Risk (The Men of Matiz 1)

"Until tomorrow," I repeat as I watch him walk away.

Chapter 12

Nolan

"They're a real life roleplay." Crew dips the tip of a plastic spoon in the ice cream. "He's the big, bad Wolf and she's little red…"

"Jesus Christ," I spit out. "Shut up, Crew. I don't want to hear it."

"You're the one who brought them up." He drops the spoon on the counter. "What flavor is this? It's disgusting."

I place the cover back on the ice cream and shove it in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator. "It's blue bubble gum. Not my first choice obviously, but you know."

"Your lips are blue. How much of this shit did you eat before I got here?"

"A few spoons," I lie, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. I ate half the fucking pint while I considered adding an Adele song to the playlist on my phone. It shouldn't bother me that Ellie is hanging out with another man tonight, but it does.

Once I reached the doorway of Cremza, I turned to see her looking up at Liam with awe in her eyes and a smile on her lips. That look should be reserved for me. I want to own that look.

"You're going to feel that later, pal." Crew leans against the counter. "We know the guy fucking Ellie."

Anger knots in my gut. The slow and steady burn of frustration takes root around it. I don't need to hear the words aloud. It's all I've thought about since I left Ellie's side. Liam will taste the hint of peppermint that's always on her breath. She'll undress for him, tempting him with each inch of her skin that's exposed. It's his body that she'll cling to when an orgasm rushes through her. That fucker will have everything I want if he hasn't already.

I would have stayed and put a halt to all of it, but I needed to be here. I had to be here.

"I don't know him, Crew. I've never seen him before."

"He's Nick's brother."

"Nick who? Nick Wolf? The guy from high school?"

"The guy who is burning up every bestseller list known to man." He reaches in the fridge for a bottle of water. "One of his books was optioned by a studio in Los Angeles. He's a big deal."

Nicholas Wolf went to high school with us. We didn't hang out often. When we were partying and planning for college, he was submitting short stories to the school's annual anthology.

It paid off in spades for him. His series of detective novels has taken the world by storm. You can't turn a corner without someone talking about his latest book release.

"What about Liam?" I tug my phone from my pocket. "What's his deal?"

Crew's already on it. His fingers are skipping over his phone's screen. "All his social network accounts are locked up tight. They're as private as Ellie's are. I can hand this off to Kristof. He'll have a full file on your desk in the morning. Just give me the word although, for the record, I'm still one hundred percent against you pursuing Ellie."

Kristof Hellaman used to hold a high ranking position in the FBI before I lured him away. I needed his expertise to solve my own personal whodunit a few years ago. He wasn't successful but he proved his loyalty. Since then, he's been on retainer, never more than a phone call away if I need a background check or an extra set of eyes on me when I travel. He's a valuable part of my team, and he's paid accordingly.

"Between you and me." I pause to circle my finger in the air. "Kristof brought me next to nothing on Ellie."

He chuckles, resting both his hands on the counter behind him. "Kristof brought you all there is on Ellie. You can't accept the fact that the last address he traced her to back then was in Boston."

The street address listed for Ellie Madden's mother more than a decade ago doesn't exist now. The tenement was torn down by a developer itching to build a suite of condos to lure people to Boston's old West End. It worked.

I co-invested with Crew in a pair of office buildings in that area spearheaded by a friend of my father, and the returns have been consistently healthy. Residential dwellings, beyond those in my own portfolio, aren't a magnet for my money. Commercial buildings have always proven to be my golden ticket.

"It's not about Kip." I scrub the back of my neck.

"You asked me not to mention Kip to Kristof." His voice takes on a serious tone. "I haven't, though I've never understood your reluctance to get him involved. She wouldn't even know you're looking for her and if he finds her, at least, you'll know she's all right."

I've always used the same excuse when Crew has suggested we get Kristof to trace Kip's tracks. I tell him that it would be a waste of my money. The details we have are so vague that it would be impossible to find her.

I never knew her real name. She didn't offer, and I stopped pressing for it after asking twice and getting only a shrug of her shoulder in response.