70. Kade
70
Kade
H arry perks up for the first time when I lift him from his car seat and he recognizes Stella's house. He hasn't said a word during the journey here, even though I tried to coax him out of his shell a few times. In the end, I gave up and turned a chat radio station on for some background noise.
Buttons flies out of the car, barking joyfully before pissing on a pot of geraniums. A tall, guy opens the door. His lip curls when he sees Buttons watering the flowers, but he bends down to pet her when she ambles up and sniffs his leg.
Harry pulls away from me and runs to the man, who scoops him up and takes him inside, leaving me to bring in the bag I packed for him and Buttons.
"Hey. I'm Brax. Stella's asleep, by the way," Brax says, keeping his voice low. "She's really upset about Tessa, so we figure you'd prefer it if she stays asleep. Harley's keeping an eye on her. Let's get you settled, buddy," he tells Harry, who stares up at him with adoration.
I can finally relax. It's obvious Harry feels comfortable with these people, so bringing him here was the right decision. "Quinn will be down in a minute. He wants to talk to you."
I assume Quinn is the FBI agent.
Sure enough, a tatted guy with visible piercings strolls in a few minutes later. My eyebrows shoot up. This dude does not look like a fed.
"Coffee?" he asks after giving me the once over.
"Yeah, please." I've been mainlining coffee all night, but I still have to drive back to the city. There's no time to sleep while the girls are missing.
Quinn messes with his fancy high-end coffee machine and then hands me a steaming cup of Java. One sip tells me this is the good stuff, not the sludge I picked up from a rest stop when we stopped for a toilet break.
"So tell me everything," Quinn says. "And I do mean everything. "
Quinn and I are on our third cup of coffee when a woman with long, pale blond hair and startling turquoise eyes appears with a kid around the same age as Chloe in her arms. The child yawns and struggles, wanting to be put down. She pops him on the rug and he promptly crawls away at lightning speed.
She scowls at me with her arms folded across her chest. "You may be a pretty asshole, but that won't save you if anything happens to my bestie."
The blond guy standing behind her snorts with amusement. "Play nice, sweetheart." He leans down and kisses her neck before running after the baby.
"Sorry about that," Quinn smirks. "Stella is always grumpy when she wakes up."
"I have every right to be!" she growls before her lips wobbles. "My best friend is dealing with fuck know's what, along with her baby!" Quinn jumps up and pulls her into his arms.
"Try not to worry, angel, we'll get them back. If anyone can find them, it's me."
Quinn's already running programs to find the car. I managed to get a partial plate on it, so we're hopeful we can locate it before it disappears. He's also verifying the exact location of all the key players in Mashkov's Bratva because I'm almost certain that fucker is involved.
"Go find Angelo, angel. Make sure Harley isn't feeding him fruit loops again. We know what happened last time."
Stella wipes her eyes. "If he does, he can deal with the results." She throws one last venomous look in my direction before going in search of her offspring.
Quinn and I spend the next hour going over everything I know and suspect before he fills a travel cup with fresh coffee and sends me on my way.
It irritates the shit out of me that this whole clusterfuck is forcing me to ask a federal agent for help, but while I have access to a lot of resources, the FBI has more.
Alberto isn't going to like my new alliance one bit, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him. Quinn's made it clear he's working on this as a side project because Tessa is practically a family member. We've agreed that there is now a Chinese wall in place to protect both of us.
We will work together to locate and rescue Tessa and Chloe, but he won't use anything he finds against the Family.
I don't trust him, not completely, but what choice do I have? Tessa and Chloe's lives are more important than my loyalty to Alberto. Besides, he's already told me to do whatever it takes to get her back. If he doesn't like it, he can deal.