Fury I’d never felt.
One man shushed her and said, “It’ll be easier this way.”
And then I heard her crying, screaming, fighting. Then silence and rustling.
Silence.
It was probably a sound that would never comfort me again.
I remember how I let it seep in. I remember how I knew it changed me right there, right then.
That girl had been a nuisance and an enemy of mine. I’d embarrassed her and probably tortured her a little.
But no one made her beg or tortured her except me.
The bellow that ripped through me was loud and feral and her cat’s ears went back like the thing hated me. I hated myself too but couldn’t dwell on that now. I dialed my brother’s number back.
“Got an update on—”
I blurted it out. “The Albanians have her.”
“What?” he whispered. “That’s not possible. They’ve got to know she’s with us—”
“They don’t know she’s really with me, Bastian.”
“Is she?”
“Don’t fuck with me right now.”
“I’m not, brother. I’m not.” He sighed.
“They drugged her. She’s a recovered addict, Bastian.” I couldn’t hold back the shake of emotion in my voice.
My brother tried to calm me down. “Okay, look, we’ll handle—”
“Iwill handle it,” I corrected. “They’re mine now.”
“Cade, we agreed to be allies—”
“Ididn’t agree to anything. You did. I never agree,” I reminded him. “And in my world, details matter. They didn’t want to figure out the details before they drugged the girl I love—”
“You’re in love with her now?” Bastian’s tone changed.
“Figure out how you want to cover up the chaos, brother. Because I’m about to unleash it.”
“Jesus Christ, Cade. I can’t cover up your shit. Can’t we wait a second and—”
“I’m not waiting. And get ahold of Dante and Lilah. They need to swing by my place and pick up Izzy’s cat.”
“I’m not dealing with a cat when you’re about to fuck up everything, Cade. You need to chill.”
“I am. And you better deal with it.”
I didn’t wait for him to respond as I hung up and pet the cat’s head. “You’ll see your mom soon. I promise you that.”
No one had authority over the world like I did.
And I intended to exercise that authority to the fullest in the next few days.