Austin pushed past Decker, charged out to the deck, and found all the men stone sober and deadly quiet. They knew something.
Austin turned a glare on Coleman and ordered, “Unhook him.”
His blood was boiling when Coleman finally stood alone, hands cuffed behind his back. Austin double-fisted his tactical vest and slammed his back against the side of the pool house. “Where are they?” He pulled him forward, then slammed him backward again. “I’ve never been a fan of torture or beatings, but so help me God, if you don’t tell me where they are, right fucking now, I’m going to slice your fucking eyelids off with scissors.”
The man’s eyes looked silvery in the night, and something passed through his gaze. “Are you sure they’re not here?”
His question was flat, quiet, and serious. He was utterly unaffected by Austin’s anguish.
“You fucking psychopath.” Fury wound Austin so tight, he hauled back and punched Coleman. The man’s head snapped sideways, and blood spattered the white pool house wall. “I’ve got six men with me tonight. And I will let every one of them take their turn with you if you don’t tell me where the fuck my daughter is. Right. Now.”
Coleman spit blood and slowly returned his gaze to Austin. “Uncuff me, and maybe we’ll have a fair fight.”
Austin hit him again. When Coleman finally brought his gaze around a second time, he must have seen the fury in Austin’s gaze, because he said, “We don’t have either one of them. And beating me isn’t going to bring them back.”
“Boss,” Decker called from the stairs inside the house. “You need to see something in here.”
Austin gripped Coleman’s jaw. “Thank him when you get a chance. He just saved you from dentures.”
He shoved the man’s head backward, disgusted. Inside the house, he jogged to the second floor, meeting Decker at the top of the stairs. “What is it?”
Decker led him into the office, and dread coiled in Austin’s chest. But instead of showing him an open door to the tunnel, Decker gestured to Austin’s desk. He moved around the furniture to look at the surface and found pages from Seaver’s file covering the entire desktop edge to edge. At the center of the desk was a clean sheet of paper with a handwritten note:
SHOW
THEM
EVERYTHING
Austin’s knees buckled. His head went light. He dropped his hands to his desk to keep him upright.
“She took her.” The realization came as a ragged whisper, but the effect shook him—heart, body, and soul. “Everly took Bella.”
Austin fought through the haze clouding his mind. He needed to think clearly now. Had to be on his game. Had to not only catch up to Everly, but get one step ahead of her. But the raw betrayal and rabid fear tore at the very fabric of his soul.
“We’ll find them, Austin.” Decker’s assurance was rock solid.
But that didn’t do anything for Austin’s rage. Or his pain. Or his terror. And for a moment, Austin lost it. His mind shattered into a million pieces, and his body reacted. He picked up the desk chair and hurled it across the room with a roar of fury, smashing two windows.
When the red haze cleared, Decker was gone, down what Austin had dubbed the rabbit hole, also known as the tunnel leading to the boat. Austin already knew it would be gone. Already knew Everly had taken it. She’d woven herself expertly into their lives, then ripped it apart.
He stared at the shattered glass with another one of those out-of-body sensations. He wanted to crumble. Wanted to let the weight of fear and grief tear him down. So he forcefully turned his mind toward anger, fury, reason, thought. Those were the only things that would hold him together now.
He was such a fool. Such a fucking fool. Here he’d been falling in love with her. And damn, she’d played him but good. He’d seen what she really was. But she’d been so good, so smooth, so real, she’d made him second guess his every suspicion.
He raked both hands through his hair. “What a fucking idiot.”
When Decker reappeared and closed the door, Austin couldn’t stand to hear the words he knew were coming. Without looking at his friend, he put his hand up. “Don’t. Just…don’t.” He dropped his hand and rested both at his hips, head lowered, eyes closed. “Get that fucker Coleman in here.”
Austin paced, his mind racing a mile a minute. Had Everly been involved with that guy in the market? Had she been sleeping with Austin for the sole purpose of distracting him so she could take Bella? Why hadn’t she taken her sooner? Why hadn’t they simply taken Bella in Turks and Caicos? It had been the perfect opportunity. If Everly was part of this team, did that mean there were two different teams after Bella?
The jingle of cuffs pulled his gaze toward the door. He pinned Coleman with a look. “She’s one of yours. You’re the boss, right? You’re the CO or whatever you call it in your organization. I know a fucking leader when I see one.”
Coleman didn’t answer.
Austin grabbed Coleman by the vest and slammed him against the wall again. He got in the man’s face, nose to nose. “She took my daughter and my boat, and I want to know where in the fuck she’s headed.”
A shadow of anger passed through Coleman’s expression before his gaze cut away and went distant. He released a raspy sigh and a muttered “She is so fucking fired.”