Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
“Tori, how did you learn about us?” Colton asks, breaking the building tension and changing the subject.
I heave out a sigh of relief. He moved from the desk chair to sit with Vienna during my internal musings, and I hadn’t even noticed.
He has her wrapped in his arms and leaning against his chest while he comforts her.
Her quiet sobs are barely audible above my own heartbeat.
I guess it’s my turn to share some information.
“I always suspected something was up,” I admit.
“It seemed too convenient that we kept running into you at the Black Rose and our club, and then you all rooming together again. Did you have anything to do with the fire at the dorms?” I ask them, and Vienna winces as Tristan and Xavier separate, both of them looking like their worlds are tumbling down, but they both return to their seats.
“Yes. Mario instigated that in the hopes that we would be invited to stay with you,” Xavier confirms, and I nod, grinding my teeth. At least that is one question answered.
I inhale deeply before releasing it. “Micky isn’t dead,” I admit, and the four of them show me signs of surprise, so at least that is one thing I managed to keep secret.
“But you just switched off his machines,” Vienna argues stubbornly.
I shake my head. “That wasn’t Mickey. It was another long-term coma patient we substituted for Mickey.
We made his injuries seem worse than they were, which meant we were able to guarantee they kept his faced wrapped, like he was covered in burns.
In reality, I have him squirreled away were nobody knows where to find him.
He was injured, and until recently, he was confined to a wheelchair, but I’ve had a caretaker looking after him. ”
Tristan whistles. “Damn, girl, we had no idea.”
“That was the point,” I say dryly. “Anyway, the caretaker I found for him is from the Irish mob. We have a decent relationship with them, and they have no skin in the game as far as turf in California goes. They sent one of their people over to care for him, and she was the one who had their people look into you.”
“How? I covered all our tracks,” Colton protests.
“You might have covered all digital tracks, but the home you were in prior to Mario had paper files, and they had a note saying that you were adopted by Mario Maricuso,” I tell him, and he scowls.
“Fuck. I never considered they’d have hard copies.” The other three laugh and toss some teasing words about his technology obsession.
“Are you going to tell him about your dad and Carla?” Xavier asks when they settle down.
I purse my lips then slowly shake my head. “Not to start with. He will come in, guns blazing, and until I know more, I don’t want to risk losing him now.”
“So what’s the plan?” Tristan asks, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, his full attention on me.
“Why do you think I have a plan?” I counter, trying to distract him.
Vienna scoffs, the sound conveying her amusement and annoyance at the same time. “When don’t you have a plan?”
“We’ve shared everything with you,” Xavier says slowly, and I meet his gaze and see a small amount of hurt in them, which is bullshit, and my anger flares again.
“Yeah, but you also could have come to me anytime in the last couple of months and placed all this on the table, and we could have already taken care of this bullshit. Instead, you didn’t trust me, and I’ve had to do things that I can’t take back—things that will always haunt me.”
The sight of Sage being placed in a body bag and taken away has plagued my dreams for two weeks now.
I’m not sure it’s ever going to go away.
Vienna’s sobs when she heard about Gio and Casey and her accusations were like a bullet straight through my heart, but I did what I had to do for my family, and I stand by my decisions.
“We will always put Addi first, Tori,” he replies, and I nod.
“As it should be, my father was the same, but I could have helped.”
“I don’t know how. Not even all my skills have been able to uncover where she is or where they are holding your dad and aunt,” Colton points out, and I scoff. They are too close to the situation and allow their emotions to rule their decisions. Until recently, emotions were never a problem for me.
“Hmm. You would be surprised by my resourcefulness,” I hedge.
Do I want to tell them about the address and the mysterious person who keeps sharing shit with me?
I think I’m going to hold onto that information for the moment.
I want to have Mickey check it out before I tell them.
I don’t want to get their hopes up in case it leads to a dead end.
I frown as something occurs to me. “I thought you saw my father. Didn’t you imply you had been questioning him?” I ask with a heavy amount of sarcasm.
Tristan scowls. “Yeah, but they always blindfolded me whenever we went. I don’t think they are anywhere close by. We always traveled for a few hours.”
“What else do you remember?” I push, feeling a little eager.
