Shadow Fire (Shadow Riders 7)

Brielle raised her gaze to Elie’s. His expression was utterly inscrutable. He didn’t say anything, just kept those dark eyes fixed on her. She sighed.

“He had another file titled ‘Hear Me Roar.’ I printed it out. Basically, it said to erase the heart, or Valentine. I would guess that would be Valentino. The female French bulldog and the male French bulldog, I would presume that would be us, and the devil fighter. I can only guess that one to be Dario.” She indicated the paper in the printer. “I have it for you.”

Again, he remained silent. Waiting. He knew she’d traced those photos to their origins. Someone had sent them to Dino in order to identify the targets.

“Santoro provided the photographs of Valentino and Dario. A man by the name of Carmine Catani, who works in Dario’s organization, provided the photo of you. I haven’t had time to go after him yet, but that’s next on my list. I have to keep going on Colombo.”

“Are you stalling?”

Brielle shook her head, because she wasn’t. Her words were tumbling over one another again. She was talking too fast, trying to tell him everything at once. “My photograph was sent to Carlo Santoro by Izan Serrano. Serrano apparently works for the local mafia famiglia in Barcelona. Who knew the Toselli family in Barcelona would have such close ties with New York? Santoro’s son, Carlo, is married to Valeria, the daughter of Arnau Toselli of the mafia family in Barcelona. They have two children together.”

“You picked the wrong damn city to train in,” Elie said.

“I did.”

“And then you decide you have to frequent an underground kink club where you meet a man who probably finds women for the trafficking ring. He plays in the club, and sets up a few women to disappear.”

“Great. I was one of those women.”

Elie shook his head. “No, I don’t think you were, Brielle. I think you were his woman, the one he wanted for himself and you kept sliding away. He has an ego. Then you investigated the freighters and he’s involved with the Toselli family and they’re tied to the extremely powerful family in New York. He had to wonder if you played him.”

She chewed on her lower lip. “How could he possibly find out I was investigating the freighters? No one could have found me, Elie. I’m too careful.” The printer shut down and she closed the file and backed out of Dino’s email. She’d been in it too long. The file had been unexpectedly large.

She put the screen down on her laptop, rising when he held out his hand to her. “I’m serious, Elie, there’s no way anyone would have discovered me through my investigation.”

Elie indicated the small table for two set up in front of the fireplace. He’d placed their sandwiches on plates and indicated for her to eat. There was a small bowl of fruit she found much more tempting, although her sandwich was an open avocado and cheese, which she usually liked. It was just that she wasn’t very hungry. She still had a nagging feeling Elie wasn’t very happy with her and that bothered her.

“We’re looking into how Izan could have discovered you investigated the freighters, or for that matter, the Santoro family in New York. After the way you performed today on your computer, no one believes you made mistakes, not that I did anyway.” He gestured toward her open-faced sandwich. “You don’t eat enough to keep a bird alive. Part of a shadow rider’s training are the courses given in nutrition. I know they aren’t given just to the men. I was trained mainly by Archambaults, but I can’t believe the courses would be that much different.”

She couldn’t help making a face at the sandwich. She would have made it at him, but she was nervous the moment she was alone with him. He had a way about him of taking up an entire room with his presence. She’d always loved the way he could do that, walk in and just by making his entrance fill the room, but living with it was much more difficult than she’d anticipated.

Her body responded to him the moment she saw him. He made her heart beat faster every time she looked at him. Her lungs would burn for lack of air. Her sex clenched and went damp. She hoped those things never went away. She knew a few of the older shadow rider women would talk of still having such reactions to their partners, and when they spoke of them, their eyes would light up and their faces would take on a glow. That had been her dream. Her dream had always included Elie Archambault.

“Brielle?”

She blinked, bringing him into focus. That was the problem when she was around him. She went off into her fantasy world instead of paying close attention the way she should. She was too over-the-top crazy about him. Two weeks in his company had just made her reactions worse.

“I’m listening.” What had he asked her? She scrambled desperately to remember. She was really, really intelligent, but she always looked like such a fool around him. She wanted him to respect her work and yet every chance she had to impress him, she did this kind of thing, went off into her own mind. Oftentimes it was to puzzle out where she was going next in the investigation and other times it was to fantasize over him.

A slow smile lit his eyes. “Eat, bébé.”

Nutrition classes. That was what he had been going on about. She pushed the sandwich around on the plate. “I did take the nutrition classes, Elie. All of them. Too many if you ask me.” She lifted the corner of the toasted melted cheese sandwich to her mouth.

“So, you do know the importance of protein and carbohydrates to keep your stamina up.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I passed the classes with no problems.”

Elie’s phone went off and he glanced down. “Cleaners are gone. Leone and Raimondo are taking off along with Ruggero and Lorenzo. We’re locked in for the night.”

Her heart jumped. She kept her eyes veiled with her lashes as she diligently ate her sandwich.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had discovered your photograph along with Val, Dario and mine right away?”

She winced. His voice was casual. Too casual. She risked a quick look at him. There was no expression on his face, but he was watching her closely. She was absolutely certain he could read her like a book.

“I didn’t have the answers yet.” That was a partial truth. She knew Carlo Santoro had sent the picture to Dino Colombo, but how had Carlo acquired it? She recognized the large plants and pottery in the background of the photograph. The café was one of her favorite haunts. Small, a hidden gem, she studied there when she could. “I wanted to find them before I gave you the report.”

He continued looking at her without speaking. She detested when he did that. She knew he wouldn’t stop until she confessed everything to him. She took a sip of water to wash down the suddenly dry bite of sandwich sticking in her throat. She waited until her heart had settled down and she could swallow easily.