“Be careful. Love you.”
She kissed him on the cheek and came back to me. I linked our hands and started heading for the stairs when I heard the rush of water draining through the pipes.
She didn’t notice, nor did Tyler and Josh who were arguing over whether it was cool to fuck a chick on the first date. Tyler thought it was. Josh didn’t.
“What is it?” London asked, her hand on my arm.
It could’ve been someone showering, but it wasn’t a gentle flow of water. This sounded too powerful like—“Fuck. Connor.”
Jesus Christ, he broke the fuckin’ pipe he was cuffed to.
“Tyler,” I shouted. “Take her. Josh, get Deck. Ernie, side door. Connor’s free.” I made certain Tyler had London before I took off for the basement. I heard Josh running up the stairs yelling for Deck, and a door slam. Ernie headed for the side door. The shattering of glass breaking solidified that we were too late.
I busted through the basement door into the room he’d been in and dove for the window. My hand grazed his ankle, but he was too quick and slipped from my grasp.
“Connor. Shit. You need the drug.”
The bastard had the nerve to turn and crouch before the basement window and I saw the journal Deck had shown me on the plane, clutched tightly in his grip. Did he remember? Why the hell would he take that?
“Get Georgie clear of this.” Fuck, he remembered her. He jerked his eyes to the right and I knew it had to be one of the guys coming out the front door. I slowly withdrew my knife.
“Connor,” Deck yelled. “Damn it, Riot.”
Connor’s brows lowered over his eyes for a second as if he was in pain. I took the opportunity of his distraction and threw my knife, not to kill him, but to stop him before he killed himself. It pierced his upper thigh where the bullet wound had been, but he didn’t even flinch. Instead, he glanced at me, smiled, then yanked the knife from his thigh and wiped the blood on his pants leg.
His wild eyes went from me to the direction of Deck then back to me. “The girl. Where is she?”
“What girl? Who are you referring to?” I asked.
“Riot.” Deck’s voice was closer.
Connor waved the journal. “She’s not in here. Where the fuck is she?” His voice was rough and sweat dripped down his face. The guy looked as if he was burning up with fever.
I knew there were pages ripped out. Had he written about some girl? Deck said there were missing pages. But why would pages be ripped out?
“We’ll find her,” I said to pacify him.
He grabbed his hair with one hand, clenching his jaw as if he was in pain. “He has her. Fuck. I can’t remember.” His eyes narrowed and darkened and he looked murderous. “Catalina.”
I heard Deck inching closer. I slowly pulled a knife from my boot, but Connor must have noticed because his body tensed.
“Deck. Now.”
But it was too late.
Connor was gone.Medellin, Colombia.You okay?
It was a text message from London. They’d arrived in Greece two days earlier and were safe at Tristan’s place. According to London’s text message when they first arrived, it was over the top extravagant. She sent me a pic of the pool overlooking the edge of a cliff, but it wasn’t the pic I wanted. I wanted the bedroom where she’d be sleeping.
I got that later.
Yeah, baby. But I won’t be able to contact you for a bit.
Okay.
She did a cute heart and an xxx. I’d never had that and I seriously liked it.
London was stronger than she’d ever been. There was no argument about me leaving, about her leaving, about us being separated. She knew this had to happen and she was giving me what I needed.
She texted again.
Love you. Be careful.
Always, London.
That had a double meaning and I knew she’d get that. I’d always love her and I’d always be careful.
I tucked my phone in my pocket as Tyler lowered his and said, “Got info on Catalina Moreno,” Tyler said. “Moreno married her at age twenty and word is, it wasn’t by choice.”
Connor was going after Catalina. The question was why? And did he remember enough to know where she was? And who she was?
Deck snorted, shaking his head with disgust. “Family?”
Tyler sighed. “None left. She was payment. The rest of her family killed, a brother, mother and father. Father had worked for Moreno, flew one of his planes back and forth to Miami, drug trafficking route. Probably stole from him, lost a shipment, who the fuck knows. But his family paid for whatever went down. Catalina lives because she’s beautiful and according to my contact, Moreno likes beautiful things.”
I crossed my arms while leaning against the old wooden door of the house we were holed up in while waiting for Tyler’s contact to arrive.