Chapter1
Misappropriation of Assets
Dante
The spot in front of me is cold.When I lift up and glance around the bed, the guys are all here, but Sara isn’t.After that last round of sex, we all passed out on my bed.The light is on in the bathroom, so I climb off the end of the bed and walk over to it.
There’s a knot of worry in my chest but I push it away.Sara’s probably just using the bathroom.
I rap lightly with my knuckles, trying not to wake anyone else.The door swings open.It’s empty.Fuck.I scrub my hand down my face and grab some sweatpants to throw on over my boxers as I pass through my bedroom.
She might be getting a drink or some food.She barely ate her dinner at the benefit.I don’t blame her.Verity Baron made me lose my appetite too.What was Tom thinking?Oh that’s right, he was probably thinking with his dick like normal.
When I set out into the common area, she isn’t in the kitchen or anywhere else.My gaze snags on the empty hook next to the door where the leash normally hangs.Peabody’s bed is empty.Fuck.
She wouldn’t…
Fuck.My heart pounds and a stone falls in my stomach.
She knows better.She should have woken one of us up.She should have wokenmeup.
With everything that’s been going on, it’s easy to let our guards down for a second.To think nothing’s going to happen because nothing has.Sara spent years doing everything for herself.She thrives on her independence.
But fuck, I haven’t forgotten the look on her face when I came into her house after the break-in.How torn apart she was.She’s not safe.
When I get to the door, I put on my shoes and shrug on a sweatshirt as I call Sara’s phone.It rings in her bedroom.My insides burn.What the fuck was she thinking?
The elevator ride down has me pacing.She knows better.I can’t calm those thoughts.Not until Sara is back in my arms.I try to reassure myself that she’ll be fine, but there’s a nagging feeling pressing on me.
My heart beats loud in my ears.I’m impatient to find her and chastise her in our apartment before tying her to me so she can never leave again.
When I step out into the lobby, the doorman isn’t anywhere to be seen.A little jingling noise stops me on my way to the door.A yip has me jerking my head around, half expecting to find Sara walking up to me, half worried she’s on the ground hurt.
Peabody trots up to me, dragging his leash behind him.Something sparkles around his neck.He doesn’t wear a collar usually, just the harness.And he’s never alone.Fuck.Picking him up, I search the entire lobby, but there’s no one.Just Peabody.
Around his neck is a diamond collar.My heart stalls.Just like the diamonds Sara wore tonight at the benefit.The diamond necklace bought by Peter Sokolov.
It can’t be a coincidence.I call Finn’s phone.
“Pick up.Pick up.”I shove out the door into the cool night and look up and down the street, but there’s no one anywhere.Not even a car idling.
“What?”Finn says sleepily.
“Sara’s gone.We need to search the park.Peabody is down here.”
Fabric rustles and the sound of a hand slapping flesh fills my phone.
“Get up,” Finn says in a more commanding tone than I’ve ever heard from him.“Sara’s missing.”
He speaks into the phone.“Be down in a minute.”
The call disconnects.
I stride across to the park and let Peabody down to do his business while we walk the perimeter.After a few minutes, Drew jogs up to me.
“Any luck?”He has his phone out and texts with someone.
“No.”I push a hand through my hair.My stomach twists.“What the fuck was she thinking?”
