14. Dante
I’ve never believedin sugarcoating shit. Life often sucks, and pretending it’s otherwise doesn’t do anyone a damn bit of good. But I still hate being the one to deliver this news when it makes Riley go pale.
“It’s not anything to panic about yet,” I tell her, shoving my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching for her. “We knew it was just a matter of time. This just means we’ve gotta step up our efforts and move a little faster.”
She nods, but I can tell she’s not taking my don’t-panic advice. And fuck, I hate that. Whatever was happening between the two of us definitely went off the rails with the inheritance thing, but even if shit is fucked up between us right now, I’d be lying if I said seeing her scared like this, seeing her hurt at all, doesn’t affect me.
I’ve still gotta stay focused, though.
“Maddoc wants us downstairs to work on that recording,” I tell Logan.
He gives me a tight-lipped nod and starts grabbing up some of his electronic equipment, his movements methodical and precise as always, but something about the way he steals glances at Riley out of the corner of his eye as he does it gives me the oddest sense that he’s worried about her too.
That would be a first.
Not one I can find any fault in, though. She’s something else.
“Come on, princess,” I say, giving in to my instincts and wrapping an arm around her shoulders to usher her out the door. “We’ll sort this out. We’re not gonna let McKenna win this one. You gotta remember that we’ve already got our feelers out and have since she took off. Maddoc’s made sure we’ve got eyes fucking everywhere.”
She’s nodding along, but her breath is still coming short and tight.
I give her a squeeze. “We’ve already got a leg up on any search efforts McKenna starts, and we’ll stay two steps ahead of West Point until we find her.”
“Okay,” she says like she’s trying to convince herself to believe me. “Okay, yeah. We will, won’t we?”
She looks up at me, then looks at Logan.
We both nod.
“Your sister is obviously good at hiding,” Logan says a little stiffly, following us out into the hall with a bunch of his gadgets and shit in hand.
I let Riley go, not wanting to push my luck, and have to bite back a smile when I notice the way Logan flanks her on her other side, just the way I am over here, as we all head down the stairs.
It definitely wasn’t my imagination then. She’s gone and gotten herself under his skin too. I’m pretty sure no other woman in existence has ever managed that feat, and I’m a hundred percent sure Logan will deny it if I bring it up, but he’s clearly come to care about her too.
Not that that wasn’t obvious back at Sutton’s place.
Maddoc’s back in his office, his face looking like a thundercloud moved in and took over. McKenna’s been a thorn in all our sides for way too fucking long now, but Madd’s got a whole other layer of hate for the guy, and I can’t say I blame him. It’s just another reason, as if we didn’t already have enough of them, to make sure this shit with Chloe turns into a win.
“We got a general location from the cell phone ping, but it’s not dialed in enough. Which means we need to try to use that voicemail we got from Sutton to narrow it down,” Maddoc grits out, stepping back so Logan can do some kind of magic at his desk, plugging shit in and connecting a bunch of stuff.
“It’s just noise, though,” Riley says, still looking pale and tense.
“Not to Logan,” I say, pushing one of those long, gorgeous, indigo waves of hair away from her face.
She jerks away, a spark of fire in her eyes as she glares up at me.
It makes me grin. That’s my girl. I honestly don’t know if things will ever get back to being easy between us, but fuck easy. That fire in her pulls me like a moth to flame.
And it’s a fuckton better than seeing her panic.
Logan finishes getting his shit set up and we all quiet down as he starts playing Chloe’s voicemail over the speakers in a continuous loop.
Riley’s right. It sounds like nothing but noise. The familiar sounds of Halston’s streets, but nothing on first listen that tells us a damn bit of anything.
I’m right too, though. Logan’s a fucking genius is what he is, and he’s got more tricks up his sleeve than there are shithead losers in the West Point gang. He pulls a few of those tricks out now, fucking around with the settings on his computer to isolate different sounds and change up the volume, until it starts to sound like we’re listening to more than just noise after all.
“What is that?” Riley asks, leaning forward, her breath quickening.
No, wait. Not hers.
