by Lia Ellison
“Okay.” I had no reason to be suspicious of him.
See, brain? Nothing to panic about.
“But what about her? Are you sure she wasn’t into you? I mean, if she felt betrayed when you and I got together, then maybe she...”
“No, absolutely not. It was never like that between us.”
“Any luck with that camera footage?” I was itching to change the subject.
He shook his head. “It looks like the kidnapper knew exactly where to go to avoid all the cameras. There’s a shadow that my men think belongs to the guy we’re looking for, but that’s all we’ve got.”
“But how could they have planned this? Who knew you’d be going to that party and meeting with Oliver? And why Jo?” I was glad the Ritos hadn’t tried to kill us, but they could have, so why hadn’t they done it?
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” Determination flashed in Aiden’s eyes.
Chapter 17
“SIR!” ONE OF AIDEN’S men came running with a phone in his hand.
Hours had passed since Jo had been taken, and there hadn’t been any news. Maybe we’d finally find out something.
“What is it?” Aiden took the phone, a frown creasing his brow.
“A message for you, sir. From the Ritos.” The guy’s eyes were wide.
Aiden and I exchanged a look, and then Aiden tapped the screen of the phone and a distorted machine-like voice filled the room.
“Aiden Lawrence,” the voice said. “We have something of yours. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. But if you want her back alive, you need to return something that belongs to us. The diamonds your brother stole from us. That’s the price for her freedom. You have forty-eight hours to make a decision. We’ll contact you with the place and time of the exchange.”
The voice went silent, and Aiden stared hard at the phone as if he could see through it.
“Where did this come from? Who sent it?”
“Through an encrypted connection. They used Jo’s phone,” the guy said.
“Let me guess,” Aiden said dryly. “It’s unlikely you’ll get the location of the sender.”
The guy licked his lips. “Um, we’ll try, sir.”
“Leave.”
The guy was all too happy to get out of the room.
“This is strange,” Aiden said, his gaze meeting mine. “Why would the Ritos think that I’d give the diamonds my brother took from them in exchange for just one person who works for me? It would make more sense for me to sacrifice her life and keep the diamonds.” He ran his hand over his face. “There must be a traitor among my men. Someone had to have told them Jo was an important asset to me and a friend.”
“Maybe they didn’t know if you’d care enough to save her. Maybe they’re testing you. They might’ve figured they have nothing to lose if they try and see what you’re going to do. Or they heard you have a girlfriend now, so they snatched the first woman they saw around you.” I shrugged. “Or maybe they just thought you wouldn’t trust a woman at your side so much unless you were in a relationship with her.”
“That’s so stupid.”
“We can’t know for sure. Maybe you’re right and someone really betrayed you, but how would they know about Jo? It would have to be someone in this house, and if it was, then why didn’t they just tell the Ritos to come here or something? Wouldn’t it make more sense for them just to attack? Or for the traitor to try to kill you? Unless they really want those diamonds and the traitor doesn’t know where you’re keeping them, so they don’t want to out themselves until they do. But it’s still weird, isn’t it? You’re going to be more suspicious of everyone now that you got that message.”
Aiden was quiet as he placed the phone on the desk.
“Wait, what diamonds are we actually talking about? Did your brother really steal them? Do you know where they are?”
“No. I guess they could be at one of his stash houses, or he might’ve found another place. I haven’t had the time to look for them. My brother was very vague about everything, so he might’ve sold them already.”
“Do you think it’s a trap? If you meet with them for the exchange, it would be a great opportunity for them to kill you, especially if they’re the ones who’ll pick the place and time.” I had no idea what Aiden planned to do about this, but I didn’t know how I’d feel about him walking straight into a trap and risking his life to get Jo back.
Sure, I didn’t want Jo to die either, but what if the Ritos just intended to kill everyone who showed up, including Jo?
“You can’t even be sure if she’s still alive. They didn’t even offer you proof.”
“They can’t expect me to go where they want me to without letting me know she’s alive. And since they’re giving me some time, they probably believe the diamonds aren’t here.”
“Then they are testing you. They might be watching you, or the traitor will let them know what you’re doing. They can try to follow you so they’d get the diamonds, or someone will try to steal them as soon as they figure out where you’re holding them. They might not even have any intention of letting Jo go.”
Aiden swore under his breath. “But it’s not just about Jo. They want to make me look weak. They want to show everyone that I can’t find them before they decide to kill one of my own again. Of course, they want the diamonds too, but that might not be their main goal.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“We have forty-eight hours. I’ll have my men search the whole city for them. They have to be holed up somewhere. Or maybe Jo will find a way to escape. She’s resourceful.”
“And what if none of that works?” I asked softly.
“Then we need to find those damn diamonds and see who might want to try to get their hands on them. I can use them to flush out the traitor if there is one.”
“Don’t your men know about the diamonds and where they might be? I mean those who used to work for your brother. Maybe no one was around when he was about to sign that deal, but he wasn’t alone there, was he? His guards had to be nearby, and I bet he didn’t steal those diamonds himself. Someone must’ve done it while the Ritos were negotiating with him.”
