I look at the men, hoping to incinerate them with my gaze. “Why the fuck didn’t either of you tell Declan someone was tailing him?”
They glance at each other again, and it’s Austin that answers. “We scared the weirdo off. He was medium height, five ten or so. Slim, but not skinny. Uh…he had a scar on his right eyebrow? I think.”
“You think? You fucking think?” I advance on him, but Kai holds him back and walks me across the room. I try to get back over to them, to beat them to a fucking pulp for not doing more to protect Declan, but Kai has a fucking hold on me that is unbreakable.
Carter steps around his desk and gets in Austin’s face. “You let someone get close enough to my brother, someone that could have had it out for him and you didn’t say shit?”
“I thought?—”
Carter’s hand connects with Austin’s face so hard a sharpcrack sounds across the entire room. “Yourfuckingthoughts got my brother kidnapped! I swear, if so much as one hair on his fucking head is out of place, I’ll kill you and everyone you love. You fucking got me?” Both men nod. “Now get out of my fucking sight and go look for my goddamn brother!”
They leave the office hurriedly.
I’m surprised Carter let them live, seeing as how, other than me, they’re the last ones to see him alive.
“You think that was the best idea, letting them leave here alive?” I ask Carter.
He rounds on me, breathing like he just ran a marathon. “You…you don’t get to ask me any fucking questions. Not right now.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “You think I had something to do with Declan being taken?”
“If I did, you’d be in the fucking ground.” He pushes his hands through his hair. “Tell me what you know again. I need every fucking detail. Every fucking word you spoke about this fucking bullshit blackmail.”
I go through everything again, listening to my own words to make sure there’s nothing I missed. There’s nothing I can think of that will lead to finding out who the fuck took my heart.
When I finish talking, Carter sits heavily behind his desk and Kai stands beside him, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. “We gotta find him. We gotta…I can’t lose my brother, pretty baby. I can’t.” He places his head in his hands and lets out a short sob.
Carter is hard as fuck on his brother, but I know he loves him. I know he’d do anything in the world to get him back, and I’ll help him with that. I don’t have to like him and even get along with him, but I have to get Declan back. It will take two of us to make that happen.
Sighing, I say, “I’ll go to Declan’s condo. He showed methe first letter that was sent to him.” Carter’s head snaps up. “There was an account number at the bottom.”
Carter wipes his face to clear the tears. “I have someone that could possibly trace it.”
“D said he tried that, but it was offshore.”
“That won’t matter,” Carter says, waving me away. “The man I know just needs the numbers. It won’t be easy and it won’t be fast,” his voice catches on the last word, “but it’ll get done. If we…if we don’t find him alive…” Carter drops his head again, soft sobs leaving his throat.
After a few moments, he wipes his face again and clears his throat. “If we don’t find him alive, we’ll find the person who threatened his life and I’ll fucking rip him apart while he’s still breathing.” He meets my eyes, his gaze boring into me. I can practically read his thoughts, begging me to give him something to work with. “Send me that account number as soon as you get it.”
“I will.” My voice sounds more gruff than I want, but it can’t be helped. I won’t break down right now, though. We can’t afford that. I need to put all my energy into finding Declan. Then I can cry and rage and rip the fucking world apart until I avenge him. “I’ll contact you as soon as I have it. And Carter?” He lifts a brow. “We’ll get him back. If he’s anything like the man I know and fell in love with, he’ll probably beat us to it and save himself.”
Carter breathes a chuckle. “Yeah, he might. He’s too much of an asshole to let someone do the saving. Just…help me in case he doesn’t.”
“You got it.”
I leave and head straight to Declan’s condo. I smile to myself as I slide my key into the lock, but it quickly disappears. I was supposed to use this key for the first time when Declan told me to come over. After I rang his doorbell ten times in a row just to wind him up.
My heart clenches as I push inside. He hasn’t been gone long, but his condo already feels uncharacteristically empty. Like the very air knows he’s gone.
Entering his room, I check his nightstand for the letters that were sent to Declan. Ten…fucking…threats. He only told me about four. How long was this going on before I found out? Did he keep some of them away from me?
That’s something I’ll ask when I get him back. For now, Carter needs these numbers.
I flick through the ransom letters until I find the first, then hold it up to the light to read the faded numbers.
Pulling out my phone, I quickly shoot off a message to Carter with the account information. He sends a thumbs up in return.
Now that I have nothing else to do but wait, exhaustion and pain crash down on me like a ton of bricks. I flop on the bed, the weight of the world on my shoulders.