“Did you go by car? Do you remember any particular sounds or smells? How long was the drive?” One of the things Gio and I learned during all the training my dad first put us through was to identify or narrow down a location if we were blindfolded.
He nods. “About four hours by car.”
I stand up, go over to the computer, and fire it up with my thumbprint. I sit down to pull up some maps so I can narrow down the search parameters. A hand on my shoulder has me looking up after I pull up a map of the West Coast.
“Let me do it.” Colton smiles, and I huff out an annoyed breath but move, knowing he’s going to be faster and better than I am.
His fingers run across the keyboard and mouse as he starts to speak. “Okay, if you did an average speed of sixty-five miles per hour…” He looks at Tristan for confirmation.
“Yeah, we were definitely on a highway most of the way.”
“Alright, then that puts us in this circle here.” Everyone crowds around the computer to look at the red circle Colton put over the area, and I groan.
“Great, they could be anywhere between San Diego, Fresno, and Vegas. I look up at Tristan who is hanging over my shoulder. He isn’t quite touching me, but I can feel his body heat.
“What else do you remember? Smells? Could you smell the ocean?”
He wrinkles his brow while he considers my words but slowly shakes his head. “No, definitely not the ocean, the opposite. It was dusty, and I remember thinking it was hot and dry when we got out. After the AC in the car, it felt like stepping into an oven.”
“That helps,” Colton says, running his fingers over the keyboard again. “When was the last time you went there?”
“About a month ago. I don’t know why, but I think Mario wanted to intimidate them by having his pet torturer along, but it didn’t seem to bother your dad at all. I think he knew Mario wasn’t going to do any damage, since he was leverage and you wouldn’t cooperate if he was treated badly.”
“Mario’s biggest issue is he’s a weenie, a poser playing mobster. My dad wouldn’t have hesitated to hurt him to make you comply,” I point out, and Vienna shudders.
“Your family is messed up.”
“My dad is the sweetest man ever to those in his inner circle, you just don’t want to fuck with him,” I argue, and she looks doubtful. “Wait and see. I’m sure you will meet him eventually.”
She looks terrified by the prospect. I guess I would be too if I betrayed his daughter so badly.
“Okay, so here’s where it would have been hot and dry a month ago.” There are a couple of areas highlighted on the map. “Everywhere else would have been cooler.”
Death Valley, the Mojave Desert, and Las Vegas are still highlighted. I groan. “That doesn’t narrow it down very much for us. There are still miles of places to search.”
“What can you tell us about the place you were taken?” Xavier prompts, and Tristan rubs a hand across his jaw where a slight shadow of stubble shows.
“We went downstairs. It sounded like an old door opening, definitely creaked and shuddered, and the stairs were metal. It smelled damp and dusty inside, and sounds echoed.”
I start to feel a little bit excited. “So not a basement, but maybe an underground bunker?” I ask, and he nods.
“Yes. Although the area I was in could have been a basement, it had fully lined walls and a ceiling, and the apartment is nicely furnished, but it could be a bunker. We went down a few levels, so definitely too deep for a basement.”
Colton nods. “Okay, we are starting to get somewhere. There are plenty of abandoned Cold War missile silos scattered between here and Nevada. Now I just need to do some digging. Leave it to me, and I will comb through all of Mario’s shell companies and see if he ever purchased one.
There have to be records, but I haven’t known to look for something like that before. ”
I heave out a sigh of relief, but it also narrows something else down for me—the address I was given is in Suncity, which means that whatever is there isn’t my father and Carla.
I’m guessing it’s where Addison is being held, and I’m going to send Mickey to check it out.
The others move away from the desk, and I stand up and go over to one of the cabinets built into the wall of the safe room.
Most of them don’t have locks, they only contain food and supplies for an extended stay, but two of them have keypads.
One is a normal-sized double door cabinet, and when I press my finger to it, it pops open.
Tristan, Vienna, and Xavier come over and peer inside, and I hear Vienna mutter, “Whoa.”
“That’s quite an arsenal you have there, cupcake,” Tristan says playfully as he takes in the various weapons stashed inside.
I ignore them and reach into the pile of burner phones. I pull one out and return to sit on the bed while the two guys examine the rest of the contents. Vienna takes a tentative seat next to me while I wait for the burner to power up.