“Not necessarily. My brother could’ve hired someone else to do it for him. Someone the Ritos wouldn’t recognize as a potential threat.”
“And someone good enough to steal from the best thieves there are.” I furrowed my brow. “What if your brother made a deal with a member of the Ritos without the rest of them knowing about it? Maybe someone got tired of the gang or they wanted more than they were getting, or they didn’t like the new leader or something.”
“I’ll question those who were with Carter. And I have to check all the places where he was staying. There has to be some kind of a clue.”
“Can I come with you?”
“I...”
“I want to help you, and it’s not really safe for me to be here all alone. I mean, if there’s a traitor in this house, then I don’t want to hide in this room and wait for them to make their move. They might be waiting for you to leave me alone here and then they might...”
“You’re coming with me.”
I was glad he’d changed his mind about me coming along. But seriously, if there was someone who was secretly working with the Ritos here, then I really didn’t want to stick around. “So when are we going?”
“Now,” he said. “We don’t have time to waste.”
“Are we going away for a few days or just a few hours? Do I need to pack my things first?”
“I don’t know how long it’ll take, but you don’t have to bring anything. We’ll get whatever we need on the way. Just don’t forget your gun.”
“Never.” I flashed him a smile.
My gun was my new best friend now.
I wouldn’t even dream about leaving it behind. Who would’ve thought that would ever happen?
Chapter 18
“STILL NOTHING?” I ASKED, although Aiden’s serious face was
enough to confirm that his men hadn’t been able to find out where the Ritos were holding Jo.
We’d already searched two of his brother’s stash houses, but what we were looking for wasn’t there, and now we were on our way to the next one.
He pocketed his phone, letting out a sigh. “No. My men think the Ritos are changing their hiding place frequently, so that’s why we’re having so much trouble locating them.”
“We still have enough time to find something,” I said, although I wasn’t so confident about it. Carter could’ve done who knew what with the diamonds, and finding them in such a short period of time seemed impossible. “And if everything fails, you can try tricking them into thinking that you have them. I know that will work only up to a certain point, but once you know where they want you to meet with them, you might be able to come up with something. They’ll have to bring Jo with them, right?”
“I know, but I’d love to find the real thing first. If the Ritos find those diamonds first or if they figure out I’m bringing fakes, they’ll kill Jo.”
I placed my hand over his, squeezing gently. “We still have a few places to check, right?”
“Yeah, we’re almost there.” He peered through the car window.
“Is anyone following us?” Since the guards had to come with us too, we weren’t all that hard to spot on the road.
“Doesn’t look like it, but we need to be careful.”
When the car came to a stop, I opened the door and hopped out. We were in front of a one-story house that had an abandoned look to it. The weeds were growing freely everywhere, one of the windows was broken, and moss was covering one of the walls.
I glanced at Aiden, my eyebrows raised. “This is it?” Was there some kind of a hidden place underneath all of this? Because this house so didn’t look like something Carter would buy or even want to use as storage.
He nodded. “No one would expect to find anything here.”
Well, that was for sure. It was in the middle of the woods, so not even vandals had found it here.
Aiden’s men started toward the house, making sure the coast was clear. Aiden and I waited for them to sweep the house for any threats, and then one of his men waved us over.
The floor creaked under my feet as I stepped inside. The smell was even more disgusting, as if someone had taken a piss inside and never opened a window. Scrunching my nose, I inched forward through the dim hallway.
Aiden pointed toward the door to our right, so I headed for it. When I tried to push it open, it didn’t budge and something beeped. Aiden placed his hand against the wall, and I frowned.
But then I realized he was splaying his fingers over a dark rectangle, which moved, revealing a keypad. Well, hell.
“Do you know the code?” I asked.
“I hope so.” He punched it in, and the door beeped. I tried the knob again and this time, the door opened.
It was a small office.
There was a desk with a chair and a shelf full of folders and files.
Aiden and I rushed inside.
“Check everything,” he said. “If he made a deal with someone, the proof might still be here.”
“Okay.” I grabbed some of the papers that were on the desk, inspecting them closely. “Do you think there might be hidden messages in these or something? Because I might not notice unless I know what I’m looking for.”
“I don’t know. Try to find anything that looks new.”
I scanned through the papers as Aiden opened the safe that was hidden behind a painting on the wall. His grunt of frustration told me that the safe was empty, or at least the diamonds weren’t there.
As he moved on to pick up the folders off the shelf, I went through another stack of papers. One of them caught my eye because of the date at the bottom of the page. It appeared to be some kind of a contract.
Carter had purchased something. But what was it?
“Did your brother plan to buy a dog or some kind of a pet? This contract...” My voice trailed off, because I suddenly had an idea what this contract was about. “Wait, does he mean he bought a person?” I thought I was going to be sick.
Aiden crossed the room and took the contract from me, his frown deepening.
“It says female,” I said. “Did he...?”
“It’s definitely not about an actual pet.” He pressed his lips into a tight line.
Oh shit.