“Your sister,” Logan says, tapping a few keys until the other sounds fade away and the rapid, frantic-sounding breaths come through loud and clear. “Her mouth was right near the phone’s microphone, and she was—”
“Scared,” Riley blurts, wrapping her arms around her middle like she’s trying to self-soothe. “Listen to how fast she’s breathing.”
Logan nods, but then isolates what at first sounds like just a few seconds that are the same as the rest. “There,” he says.
“What?” Maddoc asks sharply, frowning as he leans closer.
Logan replays the loop, and I don’t—
Oh.
“Her breath is stuttering there. Hitching. What’s up with that?” I ask.
“Something must have startled her,” Logan says. “Let’s find out what she heard,” he mutters, his fingers moving rapidly over the keyboard. All the other traffic noise and shit rushes back in, then parts of it fade away again. What’s left is a faint, garbled voice and a distinctive sound I recognize right away.
Logan restarts the loop, and there’s no doubt.
“Saint Andrews,” I say, nodding toward the speaker.
All three of them look at me.
“Over on 44th?” Maddoc asks, his brows drawing together as Logan loops it again. “That’s near the bus depot. And it’s within the area where her phone pinged.”
Logan’s fingers click in a blur, and the church bells all but fade away, the volume increasing for that garbled voice we all heard.
“That could be a boarding announcement for the buses,” Riley says, frowning. “Can you make that part clearer, Logan?”
“Not much,” he says, sounding as irritated about that as if someone had keyed his precious Audi. “The tone of his voice is too close to the pitch of the traffic noise to properly separate it, but maybe if I use a Fourier Analysis…”
He starts mumbling about shit that I don’t understand, but after a minute, he actually does manage to clean it up a bit. Enough for us to confirm that it’s definitely coming from the bus station. We even get a route number that allows us to match it with the time stamp from Sutton’s voicemail.
Not sure how much good it’s gonna do us since the lead is still more than twenty-four hours old, but it’s the first solid location we’ve had since Chloe bolted… and the way Riley’s face lights up when Logan confirms it is fucking beautiful to see.
“Oh my god,” she says, throwing her arms around me and squeezing tight. “Oh my god.”
I hug her back, breathing deep to get a hit of that unforgettable spice-and-smoke scent of hers, but all too quick, she realizes what she’s doing and stiffens up, pulling away.
“Can we go?” she asks, looking between the three of us and then settling her gaze on Maddoc. “Can we go see if she’s still there?”
I bite my tongue to keep from pointing out she won’t be. And who the fuck knows, I might be wrong… probably not, but stranger shit has happened. And even though Chloe will most likely have long since cleared out, we still might pick up another lead. Something to point us in the right direction before McKenna’s goons sniff out the trail.
Madd obviously agrees. He tells Logan to stay back and keep working the digital file, then grabs the keys to the Escalade, calling in a few more warm bodies so that by the time we get to the area, there are at least half a dozen Reapers with feet on the ground.
“Church or bus station, princess?” I ask. “What was the draw here?”
Riley bites her lip, looking between the two. Bus station is the obvious answer, but Riley—and presumably her little sister, since the girl clearly takes after her—don’t always go for the obvious.
Riley agrees.
“I don’t think she would have been trying to leave town. Not yet. Not without me,” she says, turning away from the bus depot. “But when we were little, there was this other church over by Frank’s place that she’d sometimes hit up for after school snacks when I wasn’t around.”
“After school snacks?” I ask, smirking. “That a thing churches do now?”
“Wafers. Wine. Whatever,” she says, flashing a cheeky grin before her worry sets back in. She sighs. “The point is, she’d sometimes hang out there when Frank’s business associates were being more dickish than usual, so I could see her maybe ducking into this one to stay out of sight for a while.”
“You two go check it out,” Maddoc says. “I’m still gonna check the bus station out, and I’ll have Isaac, Shae, and Kieran sweep the surrounding streets.”
We split up like he said, trying to scope out any likely hiding places where Chloe might still be holed up, but after an hour or so, it’s clear that it’s a bust.
