Chapter 24
24
GAbrIEL
C elia’s tracking dot on my phone hadn’t moved in seventeen minutes. Something was wrong.
“Pull over here,” I ordered my driver. The black SUV eased to the curb, and I leapt out before it fully stopped. The night air was thick with approaching rain, the kind of muggy darkness that always reminded me of stakeouts with my brothers when they were younger, teaching them the business one job at a time.
My brothers, who were now gone. With my wife.
The tie lay crumpled in the gutter. I picked it up, the silk still soaked with Celia’s blood. The tracking device was wrapped carefully inside, like a gift she knew I’d find. And with it was a note, streaked with blood.
If you’ll never love me , let me go . I’ll still help you win your war .
My jaw clenched, as my fist did around the useless tracker.
“Anything?” Marcus asked from behind me.
I shook my head, already pulling out my phone again. Luca’s number first. He was always the easier one to reach, always ready to talk his way out of trouble. The call went straight to voicemail.
“Little brother,” I said after the beep, keeping my voice steady through sheer force of will. “Whatever game you think you’re playing, it ends now. Call me back.”
Dante’s number next. Also voicemail. Of course.
“Dante.” I paused, searching for words that wouldn’t sound like threats. This time, I didn’t have the power over him. The knowledge burned. “I need to know she’s safe. That you’re all safe. Just…call me.”
My men waited silently, giving me space as I stood in the middle of the dark street, staring at the useless phone in my hand. I’d spent all these years protecting my brothers, teaching them how to survive in our world. Teaching them too well, apparently, since they were now using those same skills to evade me.
The tie was still in my other hand, silk crushed in my grip. I forced myself to loosen my fingers. Celia’s blood was on my hands again. There was always blood on my hands. But for the first time, I wasn’t the one controlling the violence. Wasn’t the one making the hard choices to keep everyone safe.
My phone buzzed. For a moment, hope surged. It was just Marcus, sending an update. They’d found the car abandoned. More blood in the driver’s seat.
“How much blood?” I demanded.
Marcus hesitated before he admitted, “A lot of blood.”
“Send me photos.” I said harshly. I needed to know.
Her wound must have been worse than she’d let on.
The knowledge sat like lead in my gut. She’d been shot because of me, because she’d tried to save me. And now she was out there somewhere, bleeding, with my brothers.
I’d gotten so used to being ten steps ahead, to seeing the threats before they materialized. But I hadn’t seen this coming. I’d wanted to take care of her, to protect her when I got out of the car. My own emotions had blinded me to hers.
She was always waiting for a chance to run and rip my brothers away with her.
Fury burned through me.
But did I have the right to be angry with her?
The rational part of my brain admired Celia’s courage and quick thinking, even if it was a pain in my ass.
Another part of my brain growled that she was mine. The words I’d told her echoed in my mind: Mine to punish . Mine to protect .
My phone buzzed again. Another dead end from the search teams. They wouldn’t find anything. Dante was too good at covering tracks, and Luca could talk his way past any witness. I’d made sure of that, hadn’t I? Trained them to disappear if they needed to, taught them every trick I knew.
I just never thought they’d disappear from me.
The first drops of rain started to fall. Somewhere out there, my wife was bleeding, my brothers were running, and I was standing in the dark with nothing but a ruined piece of silk and a growing hollow in my chest.
“Sir?” Marcus waited respectfully for my attention. “What do you want us to do?”
What I wanted was to tear the world apart until I found them. What I wanted was to shake some sense into my brothers, to demand answers from my wife, to understand why the careful walls I’d built around all of us were suddenly crumbling.
What I wanted was to go back to that moment in the hotel room, when Celia had thrown herself between me and a bullet, and to understand what it meant that my heart had stopped at the sight of her blood.
Instead, I straightened.
“Expand the search radius. Check all the old safe houses. If she goes to a hospital, I want to know before she makes it into the lobby.”
Marcus nodded and moved away, already coordinating with the other teams. I took one last look at the tie, at the careful way she’d wrapped the tracker inside. Even running from me, she’d been gentle with this small piece of me she’d taken with her.
And the note. The damned note.
