7. Milo
7
Milo
S ince Thea left, I hadn’t been able to sleep more than a couple of hours at the most. I’d been powering through with energy drinks, spending all my time monitoring her father’s movements.
It turned out he wasn’t exactly tech savvy. When I sent him an email with an embedded piece of code, he clicked on the link and inadvertently downloaded a virus that let me monitor his emails and other digital communications.
Conversations between Francesco and Santiago Cantaloa revealed Francesco was in deep shit with the cartel. Life-threatening issues that would get him killed. Oh well . If Francesco didn’t find several million dollars in a week, he was a dead man.
I assumed he didn’t have the ready cash, or he’d have paid up. The fact he was so cash poor was curious. But none of that mattered. My main concern was finding Thea before she got into trouble.
The minute I tracked her down, Kyril would bring her home.
My fingers tapped the desk as I waited. It felt like waiting was all I did these days.
Watch the screen and wait for results to come in.
Normally, I could zone out while my programs did their thing. Not anymore, though. Thea had broken my brain. Created new neural pathways. Fired up synapses that never before existed.
I’d gone from someone who preferred being alone, who hated the idea of touching another human being, to a guy who craved physical touch.
I knew Thea planned to leave. It was pretty fucking obvious. Once she realized she was pregnant, the threat of her father tracking her down made it inevitable. She always put others first, and an unborn baby was no exception.
All her life, she’d taken care of her sister at the expense of her own health and happiness. Verity was safer now than she’d ever had been, but she would never truly be safe while Francesco di Luca and his sidekick were still breathing.
The rhythmic, monotonous tapping of my fingers helped soothe my frazzled nerves, which were wound up tighter than a violin string, thanks to all the energy drinks I’d consumed.
Data accumulated on my screen. Reports, potential leads, and more. I’d been tracking Francesco di Luca’s operations since I discovered who Thea was. He had many irons in the fire, but his connections to the Cantaloa Cartel were the most interesting.
The apartment door slammed, and I looked up just as Cassian burst into my room. He seemed… unsettled. Even more than usual. His hair was longer than it had been in months, long enough to piss his father off. I noted the unbuttoned shirt and slack tie. Cassian never usually went anywhere looking anything less than perfect. For him to be unraveling like this, it must be bad.
Considering he’d been to meet his father, I guessed Lucian was at least partly responsible for his meltdown.
“What’s happened?”
“My fucking father.” He yanked his tie off and tossed it aside. I watched as he sat down on a chair and closed his eyes, not elaborating on why he was in such a foul mood. When he said nothing for several moments, I returned my attention to the screen.
Dario had no idea I’d planted spyware on his phone. I figured if anyone could find Thea, he could. He knew damn well why she’d left. If what he told us was true, that Francesco ordered the hit on his father, he’d likely want to help her.
None of us had heard from Dario since he left three days ago, allegedly for his father’s funeral. Not that we were friends. The only reason he’d stuck around was for Thea. Even I could see how infatuated he was with her. Just like we all were.
“He knew Thea’s mother,” Cassian said out of nowhere. My attention switched from the small blip on screen, which told me Dario was in a cemetery, to Cassian.
“What?”
“He didn’t give me any details, but he says they connected at Cambridge.” Cassian looked ill, and I frowned. “He thinks that’s why Francesco tried to discredit me and mess up the deal with John Bale-Lyon, which he achieved.”
“Why would Francesco care if your father knew Thea’s mother? Presumably it was before they got married, if she was also at Cambridge?”
Cassian threw me an agonized look. “What if…” His voice trailed off and I cocked my head to one side, curious as to where this was going. He seemed way too invested in whatever relationship Lucian had had with Thea’s mother.
“What are you worried about?” I asked, hoping to cut to the chase. Counseling wasn’t my strong suit. If he wanted empathy, he was better off talking to Landon.
“Fuck!” I watched with interest as he picked up an energy drink bottle and threw it at the wall. Luckily, it was empty. We didn’t need Declan’s housekeeper bitching about the mess in here.
I was so busy imagining what Declan might do if he decided we were abusing his hospitality that I almost missed what Cassian said next.
“What if Thea is my half-sister?”
The words sank in.
Fuck.