The driver saved me from my thoughts when he stopped the car outside of Serena’s apartment. Az and I took the stairs together while the driver waited by the curb. My heartbeat pounded in my ears as I knocked. Moments passed in excruciating silence. Noah didn’t answer.
“He’s probably at work,” I muttered, trying to ignore the heavy sense of doom. I didn’t know Noah’s schedule, but it seemed weird he’d head into the cafe while Serena was missing. Or maybe he was out in the streets, searching for her. That made more sense.
Az placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Try your key.”
Nodding, I unlocked the door. It creaked as it swung wide. Total carnage swept through the silent apartment, and a strangled gasp of shock popped from my throat. I stumbled inside, gazing around at the destroyed apartment. Remnants of the sofa were scattered across the floor. The cotton tufts fallen like soldiers on a battlefield. Broken dishes from the kitchen joined them, and lemon-scented body wash bottles rolled out from the open bathroom door.
I stepped back and into Az’s firm, unyielding chest. His heartbeat pounded against me. “Az…”
“It’s alright,” he murmured, squeezing my shoulder with his warm hand. “Serena wasn’t here when this happened.”
No. Because she’d already been taken.
“But what does this mean?” Tears filled my eyes. The reality of the danger we faced flooded in hot and fast like a river of molten lava. Az and his Legion were Princes of Hell, but they hadn’t been able to stop this from happening. Serena had been taken, and if Noah had been here when the killer had arrived…
“It was him, wasn’t it?” I asked in a small voice. “Whoever took Serena came and destroyed her apartment.”
“Most likely, yes.” His voice was hard and edged in steel.
“But why?” I whirled to face him, searching his eyes for answers he didn’t have. “What’s the point of this?”
He shook his head and gazed around at the ransacked apartment. “Honestly, Mia, I have no idea. He was clearly looking for something. Maybe he thought you’d left something here?”
My heart skipped a beat. “Like what?”
“Something that smells like you,” he murmured, jaw clenching. “If he knows your scent, he can find you more easily.”
Ice slid down my spine. “That’s horrifying.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let him get you,” he said. “But I think we might need to pay Serena’s boyfriend a visit at his cafe. See if he went into work today. See if he’s…alive.”
All the blood drained from my face. “You think he might have been here when the killer broke in.”
He glanced around again. “Perhaps.”
And if that was the case, then Noah might be dead.
We left Serena’s apartment as it was. There was little we could do there now, and if the cops got involved, we didn’t want to leave any evidence behind that we were there. Next stop:Funky Froth. The place was as lively as ever. A line of coffee addicts stretched down the entire block. We cut past them—much to their shouted dismay—and flagged down one of the harried baristas, neither of whom were Noah.
“Is Noah in today?” Az asked in an easy voice that betrayed none of the tension I knew we both felt.
The girl cocked her head, scowling. “No, the bastard. He was scheduled to work this morning, but he never showed up. Probably with his girlfriend, like he always is. And we’re fucking swamped.”
“Thanks,” Az said with a nod. We stepped back out onto the sidewalk before we got too many questions—and before the asshole owner spotted me inside his cafe again.
I sucked in a breath of the smoggy city air. Deep down, I’d known we wouldn’t find Noah at work. He’d been with Serena last night. If he’d seen something, he never would have escaped.
“Noah’s dead, isn’t he?” I asked softly, my words almost drowned out by the constant blare of taxi horns.
“It’s possible.”
The killer needed Serena to get to me, but Noah was nothing but collateral damage. I didn’t like how the guy had turned on me, but he didn’t deserve a fate like this.
“What are we going to do, Az?” I asked, glancing up at him. “How are we going to stop the killer from claiming another life?”
His face hardened as he gazed across the Brooklyn streets. “We’re going to rip out his fucking heart.”
26
