Kian: Lacey Santoro. I want to know everything.
Seconds later, a response comes.
Cassian: Is there a fucking reason you and your brothers always choose to text me at the crack of dawn?
Lips twitching, I respond.
Kian: Because you’re the sunshine we need in our lives, Cass. Just be glad you’re alive to wake up each morning instead of being buried in the desert where Xander wanted to put you.
Cassian: I’d like to see you motherfuckers try.
I laugh at that. Cassian Black is a dangerous man. He has skills that my brothers and I don’t. He could probably kill us before we could get to him, to be totally honest. He’s some sort of assassin, special-ops guy. I don’t even know what the fuck the guy does.
Cassian: I’ll get back to you soon.
As I peer down at Ace, sleeping peacefully next to me, my heart constricts.
“Daddy’s got you,” I whisper, running the back of my index finger over one of her cheeks.
I send a group text to my brothers as I lean my head against the dark upholstered headboard, listening to Ace’s steady breathing.
Kian: I’m not coming to work today.
Beckett: Dude, are you on your deathbed?
Cash: What hospital are you at?
Xander: Blink if you’re being held hostage.
Grinning, I send them the middle-finger emoji and toss the device aside. Maybe I’ll close my eyes for a bit and get some sleep until she wakes up. Then I’ll feed and hydrate her and snuggle up with her again. Sounds like a perfect fucking day to me.
Music starts playing, and it takes me a second to realize it’s Ace’s phone. At least she has one with her this time.
Seconds pass, and then the room goes quiet again, but not for long. Irritation prickles at the back of my neck. Who the fuck is calling her this early? I swear to God, if they wake her up by calling like this, I’m going to kill them.
Her phone stops ringing and then starts again. By the fourth time, I throw the covers off and pad barefoot across the thick carpet to where she dropped her purse on the floor by the door.
Jordyn and Quinn would murder me if they knew I was going through Ace’s purse. Apparently, that is a no-go zone for men. Which I never knew until I saw Cash with stitches in hishead from Jordyn throwing a high heel at him when he’d looked through her bag. I’m pretty sure that still hasn’t stopped him. He might be my oldest brother, but sometimes the guy is a fucking idiot. And I mean that with all the love in the world.
I grab her phone and stalk out of my bedroom, closing the door softly behind me. Then I storm down the hall toward the stairs, taking them two at a time as her phone lights up and starts ringing again.
Glaring down at the caller ID, my muscles tense.
L
That’s all it says.
“Who the fuck is this?” I demand as I answer.
The line is quiet for a moment before a male voice speaks.
“Where the fuck is Lacey?”
White-hot anger races through my veins like fire as I stop in my tracks. Who does this motherfucker think he is calling her by her first name?
“None of your business, asshole. How the fuck do you know her?”
The line goes silent, and I glare at the screen, waiting for another call to come in from the man I’m going to hunt down and kill for calling her.
