I lower the gun. “Sit.”
She sits and lets out a shaky breath. Fuentes grabs her hand, but his eyes are on mine.
“We don’t know where Ayla is, but we’re the only family she has so if you’re looking for her to hurt her, might as well kill us right here.”
I stare at Fuentes.
Brave.
Stupid, but brave.
“I’m not here to hurt her,” I say, holstering the gun. “I’m here to find her.”
“Why?” Jace asks, voice hard. Protective.
I don’t answer that. Can’t. Because I don’t fucking know why anymore. Started as curiosity. Became obsession. Now it’s something darker, something that claws at my chest every second she’s gone.
“When did you last see her?” I ask instead.
The three exchange glances. Some silent conversation happening that I’m not part of.
“Weeks ago, maybe,” Kay says finally. “She comes and she goes. She works a lot.”
“She works for me, on my territory and she hasn’t been to work.”
Another glance between them. Fuentes leans back in his chair, studying me with eyes too old for his face.
“Look,” he says. “We know of you and we respect it. But Ayla’s been through enough shit without adding the Bratva to her problems.”
“I’m not her problem.”
“Then what are you?”
The question hangs in the air. I don’t have an answer that makes sense. Don’t have words for whatever the fuck this is.
I exhale hard and ignore his question.
“If you see her, you know how to reach me.”
Fuentes exhales slowly. “You think she’ll come back?”
I look at him.
At the warehouse. The bare table. The three of them clustered together like a thing that learned how to survive by staying small.
“She doesn’t know how not to,” I say.
Jace scoffs. “You don’t know her.”
I don’t bother correcting him.
I turn and walk out. The night air hits cold, sharp. The city hums like it doesn’t care that she’s missing—like it hasn’t swallowed people whole before.
I slide into my car and sit there for a moment, engine off, hands resting on the wheel.
They haven’t seen her in weeks. She’s been gone for days. But she didn’t take everything.
I start the engine. I don’t call anyone. I don’t send men. I don’t widen the net.
