Air huffs out of Victor’s mouth. “Hera is safe, but only Carole and Tessa were at the safe house when I arrived. Lili, Anna-Lynn, and Jocelyn weren’t there.”
Oh no. No, no, no!
“What do you mean?” All the blood drains from Ares’s face. “Lili messaged me thirty minutes ago to say she was there and she was safe.”
“Our mother and sister were with Lili, and we’ve had similar messages.” Jase grabs Victor away from Ares and shoves him into the wall.
“I am guessing they were forced to send those,” Victor replies. “Or someone took their phones and sent the messages. While I don’t have proof, my gut says Carter has them.”
Terror engulfs me. How is this happening? We thought we were being careful, but we’ve been stupid. We should not have let them leave without one of us. Hiding out here was the wrong decision. All it has done is place our loved ones in harm’s way. If he can’t get to us, Carter will use them to draw us out.
We all thought they were safe to go with men Eric trusted, but maybe the moles in his empire aren’t just on the South American side. It’s possible Carter has spies working for him within the US operation too. Or else the car was ambushed on the way to the safe house.
Not that it matters any longer. If Carter has them, we need to bring the fight to him.
Jase presses a gun to Victor’s temple, and tension bleeds into the air. “What the fuck is going on?”
“I’m not your enemy, Jason.” Victor visibly composes himself. His gaze swings around all of us. “I’m on your side. I swear, but we have been compromised.”
“Dad isn’t picking up,” Baz says with his ear pressed to his cell.
“He won’t. If he went to meet with Saunders, Carter has him.”
“Saunders works for Carter?” Baz asks, incredulity oozing from his tone and his expression.
I have no clue who this Saunders person is, but obviously Eric Stewart considered him an ally, and he walked straight into a trap.
Ares is pacing the floor, repeatedly calling his sister, and growing increasingly agitated. Bree is also on the phone, attempting to reach her mother and sister.
“It would seem so.”
Jase presses the muzzle into Victor’s temple. “How would you know that?”
Victor squeezes his eyes closed for a second before opening them. Pain floods his face. “I had my suspicions, but I couldn’t be sure until I had more proof. It’s Vincent.” His voice cracks.
“What is Vincent?” Baz takes out his gun and presses the muzzle into Victor’s other temple. “I swear to God, Victor, if you don’t spit it out, I’m going to riddle you full of bullets.”
“Vincent has betrayed us. He’s working with Carter, and I think he’s taken your families directly to him to use as bait.”
ChapterFifty-One
Ashley
“You should have come to us when you first had suspicions.” Baz is berating Victor as we head out in an armored van toward the crypt. We have four trusted Stewart guards with us, but we couldn’t risk calling in anyone else because Baz is nervous about trusting anyone now. He had explained Saunders was a long-term contact of his father’s and an old college buddy. If he could turn on him, anyone could.
It's a shit show.
But at least we know where they are, thanks to Victor. He suspected his brother was working for the other side in recent months, so he put a tracker in all of his boots while he investigated to see if his hunch was correct.
“I didn’t want to raise the alarm unless I was sure,” Victor explains. He rubs a hand along the back of his neck. “He’s my brother, Baz. What if you suspected Jase of treachery? Would you be so quick to turn him over without proof?”
Strained silence filters into the air.
“Are you sure my mother is safe?” Ares asks.
His knee is bouncing up and down, and he’s close to full-blown nuclear detonation. He only just got Lili back. If anything happens to her, he will never get over it. I try to take his hand, to comfort him, but he shoves me away.
It’s typical Ares behavior in a crisis. I’m trying not to take it personally, but it’s hard.
