CHAPTER 22
Leon
My dog barely acknowledges me while I rush to get ready in the morning, desperate to leave my house as soon as possible. It’s fine. I’m not a fan of her right now, either.
A part of me respects the fact that she protected Alex last night, but the other part of me screams ‘traitor’ internally. It’s not like I would have hurt Alex.
If she were anyone else, Dom would already have her six feet under. But the thought of hurting her sends bouts of rage through my bloodstream. That’s what angers me the most. I both hate her and can’t stand to hate her. I want her to hurt just like I did, but I want to protect her. My mind is a mess of contradictions when it comes to her, sending my inner control freak into a spiral.
Entering the casino, I walk right past my upstairs office and make my way downstairs. The dark, windowless room fits my mood better, anyway. It also hosts fewer memories of Alex spread out on my desk or down on her knees for me. Still, the image of her is impossible to get out of my head.
My office is spotless, with no trace of me treating it like a rage room. The first thing I do is pour myself a drink. Alcoholon an empty stomach at ten am isn’t the best idea I’ve had, but my facial muscles are in pain from my constant scowling. A few shots of rakia will surely relax them.
Three shots later, my theory is proven wrong. If anything, my jaw is even more clenched, my brows even lower than before. No matter how I try to distract myself, my brain can’t move away from the image of Alex in my apartment, shying away from me like she’s afraid.
You were trying to scare her,a voice in my mind adds, unhelpfully.
I let out a sigh, my head dropping to my hands. Her eyes were widened and damp; her frantic pulse practically visible. Her lip was trembling, but she held her own. If I listened to my heart, I’d say she was more confused than anything. There wasn’t recognition on her face when she found out I knew. Fuck, she’s good at what she does. A perfect actress.
A knock rings out, snapping me out of my funk. “Come in,” I say, raising my head to look half-presentable.
Dom’s massive frame fills the office. “Morning,šefe.” He eyes me warily, as if I’m fragile, and it’s just one more thing that pisses me off.
“Say what you need,” I bark out.
“I’m bringing good news, I think.”
My ears perk up.
“We found Luka’s car.”
His words echo in my chest. “Luka?”
Dom shakes his head. “No sign of him.”
I let out a sharp breath. It would be too good to be true. Still, this is a perfect opportunity to pull my mind off a certain redhead. “Take me to it.”
Twenty-five minutes later, we pull to the side of a deserted road, just outside of the city. Not even three hundred feet from the view of the road, I spot Luka’s abandoned Range Rover. Angry dark clouds cover the sky, but the rain has just subsided. I slam the car door behind me, mud sloshing with every step.
There go my shoes.
Dom doesn’t seem to mind; his high combat boots are made for weather like this. “The keys were inside,” he says, opening the doors of the abandoned vehicle.
I’m not sure what my eyes are searching for, but the inside is perfectly mundane. A few gas station receipts in the door pocket, a pair of black sunglasses on the dashboard. I open the glove compartment, finding nothing inside.
He took his gun. Or someone took it from him.
In the back seat, there are a couple of hundred-dollar bills strewn around. I pop the trunk, finding nothing but scratch marks left from various crates he hauls and a bunch of dog hair.
“Prints?” I break the silence.
Dom clears his throat. “It was wiped clean. No prints.”
“Stains?” My heart thumps faster, waiting to hear if my brother’s blood was found on the leather seats.
“We did a quick sweep with a UV light. No blood found, for now.”
A relieved breath slips out. “So they took his car to kidnap him and dropped it here?”
