Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
“We figured you needed this.” Delta’s smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes.
I pull it to my lips, cupping my hands over the warm glass and breathing in the roasted almonds and woodsy scent. I take a second sip, and then a long sigh escapes.
“I’ve combed through everything there is to comb through, and I can’t find anything on the surveillance for your house or for outside the gate that’s helpful, but Damiano already said he’s going to go over it again just in case,” Bronx shares.
“It has to be Enzo, doesn’t it?” Delta says as she lowers onto the patio seating.
“It’s not Enzo.” We all look to Boston, who leans against the open doors, her arms crossed over herself.
I hold her eyes a long moment, watching as a clear gloss coats them. I nod, agreeing. “It’s not Enzo. If it were, he wouldn’t have gone after my dad.”
He would have taken … damn, I have no idea who he would have taken: the girl he agreed to marry or the “better one” my father said he could have instead.
Anger threatens to consume me, but I wash it away because my father isn’t here, and God only knows what’s happening to him. The last thing I need is for him to take his final breath while I’m standing here, pissed off at what he’s done. Or, more accurately, threatened to do before everything went to shit for the second time in twenty-four hours.
Behind Boston, the Grecos step in, Ander and Alto behind them.
Kenex and Kylo join us on the balcony as well, looking first to Damiano and then to me.
“Do you think they’ll hurt him?” Kylo worries, and Kenex nudges him in the ribs. “Your dad, I mean?”
I lift a shoulder, giving him a small smile. It’s sweet of him to care when my father has shown him not an ounce of humanity.
Everyone nods, looking to me, waiting for instruction I’m expected to give. Waiting for an answer that I’m supposed to have.
I have nothing. Well, maybe the smallest of insights. “I would say it was Otto finally coming after him in search of Oliver, but our dad said Otto was attacked just before our security went out. That’s why we were coming home.”
Dom nods. “Calvin told us about what happened at the Henshaw mansion.”
“What if Otto and his family faked the attack to cover for himself, so he could come after Dad without repercussions?” Boston asks.
My eyes widen. “Holy shit.”
“That has to be it,” Dom agrees.
It does. “The Henshaws had to—”
Sai’s giant form breaks into the room and my words die on my lips, my muscles tightening as he makes his way toward us, his suit still perfectly in place, no sign of an attack made on the name he’s sworn to protect.
To everyone else in the room, his face likely looks calm and unreadable, but as I said, I’ve spent more time around this man than anyone in my family or friend group. I see the strain at the edges he tries to hide but can’t. Lines of guilt?
His eyes connect with mine and my throat runs dry.
“Do you need anything?” he asks, his gaze pointed and searching.
I can’t find my voice, so I simply shake my head, and while it takes him a minute, he finally accepts it as an answer and moves back into the hall.
The second he’s out of sight, Boston’s eyes narrow, and she quietly runs toward the door, closing it as softly as possible as she flicks the lock in place before rushing back my way.
“What is it?” she asks and then it’s all eyes on me.
I take a deep breath, telling them everything that I chose to skip over earlier because I needed a moment to try and make sense of it to myself. I do acknowledge the fact that I should have mentioned it from the very beginning, especially since he was within these walls with us, but nobody faults me for it.
Bronx busts out her computer, and she and Damiano hover over it on my bed as she hacks her way into Sai’s phone. Surprisingly, it only takes her three minutes to get in with her father’s newest software. She divvies up the content and prints small batches, passing them to all the boys, and they hunker down, reading over all of Sai’s private conversations.
He has no family, no woman, though I’m sure he finds a way to spend time with some, so there’s nothing there but communication with my father and the other members of our team. Some from Calvin and house members, Jasper included. Each message relayed prominent information in regard to us girls and our safety. Or more me and my safety, since I was his responsibility, but none were out of the ordinary or raised cause for concern.