Page 74 of Ferocious Nightmare

Was Nero here already?

I scrambled, managing to sling off my shoe and get to my feet just as the door opened. I charged forward, head bent down, rage making me blind. I landed into a firm chest, and strong arms wrapped around me.

"Aster." Dante had to say my name several times before his voice broke through my fury.

I sagged in his arms, tears streaming down my face in relief. He held me stiffly, then ripped the duct tape off my mouth.

"Coulter." My heart was pounding, and I steeled myself for his answer. If he died, I was going to start with Nero, then make my way through the Mendoza cartel until every last one of them was dead.

When he didn't answer me, I pulled back, forcing myself to look into his eyes. "Tell me about Coulter. Is he alive?"

He gave me a pitying look. "I don't know."

"What?!” My voice was high and anxious, even to my own ears.

"He made me go after you."

"Fucker!" I cursed, “What was he thinking?"

"He'll be fine,” he tried to reassure me. "I called Marie. She'll make sure he's okay."

“Are you sure? We didn’t exactly leave on good terms.”

“I’m sure.” He turned me around, pulling out his own knife to finish cutting off the duct tape still on my wrists. "For now, we need to get you out of here."

"No." My arms broke free, and I turned around, going to grab my own knife which had fallen to the floor. I sat on the sofa, painstakingly peeling off the rest of the duct tape. "We’re going to finish what Coulter and I started."

"Aster," Dante growled out.

"Shush," I put my finger to my mouth, then pointed towards the door. "My guards are just out that door."

He nodded, acknowledging me, his voice low. “Coulter will kill me if I don't get you out of here."

"I don't care. Fight me if you want, but we're just wasting time." I stood up, throwing the tape to the floor, giving up on the rest of it. "We need to find that information for Bourbon. Do you have your phone?”

He gave me a look like I was an idiot, and I took that for a yes. I'd lost mine in the struggle.

"Good." I headed towards Nero's desk. “Help me." Grabbing Nero's envelope opener, I managed to pop the lock, yanking the drawer out.

Dante sighed in defeat, but began to help me. He bent over, crawling under the desk. "I found something."

He threw out two large, yellow envelopes. I grabbed one and tore it open, scanning the documents quickly. Dante stood over my shoulder, reading. They were titles to two properties. One was in the Dominican Republic, the other in the Czech Republic.

Hideouts in case he needed to escape.

Dante opened up the other envelope; it contained two passports, both with Nero’s picture and fake names. There were also several hundred-dollar bills inside.

I scowled, and we threw the envelopes onto the desk.

"There has to be something somewhere."

Dante started going through the desk again but I strode towards the shelves, tugging on books. I went through each one, picking through them., growing more and more frustrated as each one turned up nothing. “I wish Coulter was here. He would know where to look.”

Dante was moving rugs and throwing the couch cushions on the floor, tearing the rest of the room apart. I began to run my fingers across the wall, looking for anything unusual.

"Ouch!" I stubbed my finger on something. I yanked it back, sucking on it to ease the pain, and my eyes narrowed in on the wall. There was a reason I’d stubbed it.

"Find something?" Dante came to stand next to me, and we both saw the small bump in the wall at the same time. It was a line, as if something had been installed after the wall was built.

---