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“Hang on, Connor.” Lachlan shakes his head at me. “We’re batting a thousand with fucking new guards. Connor isjustfinding out that his guy’s been lying about being here. He just confessed that Dante told him she was going home five fucking days ago.”
I grab the phone. “Connor, what the fuck?”
“Kieran, I’m on my way to see this clown right now with Ewan. He wanted the pay. Said he didn’t think anything was wrong about her uncle picking her up, so he didn’t bother ringing the alarm. He liked the gig, apparently, just sitting here. I’m sorry. Ewan and Griffin will be at your house tomorrow to give you a better explanation.” His brother Griffin is Ewan’s second in command.
“I don’t want a bleedin’ explanation. I wantmy wife.” I take a breath to calm down. I’ve known Connor a long time. Shite like this happens. “Have Ewan call me.” I hang up and turn to Riordan. “FindDante.” Something about this feels so damn off.
Samantha lets us use her loft. Even with this beast of a Rottweiler sniffing me, I smell Isabella’s scent. I don’t go into the room where she slept. It would hurt too much.
The dog whimpers and paces back and forth in front of the door, making it hard for me to think. “What’s wrong with the dog?”
Samantha shrugs. “Been that way since Izzy left. They really bonded. Peaches even slept with her.”
“Aye, pup.”I know how you feel…
“Now I feel extra bad,” Sam says, fidgeting.
“For what?” I hate chitchat, but I need something to do, or I’ll scream while Riordan talks to Balor on a video call from his phone.
“I’m going to Italy next semester. I have an internship at Prada-Milan. I need to re-home her.”
“Her?” I look down at the dog’s thick, flat skull. “What’s her name?”
“Peaches.”
I smile, thinking Peaches and I have a future together. Especially if this beast loved my Isabella.
“Balor, are youkiddingme?” Riordan says, holding his head in his hands, then glances at me with horror in his eyes.
“Bale?” I glance down at his face on the phone, also looking worried. “Talk to me. What the hell did you find?”
“I tracked Dante’s cell phone to a house a few blocks from his. No signal from Isabella’s new phone. But I picked up on another one pinging from there.”
“Whose house, Balor?” Riordan asks.
“It came up owned by some dummy corporation. One of my guys is peeling that onion.”
My head is spinning. “Okay, so she’s at this house. Let’s go get her.”
“Hang on!” Balor screeches. “There’s more. I… I broke into Dante’s phone once I homed in on his signal. Shitload of texts. Can’t go through them all. Guy fucking deletes nothing. Except…”
“Except?” I’m definitely going to scream.
“There’re several hediddelete. But I was able to dig them up. Okay, it’s muddy. But here’s what I’m seeing at first glance, using keywords in my search tool. Turns out, Koslov’s death squaddidn’tpeel away from Parisi’s mansion after it blew up.”
My body goes still. “Thoseweren’tRussians?”
“They were Russian,” he says, almost with a laugh. “It was Ivan and this guy. Recognize him? I just got a match.” He holds up a photo.
Jaysus, our mystery Russian from the dress shop.
“And that other phone pinging from the house?” Balor keeps going. “It’s Ivan.”
“Fuck me.” The memory of the rope, the drugs, and the knife he dared to bring onto my property slams into me. Ivan. “I’m not surprised he still wanted my Isabella. But Dante? He’shelpingIvan?”
“I dug up Ivan’s buried texts, too. His Russian friend wasn’t there tokillIsabella that day. He was there to kidnap her.”
I snap my fingers. “Balor, hold on. Guys, we’re fucking out of here.”
