40
Moreno
My heart pounds hard against my ribcage. It feels like it might burst through my chest as sweat coats my forehead.
“Where’s Nova?” I need to see my daughter and know that she’s safe.
Vance is full of lies. Paige would never work for him.
Dante shouts orders for the capos and soldiers to clean up the bodies and secure the compound.
Nikki is coming down the stairs with Luca at her side. Dante already let them know it was safe to reemerge and that I would have questions for her.
I rush across the hallway.
“Where’s Nova?” I had secured her in the panic room with Nikki and Luca before leaving.
How did she get out?
“I’m so sorry,” Nikki’s voice trembles. “Paige came, and I opened the door. I shouldn’t have, but I thought you were both back, and it was all over.” Guilt weighs heavily on her features.
It’s pale compared to the devastation that I feel.
I will not lose my daughter.
“Where did she take her, Nikki?” I’m not the least bit calm or rational right now.
I need answers.
“I don’t know. Vance came in and let her leave. She’s working with him!”
I can’t believe that, but after what Vance said about Serene, my head is in a whirlwind. I don’t know what to believe anymore or who to trust.
But I need my daughter. Her safety is my number one priority. “How’d she leave?” I ask.
Her vehicle was still in town, abandoned when she’d been abducted.
“I don’t know. She grabbed a set of car keys,” Nikki says.
I hurry outside to take note of what vehicles are still missing. “She took the SUV. Dante, I need your phone.” I don’t bother to explain, only to interrupt him.
“Why can’t you use yours?” he asks, pulling out his cell phone and unlocks it before handing it to me.
“It got fried in the explosion,” I say. I open the tracking app and pull up the specific vehicle that she nabbed.
Sure enough, the GPS is ticking on the map, indicating that she hasn’t left town.
I grab the keys and rush out the door.
Nikki chases after me. “Do you need backup?”
I doubt she’s offering to help, other than inform the soldiers that I want an escort.
“No, I’ve got it.” I don’t want to spook Paige.
If there’s any chance that she’s working for Vance, I need to know, and bringing an army could only cause more trouble.
Besides, by the looks of where she’s going, we’ll be starting a war if I bring soldiers. We need to keep off the radar.