Wicked Obsession (Obsession #3)

1. Misappropriation of Assets

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 woken me up.

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?”

Drew shakes his head. His face is pale as he checks his phone again.

Wyatt comes up from the other direction. “Nothing that way. You said Peabody was alone.”

“In the lobby.” I pick him up so he doesn’t growl when Wyatt steps in close.

“What’s that around his neck?” Wyatt reaches and that’s when Peabody decides to growl.

“I’ve got it.” Drew pockets his phone. As he undoes Peabody’s collar, he says, “I’ve been in contact with a few people who are usually in the know about things.”

“That’s cryptic as fuck,” Wyatt mutters. His eyes are wild but he’s focused. This is our worst nightmare brought to life. Sara missing. Without any way to track her.

Finn searches the park behind us, even though we can see everything clearly from here. He looks in trash cans and under bushes. A knife drives into my heart and cold runs through my veins.

He’s looking for her body.

All the blood rushes from my head. She can’t be dead. I’d feel it because part of my heart would die if she were.

“Writing on the inside.” Drew brings my attention back to the collar. “‘Return what’s mine and I’ll give you back yours.’”

“Finn!” I yell.

He lifts his head at my voice. I gesture with a nod that we need to go inside. We need to regroup. I need to call Theo. He might be able to hack into the traffic cams or the surrounding buildings’ security cameras.

“We have to assume she’s safe.” Drew takes Peabody from me. Wyatt’s eyes dart around like he can find her just by willing it so.

“We can’t assume shit.” Wyatt thrusts his hand into his hair as he storms toward our apartment building. “We can assume whatever Tom is doing is the reason for this. When I find him, he’ll regret it.”

I follow after them as Finn joins us. I don’t bother with a text, but call Theo.

“Yeah?” His voice is groggy from sleep.

“I have an emergency. Cost is no issue. Charge me whatever you want. I need to tap into the cameras facing the park across from our building. Can you do that?” My mind races. I need to get Sebastian Cross on Peter Sokolov as well. I need everything they can find on him.

The diamond necklace he bought Sara and the diamond collar can’t be a coincidence.

“Everything okay?” Theo seems more alert.

No. Everything is not okay. “Sara’s missing.”

“On it. I’ll get it to you as soon as I can. How long has she been gone?” Theo asks.

Those words…She’s gone. I stop walking on the sidewalk and bend over as the pain slices through me. I want to scream and pummel something, but I can’t. Focus on the problem. Find the solution. Ignore the pain.

Finn grabs my shoulder.

I straighten and meet his concerned green eyes. “I’m not sure. An hour. Maybe more, maybe less.”

“I’ll find her.” The call disconnects.

“We’ll find her,” Finn says, not an ounce of doubt in his tone.

We walk into the building and the doorman is there straightening his jacket. I don’t think. I just head toward him, but Wyatt gets there first.

“Where the fuck were you?” Wyatt pushes the guy into the wall behind him. “Did you fucking see anything?”

“Sir, I was on a break.” The guy holds his hands up. He’s barely twenty-five. He still looks a little rumpled, like he was asleep or was doing other things. All while Sara needed his fucking help.

“Did you see Sara?” Drew’s voice is calmer than Wyatt’s but there’s a tension in it.

“She took the dog across to the park.” The doorman swallows. “That’s all I saw.”

Wyatt hasn’t let him down, and I know he’s fighting against crushing this man. He needs a target. We all do.

“Where did you go on your break?” Finn steps up. One word and he’ll snap. Too many times in college, I had to talk him down from fighting some asshole who got lippy. It didn’t matter how big that asshole was. The same energy surrounds him.

“In the back office.” The man sweats.

“Did someone pay you to leave your desk?” Drew’s expression is cold, emotionless.

The doorman shakes his head.

“Why now?” I ask.

He swallows hard and his gaze shifts to all of us. “I get a break.”

I step forward with my hands clenched. “Why now?”

Maybe the guy pees himself a little. I don’t give a shit. Sara is missing and part of my soul is dying.

Wyatt pushes the doorman against the wall again.

“Okay, okay, there was this woman…” He shrugs.

“What did she look like?” Drew asks but I’m done.

I walk past them and to the elevator. Unfortunately, Sebastian Cross isn’t someone I can call at three in the morning. So I send him a text to call me.

My phone rings as I step into the elevator. Finn is with me. The other two are still interrogating the doorman. I don’t know what information they think they’ll find.

I put the phone on speaker. “Dante Stone.”

“You need something?” Sebastian sounds alert.

“Everything you have on Peter Sokolov. Cost doesn’t matter. I need everything.”

“This guy must be getting around. Just had a text from Drew Young about him.”

I see red. Why the fuck would Drew be asking about him? “How long ago?”

“Just a few minutes. Seems his girl’s gone missing, and he suspects this fucker of taking her.” Sebastian laughs. Drew was texting in the park. Before he knew about the collar. That’s suspicious as fuck. “That’s your girl too, isn’t it?”

