Chapter 39
Daniil
By dawn, when we still haven’t found him, fear and frustration have set in.
I won’t be any good to anyone if I don’t close my eyes for a couple of hours and I know Marcus is running on empty too.
Hell, one of his eyes is swollen shut and the other has turned a marvelous combination of blue, black, and green.
We’ve pulled out all the stops, raiding every known Brat stronghold in the country, but we can’t find anyone or anything that has a clue about Micah’s whereabouts.
Just before sunrise, we head back to the palace.
Dax goes to check in with Joe and I head to my suite to grab a quick shower before I go to the hospital to talk to Courtney. I imagine she’s scared and furious, but I don’t even know how to comfort her.
I will never forgive you for this.
Her words before I allowed the medics to sedate her haunt me.
She has a fractured skull, a concussion, and twenty-five stitches in her head—she needed medical attention. But I imagine I’ll get an earful about that.
The stab wound in my thigh earned me twenty stitches of my own, and a tetanus shot.
I had them do it right there on the street before I left with Dax and the others.
We didn’t want to let them get a long head start but it was already too late.
By the time we went after them, they were long gone.
The only bright spot is that we managed to detain one of them—the guy I kicked in the balls. So far, he’s not talking, but he will.
Erik will make sure of it.
I’ve just gotten out of the shower when there’s a knock on my door and Sandor comes in.
“News?” I ask, oblivious to the fact that I’m naked.
“Not about Micah, no. However, you need to brace yourself before you see Courtney.”
“I was going to head over to the hospital now.”
“She’s not in the hospital.” He grimaces.
“Apparently, she’s not just upset or scared—she’s on a tear.
She threatened to pull out her IV herself if someone didn’t do it and though Lennox finally got through to her a little by talking about the danger of brain bleeds and such, she refused to stay at the hospital. ”
“She’s here?” I ask in surprise.
He nods. “And not happy. She told Lennox if anyone sedated her again, she would never speak to her again. And she called Grim. He and Rage and someone named Chaos are in the air on the way here, probably landing in an hour or two.”
“Fuck.” I close my eyes for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts. “I’m sure she blames me for this.”
“Right now, yes. Who else would she blame? Once we find him, she’ll be okay.”
I will never forgive you for this.
“Don’t hold your breath,” I mutter, yanking on boxers, a black T-shirt, and cargo pants.
“Focus on one problem at a time,” he suggests. “You’ll have plenty of time to smooth things over with her once we find the baby.”
I finally look at him. “What if we don’t?”
“You can’t think that way.”
“Why would they take him?” I demand for what feels like the millionth time. “And why now? Hardly anyone knows he’s mine, just our inner circle.”
“We have to consider that it was an inside job,” he acknowledges.
Those are words I’ve been too afraid to articulate.
“Fuck!” I clench my fists and stare up at the ceiling. “Who? Who would do this? And why?”
“The only logical explanation is that it has something to do with the pipeline.”
I freeze.
The fucking pipeline.
That’s what this is about?
No way to know for sure but it makes sense.
“Can you call Elen?” I ask abruptly. “Find out if she spoke with Nicola?”
“Erik summoned Nicola to the palace a little while ago,” he says, nodding. “She’ll be here shortly. If you want to sit in on that conversation, I suggest getting some coffee in you and then talking to Courtney.”
So much for a nap.
“Text me the location of the meeting,” I say. “I’ll see you there.”
He nods and turns to go, but pauses, looking over his shoulder. “We’re going to find him, Dan. You have my word.”
I know he can’t make any such promise, but he’s trying to lift my spirits and I can’t fault him for that.
Ignoring the throbbing in my thigh and the soreness in my right eye, which is pretty bruised, I make my way to Courtney’s suite. I don’t believe she’s sleeping so I knock lightly before letting myself in.
As I expected, she’s sitting by the window, staring out at the horizon.
“How are you doing?” I ask quietly.
“How do you think?” she counters.
I decide not to bother with niceties and just get to the important stuff. “We don’t know where he is yet, but we’re bringing in a few people for questioning. Would you like to be there?”
“Yes.” She doesn’t look at me, doesn’t turn, doesn’t move.
“Eight o’clock, I think in one of the smaller conference rooms.
“Just let me know.”
“Court?” I approach her slowly. “How’s your head?”
“Better than my heart.”
Ouch.
“I’m sorry. About everything.”
“I’m sure.”
Christ, this isn’t going well.
Not that it should, but I’m almost as worried about Courtney as I am Micah.
“Courtney, will you look at me?”
“I can’t.”
“Sweetheart, I know you’re scared. I am too. But we’re stronger together.”
“Stronger together?” She whirls, eyes blazing.
“We weren’t stronger yesterday, when they stole our son right out from under us.
We definitely weren’t stronger when they cracked my skull and nearly killed Harlow.
And we’re not stronger now, when you’re standing here talking to me instead of out looking for my baby! ”
“I know.” I swallow.
I can’t really argue with her. We were not strong yesterday, even though there was no way to know what was going to happen.
Normally, we’re prepared for all contingencies but no one should have known our plans or where we were going to be.
That’s the frustrating part of this. I feel like there’s something missing—that I’m missing something obvious—but between the lack of sleep and the throbbing in my leg, I can’t fully concentrate.
“We think it was an inside job,” I blurt, hoping to distract her with information instead of emotion.
“What?” She slowly gets to her feet and stares at me. “Inside job? Meaning someone within the palace planned this?”
“Or is in cahoots with the Brat, giving them information on where we would be in exchange for money.”
“But most people here don’t know he’s your son,” she protests. “Just the family. And the Protectors. You believe one of the Protectors betrayed you?”
“I don’t know what else to think because you’re right—only our inner circle is aware that I’m his father, although it wouldn’t be hard to guess. He has my eyes. I spend all my free time here with the two of you. I’ve brought him down to the gym almost every morning…”
“How would we out a traitor within the Protectors?” she asks carefully.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “The reason there are so few of us is because of the extreme lengths we go to in choosing them.”
“Joe,” she says automatically. “He’s the outsider.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“He’s a Protector but he’s not. He sits on the outside looking in, running things without truly putting his life on the line.”
“He gave up a lot to move here, take the oath,” I say thoughtfully. “I can’t wrap my head around it, but I will absolutely bring it to Sandor and Erik.”
“I’m going to ask you a question—don’t get mad.”
“Sweetheart, ask me anything. These are stressful times—no questions are unreasonable.”
“Do you trust Erik and Sandor with our son’s life?”
“Absolutely. No question.”
“All right.” She nods, as if that’s enough for her. “What about the others?”
This time I hesitate.
“Elen and Xander, absolutely.”
“Jonas would be my next guess.”
“Why?”
“He runs cyber. He has access to everything and the ability to hide it all.”
She has a point, and though I hate everything about this conversation, I know it’s necessary.
“I’m going to bring this to Erik right now,” I say. “I’ll either be back to pick you up or I’ll text you the location of the first meeting.” I walk over to her and press a soft kiss on her forehead. “We’re going to find him.”
She nods. “I know.
I head for the door and have just opened it when she calls to me and I look back.
“Your thigh is bleeding.” I look down and realize I’ve probably popped a stitch.
“I’ll stop by and change the bandage,” I murmur before heading into the hallway.
I understand that she’s upset, but it bothers me that she couldn’t muster up even an iota of concern for my injury. It’s not that I want sympathy, but this is the woman who’s supposed to be falling in love with me.
And now I’m pretty sure that’s no longer true.