Carter had made a deal with some human trafficker and he’d bought himself a sex slave.
“But where is that woman? What happened to her?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think he would do such a thing. He liked to...” He glanced at me.
“Catch his prey himself? Yeah, well, it looks like he wanted a fully trained pet.” I curled my lip in disgust as I quoted the line from the contract. “Do you think he bought her to sell her to someone else? As part of some kind of a deal? I thought Carter enjoyed breaking women and got bored once he succeeded.”
“It’s possible.” He turned the contract. “There’s no information about the seller, but there’s a bank account number. Probably offshore. It’ll take some time to figure out who it really belongs to.”
I took a shaky breath, placing my hand on the desk to steady myself. Someone was selling women as if they were sex toys, and we had no idea who was doing it and what had happened to the woman Carter bought.
Was the seller still waiting for Carter to pick her up, or did he know—yeah, I was going to assume it was a male—Carter was dead, so he’d already resold her to someone else? What if she was dead? What if...?
Millions of questions buzzed in my mind, and again, I felt helpless.
Unable to do anything about this.
Unable to help.
“Are you okay?” Aiden asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine, but this... We have to find out what’s going on.”
“I agree, but we need to find those diamonds too. There’s nothing in the safe, and all the files in here seem to be older, aside from these on the desk.”
“I didn’t see anything about the diamonds, but if Carter just stole them and didn’t sell them, then there probably won’t be a paper trail. Hell, even if he did sell them, he might not have wanted to have any kind of proof. Apparently, it’s easier to buy and sell a human being than fucking diamonds.” At least with people, you could call them pets and everyone would think you were selling a dog. Who could blame you for that?
“Sir,” one of Aiden’s men appeared at the door. “We didn’t find anything in the rest of the house. It’s empty.”
“Okay. We need to get out of here.” He folded the contract and slipped it into his pocket. When he offered his hand to me, I placed my fingers into his and let him lead me to the door.
There wasn’t even a name in that contract.
That woman was just a nameless thing to be used and abused.
Why are you so surprised? It’s Carter’s world.
“Did you talk to the men who were with Carter already? Maybe you could ask them about this too,” I said.
“Yeah, but they don’t know anything. Carter ditched them a few times too, so that’s probably when he went for the diamonds. I’ll check and see if anyone knows anything about this contract. But I doubt they know anything. My brother wouldn’t have wanted me to find out about it, so if he took someone with them, it wasn’t anyone who might’ve been able to talk to me.”
As we stormed out of there, I couldn’t help but wonder how we were ever going to fix all the damage that Carter had done.
Chapter 19
HE STARED DOWN AT THE phone in disbelief. The time was up, but the Ritos’ demands sounded crazier than ever. Although he wanted to save Jo more than anything, he wasn’t sure what game the Ritos were playing.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” he said, glancing up at Veronica, who looked as baffled as he was, and then he pressed the play button to hear the latest message again.
“Aiden Lawrence, we hope you made the right choi
ce. Meet us in an hour at the address we sent you or your precious little spy dies. We have special terms for the exchange. Send Veronica Tyler with the diamonds. You should make a necklace out of them for her and get her to wear something nice. It has to be a dress. We guarantee she won’t be harmed. Once the diamonds are verified, you’ll get your spy back. Those are our terms. Only two guards are allowed to accompany Veronica. If anyone else shows up, this offer is off the table.”
Veronica crossed her arms. “How do they even know about me? And why don’t they want you to deliver the diamonds? Is it because they think you’d know it’s a trap? But why not use the chance to kill you too?”
He tapped the screen of his phone and the message disappeared. A video popped up instead. It was a video of Jo, all tied up, bruised, and bloodied.
His teeth clenched just thinking about what they might’ve done to her, but at least she was still alive. “My men are searching the area. The Ritos and Jo have to be close to the meeting spot, but we can’t go too close or they’ll figure out something’s up. I don’t know if we have the time to come up with something. That area isn’t busy enough at this hour, so we can’t send our spies.”
But no matter how much he wanted Jo back safe and sound, there was no way in hell he was sending Veronica anywhere. The clock was ticking, and he only had an hour to come up with a plan.
Except, something was very, very off about this whole thing, and yet, he wasn’t sure what.
“I wish I knew why they’re doing this. If they wanted the diamonds, they wouldn’t care who delivered them, or they’d insist it should be me. But you?” His eyes met Veronica’s. “And they want you to dress up for it? It’s ridiculous. Maybe I should storm that meeting spot and kill as many of them as I can. And Jo... If she doesn’t find a way to escape on her own, I don’t know what I can do for her.”
“But they’ll see you coming, won’t they? And they can just kill Jo and run away. Do you think you could corner them?”
He shook his head. “It would be very complicated, and it’s not something I can do in an hour. We’re missing something important here. I’m sure of it. Maybe they know just how much I care about Jo and you, and they think I’ll be so fucking stupid as to put you both at risk. If they got you too or if they killed you, it would be a huge blow to me. They might care more about revenge than about the diamonds. But it’s still completely insane.”