Chapter 17 Vaughn #2
“I’m not waiting.” Shoving him aside, I found her front door guarded by another one of his guys who moved his ass out of my way when Grayson grunted behind me.
Fuck, I could barely breathe, my throat a pinhole caused by fear, dread, and the sick certainty that Nova was dead.
That she had been dead for hours while I sat in meetings and shared a drink with my friends.
I hadn’t been able to help her in the end. I had let her die.
With my heart in my throat, I crossed the threshold then fell back a step.
“Oh fuck,” I groaned at the gruesome site.
Blood, brain matter, all of it splattered across a cream-colored rug dried to an ugly shade of brown that had also splashed across a pale pink sofa.
What was left of Max’s face revealed his blank, staring eyes, but not much else, thanks to the blood that had coated his skin.
“Her purse is here.” Grayson lifted it by the strap from where it had been left near the door, and I took hold of it, almost greedy for the feel of anything that belonged to her.
She had been holding this when… what happened?
When they were ambushed? What the hell took place in this apartment?
Whatever it was, it hadn’t been loud enough or prolonged enough for anyone to notice and call the police.
“According to the guys who got here first, the rest of the apartment is clean. No sign of a struggle, just a blood trail starting outside the bedroom that leads here to where he fell.” Grayson was grim, his voice tight. “Goddammit. The fucking bastards.”
“It had to be Nico,” I decided after looking over the scene, and he agreed with a grunt.
If she was taken to a separate location rather than being executed here, this was about more than silencing her and sending a message.
Digging through her bag, I found her phone, revealing every missed call from me.
She didn’t even know I was frantically trying to reach her.
Think, dammit, think. Thinking clearly was the last thing it seemed my brain was capable of doing. How could I when I didn’t know where she was, what he had done? Why not kill her right away? Why not leave her here along with Max’s body?
“Why didn’t he get the body cleaned up?” I muttered to no one in particular. One of the many questions burning inside my skull, where a drum pounded painfully, incessantly. “Why leave him here?”
“A message, maybe. He wants us to know he holds the cards,” Grayson concluded. “He’s telling us he could kill her at any time.” It would have been kinder if he’d hit me. He might as well have since the idea of losing her knocked the wind clean from my lungs.
Then why hadn’t he?
Of course. “He wants to learn something first,” I whispered, my certainty growing along with my horror and the understanding that I was the key. “Son of a bitch. I overplayed my hand. I never expected they would take it this far.”
Our eyes met, and Grayson’s shoulders sagged once he understood. “Because if you know what they’ve been doing—”
“Who else knows?” I concluded, fresh fire flooding my system, searing my brain. “Fuck, he could be torturing her as we speak.” A scream built in my chest, fueled by rage and helplessness and the certainty I was right.
Would he believe her if she told the truth and said she hadn’t told anyone but me?
How long would the bastard drag it out before he believed her?
How long did I have to find her?
“Where would he take her?” Grayson asked while his men worked out the specifics of getting Max’s body out of there.
The less the authorities were involved in any of this, the better, and they knew best how to avoid complications.
I left them to that while focusing on remembering anything I could about Nova. What had she told me about herself?
Where would Nico take her? The casino? Much too risky. “Does Mancini own other properties?” I mused, pacing, my heart sinking when I thought about the miles upon miles of open desert surrounding the city and its suburbs.
“I have my team working on that now.” He had the luxury of being able to look at the big picture. He hadn’t fallen in love when he least expected it. He hadn’t essentially painted a target on the back of the one person he wanted most to protect.
To think it took something like this for me to accept the truth of my feelings—the depth of them.
“Wait.” I stopped, staring at the hardwood floor. “They had a vacation home somewhere. She said she hadn’t been there since her mom went away. They never went back. Riccardo wouldn’t allow it. He finally told her he sold it.”
Grayson’s steely gaze reflected the understanding that had slammed into me. “Sounds to me like something happened there, and he couldn’t bring himself to face it,” he growled. “Either way, it’s as good a place to start as any.”
He checked in with the team while we ran down the stairs and back to the garage. I barely heard a word of his side of the conversation, focused entirely on reaching Nova while he gathered information.
Hold on, I silently begged. I’m on my way. Hold on.