24. Killian
Chapter 24
Killian
C ullen and I were sitting in the office, dissecting possible suspects and scenarios related to Lily’s murder, still unable to understand who, besides us, would have a motive to kill her.
I was also uncomfortably aware that Willa wasn’t tucked in the safety of my room, but somewhere out of my radius of protection. I fucking hated it, but I knew I needed to prove to her that we didn’t kill her sister before contacting her.
“Who was in the building?”
“Logan and us. Who was working at the club at the time?” I rub my head, barely able to think.
“I’ll get a list from Martin.”
I nodded, then turned in surprise when Ian walked in the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I texted him. We need him. We haven’t come up with shit,” Cullen answered.
I nodded and rubbed my eyes, exhaustion hovered over my head like a rain cloud. “Good idea,” I finally replied.
Fuck, I was tired. And pissed. And worried. Ever since Willa left, I kept staring at my phone as if she was going to call me. Like hell she was going to call me. I was the motherfucker who kidnapped her and let her sister get killed under our noses. Sure, her sister had been a certified monster, but that didn’t change that Lily’s death had upset Willa greatly. Why the fuck would she want to talk to me?
Then a sickening realization struck me. Willa didn’t even have my goddamned phone number. She couldn’t call me, even if she wanted to.
Ian planted himself down at his computer, throwing his car keys beside him on the table. His action stirred a thought in me. Willa didn’t have her purse. She had no money and no way to get back into her dorm. Fuck! Was she still outside? Did she walk home?
“Ian, did you see Willa outside when you got here?”
“No, but I saw Martin leaving.”
“Was Willa with him?” I was distinctly uncomfortable with this possibility, though maybe I should be grateful if Martin gave her a ride. No. No, I hated the idea.
“Who could tell? You know how dark those fucking windows are tinted.”
My stomach churned and, for some reason, I felt like my chest was going to cave in. Was I having a fucking heart attack? “Hey, can you track Willa’s phone?”
I heard Cullen snort and shot him the finger.
“Yeah, that’s easy. I modified it when I had it, so it should only take a few minutes.”
I frowned at him, suddenly remembering that Ian and Willa spent the evening together last night while we'd been on the mission. I knew Willa had talked about Ian’s looks last night to rile me—which fucking worked—and I now stared down at him through narrowed eyes.
“Jesus, easy, Kill. I wasn’t sure if she was involved in Lily’s bullshit at the time, so I figured I’d modify it just in case. I’m not dumb enough to make a play for your girl.”
“Good, pull it up.” We weren’t getting anywhere with Lily’s murder at the moment. I might as well relieve my worries about Willa and make sure she got somewhere safe. I’d call her, but I knew she’d just screen me, not recognizing the number. Or screen me, assuming it was me.
“Hey, what if it was her accomplice?” Ian said.
I shot him a puzzled look; my attention now completely focused on Willa.
“Lily. Lily’s accomplice. Maybe he killed her,” he supplied impatiently.
“How could he possibly get in here?”
Cullen jumped out of his chair, his eyes molten blue. “What if he works here? What if that was the way Lily chose Mac? Because her accomplice knew him. Knew he’d be an easy mark.”
I stood up straight, my mind reeling with what he was implying.
“Who? Who are you thinking?”
Cullen’s lips pressed together. “Martin just left.”
My heart stopped. Willa. No, even if Martin was Lily’s killer and accomplice, he’d have no reason to go after Willa. “Get Logan in here,” I snapped, feeling sick about where our investigation was leading us.
Cullen nodded and pulled out his phone.
Ian waved at me. “Here you go, Kill. Here’s the tracking for her phone.”
I looked at the screen, unsure if I should be worried or not. “Where is that? Is it one of her friend’s apartments?”
“Where’s her friend live?”
“How the fuck should I know? She goes to UIC, so somewhere near there, I guess.”
“No, this is nowhere near there. See the cross streets? This is way up on the Northwest side.”
“Why the fuck would Willa’s phone be there?” I barked, panic nearly arresting my ability to breathe. If something happened to her after I let her walk out of here, I was going to fucking lose it. If Martin fucking Goddard so much as breathed on her I was going to rip out his fucking tongue and shove it up his ass.
Logan walked in wearing a t-shirt and jeans and looking just as fucking tired as we did. “I got a 911. What’s going on?”
“A lot,” Ian murmured. That was a fucking understatement.
“We brought Lily in, but when we had her locked up, someone got to her and killed her?” I said.
“What? How the fuck did that happen?”
“We’re figuring that out now.”
Logan paced for a moment, then looked over Ian’s shoulder at the computer screen. His head cocked as he stared at it. “Why do you have Martin’s place on the computer?”
Sheer terror shot through me. “Martin’s place?” I roared. “That’s where Willa is.”
“She’s with Martin?” Logan asked incredulously. “Based on what I saw last night, I would have said she was yours.” Logan nodded his head toward me.
“She is mine,” I growled.
“Logan, has there been anything weird going on with Martin lately? Anything suspicious?” Cullen asked.
Logan sighed and sat down in a chair, rubbing his chin. “Yes. I’ve been working with my accountants the last couple of days. It was why I was playing in the club last night. I normally don’t play during peak hours, but I needed the fucking release. We found some irregularities on some of my private accounts. I hadn’t thought of them in years, but since Mac was the one who set them up and safeguarded them, I figured I better have them transferred over to someone else. When I sent them a spreadsheet I had of my assets, it didn’t fucking match. Ten million was missing.”
Every word of Logan’s story sent a new thunderbolt of adrenaline and fear bursting through my system. Willa was in danger . I knew it in the marrow of my bones. I just didn’t know why.
Cullen jumped up. “What the fuck? Why didn’t you tell us about this? We’re your fucking security team, Logan.”
Logan raised an eyebrow at him. “You guys have kind of had your hands full since everything with Mac. I knew you wanted to handle the shit with Lily, so I was giving you space to do it.”
“Why would Martin take Willa?” Ian asked.
I shook my head. “I have no idea. She didn’t know anything about Lily’s life, but he must think she knows something. We have to get to that fucking apartment. Now!”
Rage and terror tore through me in equal measure, fueling the need to wrap my hands around Martin’s throat and squeeze until his brain popped out of his fucking skull. He was going to regret the day he so much as looked in Willa’s direction.
As we rushed to our cars, my mind spinning one terrifying vision of Willa after another, all I could think of was all my stupid resistance and idiotic rules. Not kissing her? Fucking ridiculous. Not running after her when she left crying and upset? Moronic beyond fucking words.
If there was one thing this stupid nightmare with Mac had shown me, it was life was too short and too precious to fuck around. If you wanted something, you needed to be willing to fight to keep it and I was going to fight.