“Fuck,” Riley says when he calls it, her voice cracking as she turns away from us to wipe at her eyes.
It fucking kills me to see, but I leave her be. Bad shit happens every fucking day, and getting a little emotional about it is normal. It’s not like me tucking her back against my side is gonna change the fact that Chloe isn’t here, so I don’t.
Besides, this weird craving I keep having lately, wanting to reach out to her and make shit right, is starting to make me feel a little off-center. Best to leave it alone.
“Let’s head back to the house,” Maddoc says.
“So, what? You’re just going to give up?” Riley snaps, lashing out at him in a way he wouldn’t put up with from most people. But he obviously sees through her anger just like I do, because he lets it roll right off him.
“Giving up isn’t something I do,” he says, grabbing her arm and steering her into the Escalade.
The fact that she doesn’t resist speaks volumes.
“Then what do we do next?” she asks, her shoulders slumping in defeat.
I slip in the back seat as Maddoc starts up the Escalade and pulls away from the curb. “I’m leaving a few people here in case she shows up again,” he tells Riley. “I also told Isaac to question some players who we know typically work this area.”
“She was right here,” Riley says, pressing her fingers against her window as we drive away. “Goddammit, why couldn’t Frank have…”
She shakes her head with a huff of frustration, as if realizing that there’s nothing that shithead could have done. Or at least, nothing that would’ve done Chloe any good.
“It’s still a good lead, butterfly,” Maddoc says, glancing over at her before returning his gaze to the road. “And if she left any trace at all, my people will find it.”
Riley nods, but stays quiet and subdued for the rest of the ride home.
It fucking bothers me.
I guess it bothers Madd too, because as soon as we get back to the house and Logan hits him with some bullshit he’s got to step in and handle, he jerks his chin at me, directing me to follow Riley when she heads up the stairs.
I’m already headed that way though, Maddoc and I both on the same page as always.
Riley disappears into the bathroom, and I follow a few steps behind her, not really stopping to question why.
Or whether it’s smart to give in to this new craving I’ve got to constantly be around her lately. To go out of my way to make sure she’s okay.
The door isn’t locked, and she looks up, startled, when I walk in. She’s sitting on the closed toilet, looking fucking devastated, but the minute I enter she straightens up, schooling her features. Shutting them down.
“I’m pretty sure I was here first,” she says, an edge to her voice that has me grinning.
“That’s right.” I take a seat on the edge of the tub, my knees crowding her in so she can’t leave without crawling right over the top of me. “And here I am, last to arrive. One of us gonna get a trophy for that?”
She rolls her eyes, but I can see her lips twitching a little. It’s a hell of a better look on her than wrung out and devastated, so I’ve already won.
She crosses her arms over her chest. “What do you want, Dante?”
Man, isn’t that the question of the hour? The truth is, I don’t really know when it comes to her anymore, and I’d prefer not to think too fucking hard about it, thank you very much. Although at least in the right-the-fuck now sense, the answer is easy. I want to get that look off her face. Even though there aren’t any guarantees in this world so hope is something I generally have no use for, I don’t like the idea of her not having any. So I go with the facts.
“Maddoc’s fucking relentless. You know that, right, princess?”
She raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, I think I’ve picked up on that personality trait. You’re telling me this, why?”
“Because you gotta understand that the news about McKenna today, that changes nothing.”
“I’m pretty sure it changes everything,” she says, glaring at me. “It means he knows Chloe’s out there. That he’ll want her. That he’s looking for her. That he—mmph.”
I cover her mouth with my hand before she can work herself up any further, grinning at the death glare I get for it. I half expect her to bite me. Hell, I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy it. The fact that she doesn’t, the way she settles down and lets me get away with that shit without a fight, says a lot.
She might be acting prickly and playing it off like she wants to push me away, but she’s craving some kind of reassurance just as much as I’m driven to give it.
So I do.
“What I mean is that when Madd sets his mind on something, he gets it. McKenna being in the game now ain’t gonna change that. Or, if it does, it only means it’s gonna spur Maddoc to pull out all the stops.”
