“You didn’t fucking tell me that?—”
“Because we lost the motherfucker minutes after locating him.”
My blood runs cold.
“So Marco’s in the wind.”
“Yeah.Disappeared sometime in the middle of the night.Ditched his hotel room, left the surveillance team I assigned eating dust, and there’s more.”
My jaw tightens.“How much more?”
“That Hammerfall Technologies crew that caught you off guard on Broadway?”he says evenly.“They hit the location minutes after Marco bailed.Ransacked the place.”
I close my eyes for half a second.I hate the reminder—but he’s not wrong.
“Son of a bitch,” I growl.“You think he’s headed this way?”
“We don’t think,” Noel says.“We know.”
My stomach drops.
“The last traffic cam hit places him just outside Newark heading north.Solo.Driving a nondescript black SUV.Unmarked—fuck it could be ours.Which means he either found a way into a pretty high-tech motor pool or he’s not just a dumb hacker.”
“What the hell is he doing?”I mutter.“Think he knows we’ve got active protection on his sister.”
“Don’t know, but, well,” Noel replies, voice grim, “seems like he’s out for himself.Who knows what this SOB wants to get out of her?Money, blood, or worse.”
I scrub a hand down my face, anger simmering beneath my skin.
“You think he’s trying to hurt her?Use her?”
I know what Kane means, and it’s making my blood boil.There are some things more valuable than access keys on the black market.
Like pretty American sisters, for example.
Over my dead body, Motherfucker.And I have no intention of dying yet.
“I wish I knew,” Noel says.“I do think he’s planning to disappear for a good long haul this time.Maybe he just thinks he can squeeze money out of her before he runs.Point is—he doesn’t trust anyone.And he’s scared.”
My teeth grind together.“Scared means dangerous.Desperate.”
I glance down at my hands, flexing my fingers, trying to keep them steady.
I need to protect her.
I will protect her.
She’s sweet.Soft.Too good for this mess.
My mind flashes to this morning—the lavender shower bomb she insisted we use.Me, grumbling about smelling like a florist.Her laughing, telling me it was relaxing.
The way I tickled her until she couldn’t breathe, then kissed her until I couldn’t.
Perfect.
Right.
Ours.
