Chapter 38 Brady
brADY
We regroup near the service corridor, Finn and Sera joining us from the van. The hallway stinks faintly of bleach and kitchen grease. Rhodes meets us there, sweat darkening the collar of his shirt.
“Ray’s stable. Medics have him. He’s just a little woozy from whatever they gave him.”
None of it matters.
Because she isn’t here.
The noise of the ballroom fades down the corridor, but inside my head it’s deafening. I can’t think straight. My ribs feel carved open, every breath jagged and raw.
I can’t think. Can’t focus.
I promised her. I swore she’d be safe. I failed her.
The thought nearly takes me to my knees.
“We need to find her fast,” Sera says, her voice catching. This is her first time in a situation like this.
Another woman I’ve failed.
“No shit,” Rhodes mutters, dragging a palm over the back of his neck.
“She’s not dead yet,” Vincent says flatly. “If they kill her, they lose their only leverage.”
Finn nods grimly. “They’ll want the necklace. She won’t give it up right away. Which means they’ll…”
He doesn’t finish.
The silence crushes in on us. My stomach twists so hard I think I’ll throw up. Natalya Carrow’s crime scene photos flash in front of me. Only it’s Elizabeth’s face on the broken body.
I shove it away before I unravel completely.
“We could call the cops,” Sera suggests.
“We don’t know who’s tied into this,” I rasp. “There are still a few people I trust. The Blooms have Department of Justice ties, plus the money and power to make sure this doesn’t get buried.”
Finn’s brow raise. “They’d do that for you? Declan Bloom doesn’t strike me as the law-abiding type. He’s more like these assholes.”
“He’s nothing like these people,” Vincent snaps. “And under normal circumstances, James is a boy scout. He’ll love the idea of taking down a cabal of corrupt billionaires.” Vincent had been the head of Bloom security for decades, and he knew them even better than I did.
Finn nods, and we all move out through the back doors toward the van. “You call your contacts, and I’ll pull every Lindquist property on public record. Sera and Rhodes can search the parking and traffic cams.”
I’m already pulling out my phone when I see him.
Seth Wyland.
He’s alone, jacket open, shirt slightly rumpled, no security around him. He must have slipped out of the party through a side hallway and is ambling toward the parking lot.
His gaze sweeps the empty dark space and meets my eyes. He freezes for a second before breaking into a run back toward the hotel.
“Go,” My legs pump with fury as I go after him.
Rhodes flanks from the left. Sera and Vincent angle to cut him off. Seth cuts hard toward the outer fire door.
He almost makes it.
I slam him face-first into the wall just past the fire door, before I spin him around, my forearm pinning him across the chest. He grunts and thrashes, throwing wild punches.
Next to us, Rhodes brings his boot down several times, bending the door handle until it breaks, preventing the door from opening, and keeping us from prying eyes. I hook my leg behind Seth’s to hold him in place, and wrench his arm upward until I hear the pop.
He screams.
I step back and he drops, gasping, clutching his shoulder.
I don’t care. I have no mercy for him.
I crouch, grab a fistful of his shirt, and yank him close. “Where’d they take her?”
Blood shines on his teeth when he grins. “You’re too late.”
Wrong fucking answer. Something in me snaps.
I drive the heel of my hand into his sternum. He chokes, body folding, breath gone. Hauling him upright, I slam him against the wall, and then smash a fist across his face. Bone and cartilage crunch under my knuckles. His head snaps sideways, blood spraying from his nose.
“You think this is a game?” I snarl and hit him again and again. My pulse roars in my ears, drowning everything. I don’t stop. I drive my knee into his gut, then hammer an elbow across his jaw. His body sags, but I keep him upright by his shirt.
“Brady!” Rhodes barks.
Seth wheezes, trying to inhale through what I’m certain are numerous broken ribs. “You… can’t stop what’s coming—”
I slam him down onto the ground and drop with him, wrenching his wrist into a lock that makes him shriek.
“You think this’ll change anything?” he gasps. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“I don’t care who I’m dealing with,” I say, my voice deathly cold. “You took her. That’s all I need to know.”
He spits blood, eyes glinting. “You can break every bone in my body—”
“Happily.” I snarl, rotating it farther. His scream echoes off the concrete. “You’re going to tell me. Because if you don’t, I’ll carve you into so many tiny pieces they’ll never put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”
My vision tunnels, red flooding the edges. I want to break him, snap him in half.
“Brady!” Vincent’s voice is harsh. “Alive. We need him alive to get her back.”
The words cut through the fog. My hand is still locked on Seth’s wrist, his body trembling, his eyes rolling with pain. I force air into my lungs, fighting the urge to keep going.
He whimpers, going limp.
“Clock’s ticking.”
“She was with Ray,” Seth gasps. “We didn’t plan to take her tonight. But once Anna saw her, she said we couldn’t waste the opportunity.”
“Where?” My grip tightens.
“West Paces,” he blurts. “Her estate. The one with the gate. You won’t get in—”
I slam his head against the wall hard enough to daze him. Not enough to kill, no matter how much I want to.
I stand, chest heaving. The panic clawing inside me hardens into something resolute. The red haze recedes just enough for the cold to settle in.
“Finn.” My voice is hard as steel. “I want eyes on every Lindquist property on West Paces. Blueprints, traffic cams, satellites, everything.”
“Already working it,” he says, voice clipped.
Sera keeps her weapon at her side, her breathing labored, and for a second I feel a tinge of remorse that she saw me like this, but then her eyes lift to mine.
“Avenger.” She mouths, the ghost of a smile on her lips.
I look down at Seth. His body sags, eyes glassy, blood covering his face. “Get him in the van.”
I’m going to get Elizabeth. And anyone who gets in my way will not leave that house breathing.