
