I pause, a cigarette at my lips.
I’ve just chain-smoked the entire pack. I hadn’t touched one since high school, but I’ve fallen off the wagon, hard. My girl messes with me in ways I can barely wrap my head around.
“The Feds have a whole file on her. They—”
“Vincent,” I cut him off. “Right now, I don’t give a fuck about the Feds. I want to find my pet. Where did your uncle take her? Where is Gabriel keeping her?”
I narrow my eyes at him, and he looks down. My assistant may have sworn loyalty to Devil, but I still have a pinprick of doubt about him. He is, after all, very closely related to the leader of the Angels and his brother. Even though his father, the third brother, is one of the few non-corrupt prosecutors in the state, and wants nothing to do with them.
I found Vincent after he’d been beaten to a pulp by Gabriel. I accepted that he wanted no part of Angel. Still, I’ve remained cautious around him. And today, I’m more wary than ever.
I’m pretty sure the kid knows of my suspicions. He also knows that if anything happens to my pet, he’s a dead man.
The minute I received Gabriel’s text, I had him start tracing her. But now, he’s talking to me about the Feds. What the fuck.
“Just listen,” he pleads. “This is serious.”
“You know what’s serious?” I grunt. “My girl, in the hands of your uncle.” I relent when I see his urgent expression. “Fine, tell me. But be quick about it.”
“They’re on her,” he says quickly. “I don’t think they know she was… in captivity.” He mouths the last words. “But they know she’s involved with Devil, and she’s become a target of their investigation. They’ve started researching her past.”
“Okay.” I nod, annoyed. This was all to be expected. Right now, it doesn’t matter. She’s in imminent danger.
“They’ve found some stuff,” he hedges. “More stuff than I’d found.”
“What?” I growl.
“They’ve discovered… it wasn’t a murder-suicide. She killed her father.”
The cigarette remains frozen at my lips, its butt burning my fingers.
“The minute you find her and bring her back, they’ll swoop in,” he adds. “She’ll be fucked. They’re going to arrest her on murder charges. Maybe they’ll offer her a plea bargain if she talks about you. But she won’t get out of a long sentence anyway, and you know as well as I do that if she rats she’s dead the moment she walks into prison.”
Just then, the door to my office bursts open, and Vale pops his head in.
“What happened to knocking?” I growl, more out of habit than anything else. I feel weirdly detached from my body. Like I’m staring at what’s happening from far away. Suddenly, every problem that’s kept me from sleeping for the past year has faded away in importance. All that matters is her. I would gladly go to prison for the rest of my life if it meant protecting her. I would happily fry.
“We found her,” mutters Vale.
I jump up.
“We also found the car that took her,” he adds quickly. “Her belongings are still in there. A bag full of her shit. And get this.” He pauses for dramatic effect while I click my tongue impatiently. “She had the nanochip. We found it in her belongings. To be specific, we found it in that cheap locket she stole.”
I pause, staring at him. He glares right back.
“You’re going to kill her,” he says.
It’s not a question; it’s a statement.
I keep my eyes glued on him, and in his eyes, I read a world of threats.
If you don’t do it, I will. And I’ll kill you too. I’ll fuck you up and Devil will be mine.
In that moment, I know he’s dead.
But not yet. Not for a while. I can’t kill him just like that. He has powerful allies. It’s going to be a slow, carefully-planned execution. I’m going to need to bide my time. Figure out how to corner him.
Just like he’s cornering me right now.