She finally pulls my hand away from her mouth, and neither of us comment on the fact that she lets it fall into her lap… and keeps a hold of it.
“So what you’re saying is, he can’t stand competition,” she says with a tiny wisp of a smile.
I laugh. “Nah, that’s not it. McKenna isn’t competition. He’s fuel. Motivation to get where we’re already going, just a little bit faster. What you gotta understand is that Maddoc doesn’t just want to find Chloe, he’s decided—”
I almost say he’s decided we need her, but I don’t want to start that fight right now, so I pivot and go with, “—he’s decided we’ll get her back, so we will. No other option is on the table.”
Riley stares at me for a long time, like she’s trying to read the truth of what I’m saying in my eyes.
Then she sighs, looking away. “Okay.”
“Okay?” I repeat, grabbing her chin and tilting it back my way so I can figure out what the fuck she means by that. And I do. She’s this gorgeous mix of closed-the-fuck-off and vulnerable as hell, and in the few weeks she’s been in our lives, I’ve started to get a handle on her tells.
Right now, “okay” means she’s taken some comfort from my words, just like I meant her to.
But not enough comfort.
I don’t know why I’m so fucking driven to fix this moment for her, but I need to. Guess that’s why, despite a lifetime of knowing some cards should always be played close to the vest and the cardinal rule of the relationship I’ve got with my brothers is that Reaper business stays Reaper business, the last thing I ever thought I’d share with her pops out of my mouth next.
“A few years ago, when the Reapers didn’t hold as much territory yet but were definitely starting to make some waves in Halston, some of the other gangs didn’t take it so well. The ones who stood against him didn’t stay standing for long, because like I said, relentless, right?”
She nods, and something swells in my chest. That defeated look is fading, her interest piqued by my story. So I keep going.
“Anyway, some of the bigger players, like McKenna, didn’t feel as threatened as they should have at the time. Madd wasn’t big enough yet to go head to head with them, so he gave them their space and focused on making headway where he could. The smaller, scrappier gangs knew he was shaking things up, and some were glad about it, to be honest. But not all of them. So one gang sent in a mole.”
“A rival gang member actually managed to infiltrate the Reapers?” Riley asks, her eyebrows shooting up to her hairline.
I nod, my finger instinctively rubbing over the back of my right thumb. A habit that should have died off when the Crimson Crows did. “It didn’t take long for Madd to figure out there was a problem, but that didn’t mean he moved on it right away. Because you know what he is besides relentless?”
“A lot of things,” Riley says drily, making me laugh.
“He is that, but I’m talking about the way he’s fucking strategic. Always two steps ahead. He’s already planning for the long-term win before the other guy even realizes he’s playing the game. It’s why, even though McKenna’s in it now, he doesn’t count as true competition. Madd’s already too far ahead, and he will come out on top. I need you to understand that, princess. We’re gonna get your sister back, because Madd always wins.”
She stares at me hard, and in this moment, I can read her like a motherfucking book.
I’m certain she knows that our version of a win and hers don’t fully line up, but she also gets that right now, the biggest win is getting Chloe off the streets. And I see the moment it happens. The moment when she finally believes me. Trusts that she can count on us for this. Accepts that it’s gonna happen not just because the full resources of our organization are behind it, but because none of us in this house—not Madd, not Logan, and not me—are willing to accept anything else.
“Okay,” she says, her shoulders finally relaxing as she gives me a real smile.
A small one, but still. I’ll take it.
“But what happened to the mole?” she blurts after a minute, obviously sucked into the story despite herself. “Did Maddoc ever figure out who it was?”
“He did,” I say, twining my fingers through hers and lifting our joined hands up so I can admire the way my colorful ink contrasts with all her pale, silken skin.
“Well?” she asks impatiently, the fiery spark I love to see finally back in her eyes as she tugs against my hold. “What did Maddoc do? What happened to the guy?”
I don’t let her go. Can’t, really. Instead, I lift her hand to my mouth and press a kiss over her wrist where a faint red line still lingers from those cuffs we had her in.
Then I grin at her.
“You’re looking at him, princess. It was me.”