How the fuck did I let myself get involved with this?
This is all so much bigger than I thought. It started with my kidnapping, but it’s gone so far beyond that now that my mind struggles to keep up.
It’s no longer about my dad and what he was or wasn’t doing in his past, what he was involved with before he died. It’s now about me, and what scares me more than anything is that I don’t know what the fuck I’ve done to provoke it.
Hale hangs up the phone, still barely contained, but more calm. He looks at each of us, his gaze lingering on me.
“We’re going to meet with my father. Now.”
14
Hale
I’ve never been so fucking mad.
My entire body shakes with red hot rage aimed directly at the fucker who thought this was funny, who thought they could get away with this without signing the line and begging for their own death. They’re asking for a bullet in their brain. Worse. The same fate that this dog got, they’ll be getting.
By my own hands.
Get a grip, I tell myself, forcing a deep breath.
I can’t let my father see me in this state. He can’t know how much this is fucking with me. If he knew just how pissed I am right now, it would make him doubt my ability to lead—he’s always told me that emotions have no place in a syndicate leader’s decisions. He prides himself on staying calm and acting rationally, and normally, I can do the same thing.
But right now?
Jesus fucking Christ, I could spiral out of control and into a mad rage at this point. I’m almost there, but I know it’s just recklessness.
No one threatens Grace while she’s under my roof.
Fucking no one.
“Wrap up the dog,” I say, forcing down my blind rage and slipping back into the leader mindset I need to be in. “Find a sheet, something, I don’t care. We’ll take it with us. One of my father’s men can do an autopsy and check the body for forensic evidence. It’s a long shot and unlikely that we’ll find anything, but maybe we’ll get fucking lucky. Zaid, you sweep around the house to see if anyone is still around. Lucas, check the security cameras. This isn’t an amateur, so I doubt we’ll get anything there either, but I’m not leaving any stone unturned.”
Everyone nods, falling into their roles quickly. We don’t have any time to waste.
“Grace, I’m going to walk you upstairs to get shoes and a coat. Everyone, we’ll meet in the garage in five minutes.”
Ciro opens the door and slips outside to deal with the dog as Zaid and Lucas splinter off in different directions. Grace moves quickly up the stairs, not saying anything to me as she steps into her room and heads toward her closet. I wait as patiently as I can as she slips into shoes and pulls a sweater over her head, then nods to let me know she’s ready.
We head back down the hall, down the stairs, and into the main entrance. The door is open but the dog is already gone. Ciro’s pouring a chemical on the front step that will quickly remove the vicious red stain that mars the stone.
Grace looks away from the scene, still quiet. Her normally pale skin is even more pallid than usual, and it makes a fresh wave of rage surge through me. I want to reach out, to say something to her, but I don’t trust myself right now. If I let my emotions out, I’m afraid I’ll scare her even worse than she already is.
Zaid and Lucas meet us in the garage. Lucas catches my gaze and shakes his head. “Nothing on the security footage. They blacked out the cameras that cover the front of the house.”
“Fuck.” I expected that report, but I still hate it.
Ciro loads the dog, wrapped in a bloody sheet, into the trunk. He slipped its collar with the tag bearing Grace’s name into a small plastic bag, and he hands it to me as everyone piles into the car.
The sun sets fully as we make the drive to Onyx, the streets of Chicago growing dark as they rush by. My mind spins the entire way over, and before I realize it, I’m pulling into the underground garage we use for security purposes.
“Wait to take the dog inside until I’ve left with Grace,” I instruct my men, not wanting Grace to have to see it again.
It’s bad enough that she saw it fucking once.
Goddammit. She was supposed to be safe with me. With us.
I grit my teeth as I guide her over to the elevator, the doors sliding open as I press the button. We step in and they close, blocking out the parking garage and mutilated dog.