I tucked the tie into my pocket and got back in the car. They were out there somewhere, the three people I’d tried so hard to protect, running from the very protection I’d built around them.
I’d find them. I had to.
There was one person Celia had trusted more than anyone else.
“I’m going to Killian’s,” I said. “Keep searching.”
Marcus nodded. I left him behind, being pelted by the rain, and drove downtown to Killian’s bar.
Killian ran a bar that was popular with the motorcycle club, where he was high in the ranks. But more than that, he always knew where Kara was.
Whether he wanted to admit that or not.
I parked on the street and walked past the rows of bikes. I’d never fucking understand why people wanted to ride on a bike constantly, exposed to the elements and to the stupidity of drivers. They were fun toys—I thought of Celia’s body against mine, the way the two of us had leaned together, and felt a thrill of nostalgia that I hadn’t expected—but they didn’t in any way compete with a speedy sports car or an armored vehicle.
When I walked inside, it felt like everyone was eyeing me. I didn’t care. I walked up to the bar. “Where’s Killian?”
A mountain of a man rose from a table nearby. “Who’s asking?”
“His friend.”
The man gave me a skeptical look.
Tension hung in the air.
“They really are friends. Surprisingly enough.” A tall, dark-haired girl rose from one of the tables in the back. She’d been one of Celia’s borrowed bridesmaids, though I didn’t remember her name. “Come on, I’ll take you to him.”
“Thanks.”
She led me into the back, which gave me a fresh new set of concerns that I was about to be murdered.
“Kill, I’ve got a friend of yours here.” She swung open the door.
Inside, Killian was sitting on the edge of his desk. Kara, Celia’s friend, was sitting in one of the chairs, and the two of them seemed deep in an argument that no one could win.
My eyes narrowed when I saw Kara. She was the person I wanted to see most.
I grabbed the back of her chair and swung her around to face me. “Where’s my wife?”
Killian was on his feet instantly. “Gabriel. What the fuck?”
He pushed me away from her, and the legs of the chair I’d pushed back slammed into the ground.
Kara just gazed up at me, her face tranquil. But she didn’t have to worry about her own safety, since Killian looked two seconds from killing me, and the brunette had just pulled a knife.
“If anyone knows, you know.” I still had eyes for no one but her. “Where’s Celia?”
“You lost her?” Kara tilted her head to one side, a smirk crossing her lips. “I knew you would.”
My jaw tightened. If it hadn’t meant my instant death, I might’ve retaliated against that little smirk. “Where’s my wife?”
“You haven’t treated her like a wife, have you, Gabriel?” Kara asked, her voice mocking.
Killian eyed her, looking annoyed, then shooed the brunette away. “You can leave us. I’ve got this under control.”
She gave him a long, doubtful look, but Killian’s word was law around here. She shrugged as her knife vanished back into her clothes, then headed for the door. It closed behind her with a click.
“What are you up to, Kara?” Killian’s words sounded like a continuation of a fight they’d already been having.
“I don’t know where Celia is,” she said. “But then, I’m not her husband, so why should I know?”
Killian caught her wrist and pulled her up. She fought him, pulling away, launching a brutal kick against his calf that made him wince. But in the end, he wrestled her onto his lap, his arms locked around her.
He might not be able to see it, but I caught the flicker of satisfaction across her face to be in his arms, even if he had manhandled her to get her there.
“I swear to god, Kara, push me one more time, and I’ll spank your ass,” he threatened.
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know where she is, and that’s the truth.” She smiled up at me. “I do know what it means when a man comes bursting through the doors, at risk to his life given that he isn’t one of ours, demanding to know where’s my wife .”
I stared at her, my eyes narrow.
“Don’t look at her like that,” Killian warned. I raised my gaze to his, just as his hand rose to bracket her throat. “If she’s in trouble, she’s in trouble with me. But you’re never going to touch her.”
“I’m not yours, Killian,” she said breezily. “To be in trouble or anything else.”
“We’ll see about that,” he gritted. “If I find anything out, Gabriel, I’ll call you.”
I nodded, unable to summon any thanks.
The rain began to fall in earnest as I pulled away from the curb. It might’ve washed away whatever trail they’d left. But then, I’d taught them well enough to never leave a trail in the first place.