“She is.”

Sebastian wouldn’t have mentioned it if he didn’t already know. I’m not surprised. He knows everyone’s business. There’s a reason he’s always with his friends. A lot of people would love to make him disappear.

I fought Sebastian in college. He’s not weak and knows how to fight.

“I’m on it. I’ll get back to you guys within the hour.” He pauses instead of disconnecting the call. “You know Sokolov’s got connections and deep pockets.”

Given the necklace he bought Sara… “Not surprised. Tom was supposed to bring his daughter to the fundraiser tonight.”

“Natasha’s off the radar too, just like your boy.”

I growl and almost say Tom is not my boy. If I could get my hands on Tom right now, I’d destroy him for putting Sara in danger. For not telling us how desperate that danger might be.

“I’ve been checking out the registration from Port Authority, and I found a ship that might have been in the same port as Tom when he sent that email. And also has a home port here.” Sebastian is fucking toying with me now?

“Name.” The elevator opens, and Finn and I step out and head into our apartment. Finn heads to his bedroom.

“The Serendipity. Happens to be Verity Baron’s uncle’s boat. You’re familiar with Verity, aren’t you?”

Fuck. “Yeah, we’ll see what we can do. Tell us as soon as you have something.”

“You or Drew?” Sebastian’s Cheshire grin can be heard through the phone.

“Both.” I hang up.

Finn comes out with a duffel. He has on jeans, a t-shirt under a jacket, and boots. “I’m not waiting around for someone to tell me where my girl is.”

“What’s the plan?” I slide my phone into my pocket and step into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

“Get her back or give them Tom.” Finn grabs a few other things from around the living room and drops his duffel on the couch. “He can deal with whatever he took from them.”

Wyatt and Drew come in.

“Any info?” I ask. I eye Drew. Did he just suspect Peter or was he covering all the bases? The guy did give Sara an expensive necklace.

“None that’s useful.” Wyatt stops and takes in Finn’s preparedness. “What are we going to do?”

“Find her or find Tom.” Finn shakes his head. “I’m going to strangle Tom when I see him.”

“Not if I get to him first.” I pull down mugs. “We need the course of the Serendipity. It’s Verity’s uncle’s yacht. Sebastian indicated it could be where Tom is.”

“We should split up.” Drew leans against the door with his phone out, looking at the screen. “Wyatt and I can convince Verity to give us more information. And since I just want Sara back, I won’t kill Tom when I see him. I can’t say that I’ll be pleased to meet him though.”

Wyatt scrubs his hand down his face. His dark eyes meet mine. “That means you two are going to have to figure out where Peter Sokolov is hiding her.”

“I have a few ideas.” Finn grabs a cup of coffee. “I’ve been going through the financials and Beth needs to come clean. Files are missing. Major documents. She’s keeping shit from us and I don’t know if it’s to protect Tom or protect herself, but she’ll tell us.”

I take my coffee cup and head to my bedroom to get dressed. Before I get there, I stop and turn back around. “I don’t give a fuck what Tom says or how he feels about us with his sister. When she’s back, I’m all in. This isn’t a temporary thing. I know how I feel and how Finn feels…”

“I’ve been in since the beginning.” Drew sips his coffee. “I’d do anything for Sara. Even give her the fantasy of sleeping with all of you. I’m not scared of bad press or a few gossips because she’s with all of us.”

“You should be scared of her mother.” Finn shakes his head. “I’m in. Tom can go fuck himself.”

We all turn to Wyatt.

“She might not want me.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” All the anger and rage I’ve felt since waking up to find Sara not beside me surges back to life.

I storm across the room, putting my cup down on the table as I pass, and shove him against the wall.

“She’s fucking loved you forever. We gave her what she wanted and let you take her virginity. And now, you aren’t all in?”

“It’s complicated.” His eyes narrow on mine.

“So make it less complicated. Tom’s a fucking asshole who probably left to get his dick wet and put his sister in danger while expecting us to step up and take care of her.

He hasn’t contacted us any further. He’s damaged our friendship so much worse than us fucking his sister ever could.

” I grip his t-shirt in my hands as I hold him against the wall. I’m so fucking sick of all of this.

All the time we lost because we thought we were doing the right thing.

For who? Tom? ’Cause it definitely wasn’t for Sara.

Sure, Tom has stepped up for all of us in the past. He gave us somewhere to go and a family we didn’t have.

And we’ve rallied when he needed to step away from life.

But fuck him, he can’t dictate the rest of our lives. He can’t tell us not to love her.

“If you love her and she loves you, then whatever shit you think is still floating around can be dealt with.” I shove him harder Wyatt against the wall.

Wyatt presses his lips together. I can tell from his eyes that he doesn’t believe me. Whatever deep, dark secret he has must be earth-shattering for him to not take what Sara so sweetly gives.

“If you aren’t in, fine.” I release him and step back. “But you’re the one that has to tell Sara why, and we’ll be the ones to put her back together after this is all over.”