In another life, I would have welcomed the threat to our power. Albanians wanted to take over—as if they stood a chance. And they were deliberately moving that way in confidence behind our backs, like we wouldn’t be ready.
I called my brother and Dante as I skirted around my desk and sped out of the building. Both of them needed to know what was about to happen.
I informed them of the Albanians trying to hack the election and pushed the data as fast as I could through a secure text to them.
I commanded both of them on the phone. “I’m on my way to Izzy’s. You two need to work with the Stonewoods and the bratva to make sure the Albanians keep their shit in line for this election.”
Dante added, “What’s Izzy have to do with it?”
“She’s the one who found it.”
“Before you?” Bastian’s attention was piqued now.
“Fuck off. The cybersecurity was already in place. We’d have caught the issue, but Izzy stumbled upon it last week. For some reason, she didn’t inform me. And they’re watching her. Her friend OD’d, but it had to have been a hit.”
“Shit. Get over to her house and protect your girl then,” Bastian grumbled.
Dante halted the conversation. “His girl? What the hell does that mean? If you’re fucking around with Izzy, Cade—”
“Then what?” I got in my car and slammed the door harder than necessary. No one was going to warn me off my girl.
My girl?When had she become that?
“That’s my sister-in-law,” he bellowed into the phone. “Wet your dick somewhere else.”
“Watch your mouth. It’s not just that with her.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Dante swore while Bastian mumbled in Italian.
“I don’t have time for either of your shit. I just told you we have an election on the line and Albanians going against our alliance. She’s not safe until we set it straight. Especially because they think she’s the only one who knows.”
“I’ll need the records,” Bastian sighed. “They aren’t going to admit it right away. We’ll need a few days and—”
“If they have her, Bastian, they aren’t getting shit. Fuck.” I smacked the seat of the car as my Tesla drove me to Liberty Greene Apartments. “Give me a second. I’m here. I’ll call you back.”
I took the stairs two at a time and cursed the cameras as I ran down her hall.
Her door was wide open.
Her phone had been smashed and left on the floor.
No Izzy.
No sign of her anywhere.
The place wasn’t trashed, but the knocked-over table and crushed phone on the ground told me everything I needed to know. I heard a meow and looked down to see her black cat in the corner of the room. “Fuck me,” I grumbled before I swooped up the cat and stormed out.
I got back into my car, set the cat over on the seat in hopes it wouldn’t freak out. Instead, it just stared at me like I was a piece of shit. “I know I fucked up, okay? I’m going to get your mom back.”
I sighed and hacked the data from her phone. I was able to pull up the last moments on there before it had been destroyed, and thank God she’d had training.
It was her begging. And every second I listened, I lost a little more of my control.
“Please. Please. I’ll come willingly.” I heard the whimper and closed my eyes as I felt the true pain in her voice. “I’ve been sober nine years. I don’t need you to drug me.”
Izzy was strong. She went toe-to-toe with me and spat fire when she needed to. Here, she was broken. And when they laughed at her and spoke in Albanian, I saw red.
Black.