15. Ryker
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
RYKER
NOW
The first three properties we hit are a bust, but I expected that.
Kingston Beaumont can be accused of being a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them.
There’s a reason he was able to dodge the Lombardis for so many years, and it’s because he’s always three steps ahead.
Usually I admire him for it, but today it’s annoying as hell.
Perhaps if the motherfucker would just let me speak to Chloe to make sure she’s okay, I wouldn’t be climbing out of my skin with the need to find her, but he won’t, and therefore I am.
It doesn’t help that I’m stuck with a lost puppy.
Ronan hasn’t stopped moping since she was taken, and I’m starting to remember why I’ve spent much of my adult life alone.
Because human emotions are annoying as hell, and I’ll take the company of my victims any day.
Apart from my siren.
Not for one second did I find her company irritating.
If anything, I craved it.
While playing the role of her bodyguard, I would use any excuse to be close to her, and those days that I couldn’t find one were long and boring.
How did I ever think I’d be able to stay away from her when the pull between us was so strong from day one?
I should have walked out the door the second I saw her and felt something for the first time in my life.
Ronan curses from the other side of the aisle.
The jet has certainly come in handy this past week.
I would hate to think how quickly I would have killed my traveling companion if we’d been stuck in cars for eight-plus hours a day, especially considering how long it’s been since I satisfied the demon inside me.
He’s desperate for a kill, desperate to end the life of an oxygen thief.
But it can wait until we find Chloe.
Right now she’s all that matters.
“What’s wrong with you?”
His green eyes lift to mine, annoyance staring back at me. “I haven’t heard from Damon for a few days, and he’s not answering my calls.”
I sigh. Just the reminder of his brother makes my skin itch. He’s the one my girl is afraid of. Seeing Ronan was difficult for her because of their history, but Damon hurt her, and in my books that’s enough reason for him to die.
To be fair, that bar isn’t very high right now. The guy that cut me off on the highway on the way back to the airfield also made the list, but Damon always would, regardless of how long it had been since my last kill.
“I’m sure it’s difficult weaving a web of lies when your father is the most paranoid fuck on earth.”
I’ve never had the displeasure of meeting Salvatore Lombardi, but his reputation precedes him. Ever since his wife’s accident, he’s been convinced there’s a constant plot to tear down his empire, and he’s lost his mind because of it.
He changes phone numbers every week, has a constant armed guard around him on the increasingly rare occasions he leaves his fortress, and despite the family’s tradition to relinquish the throne when his oldest son turned twenty-one, he’s yet to do so.
Ronan nods and taps something out on his burner. “That’s what I’m worried about. Maybe if we could just—”
“We are not going back to Miami.”
“But—”
“No,” I snap. “Do you want to die? Because that’s what will happen if we step foot back on Lombardi territory.
It doesn’t matter how good a lie your brother is spinning, there will be doubt within your father’s inner circle.
There’s only so long they’re going to believe you allowed yourself to be kidnapped by an old man, and you do not want to be in Florida when they start to put the pieces together. ”
He rubs a hand down his face and drops back against the seat. “He’s my brother.”
“Yep. And he’s been training to take over the family for well over a decade. He’s not an idiot, and I’m sure as hell he can take care of himself.”
Defending Damon has my skin crawling, but if it keeps Ronan away from the compound, that’s all that matters.
If the way she clung to him when they arrived at the medical center is any indication, Chloe would never forgive me for getting him killed, and as hard a pill as that is to swallow, I’m not willing to do anything to upset my girl.
“Where are we heading next?” He drops the phone on the table in front of him.
“Kingston has a place in Maryland that he doesn’t think I know about, so it would be a good place to hide Chloe.”
“How many more places after that?”
“Four.”
“And if they’re not at any of them?”
I’m quiet for a beat, unsure how to reply to him when I don’t have an answer. At least not a good one.
Because the truth is, I’m not sure what we’re going to do if we run out of places to check.
We can’t spend the rest of our lives chasing a ghost, but in the same breath, I won’t be able to live until my siren is back in my arms where she belongs.
“I don’t know,” I tell him truthfully. There’s no way to sugarcoat it, and it doesn’t do either of us any good to do that.
“How do we know he didn’t just move her to the first place we tried?”
“I left some cameras around just in case. There’s been no movement at any of the properties we’ve been to so far.”
“And you’re sure he won’t hurt her?”
“If there’s one thing I’m absolutely certain of, it’s that Kingston would sooner cut off his own hands than hurt Chloe.”
Which is truly the only reason I haven’t lost my fucking mind with worry.