Page 43 of Pike’s Redemption

“I’m going to call Max.” I turned my phone over as I looked into the hall’s shadows. “Maybe you can find out where Enzo and Luca are? Help Dimitri?” I suggested to Pike. “Max will worry until I call. He’s probably going crazy.”

“Sure.” His lips ghosted against the nape of my neck. Dimitri wasn’t wrong. Ronnie should have been up here already. She had access to the cameras, and there was no way she didn’t hear that shot.

Dimitri must have noticed, too, because he pulled out his phone and quickly shot off a text. “Luca messaged,” he said, his voice casual but with an underlying edge of concern. “They should be back soon. He and Enzo took Ronnie on an errand.” He frowned. That was weird. Ronnie didn’t typically go places, and I would have thought Luca and Enzo would have said something to Dimitri. I turned to frown at him, but he waved me off.

Hitting Max’s contact, I focused on my call, giving Max the rundown and listening to him yell as I explained what had happened. “Is that fucker dead? He better be dead!”

“Yes, yes, and yes. I’m fine. Everyone’s fine,” I soothed. Alphaholes were exhausting sometimes.

“O’Kelly couldn’t even believe it when he saw it. Swore up and down to me that there was someone in the shadows. I would have thought he was fucking with me.” Max was panting; he was so worked up, and then there was silence. “Goddamn, he’ll never let me live this down. You’re okay, though, right?”

“Yeah. I’m good. Listen, we have some loose ends to tie up. I just wanted you to hear from me that I was fine.” I had turned towards the kitchen, watching the three men whispering together around milkshakes—probably conspiring to cover up the crime scene in the courtyard. I listened to him bitch a little more and then said my goodbyes, clicking off the line and setting my phone on the counter.

Just then, the door to the house opened, and Ronnie’s voice sang out. “I’m home. Was I missed?”

She seemed to sense the tension as her eyes flicked to each of us and quickly shifted gears. “Anyway, I’ve got something for you guys,” she said, her excitement bubbling up again as she set the laptop bag on the counter and started to pull out her gear. “I was digging around on the dark web—in the usual places—and found this chatroom that’s buried pretty deep. Most of the conversation was just noise, but one user was talking about a location—coordinates. They mentioned a place that matches the description of where Victor was last seen. I pulled the logs and the IP addresses, and I’m still tracing them back, but I think I’ve got something solid.”

“A chatroom?” I asked, my voice low and tense.

“Yeah. I thought it’d lead us to Victor, but it’s something else. I still haven’t figured it out, but it’s connected to him. It’s a lead,” she beamed, holding the laptop out. “I can totally crack it. Luca went in and grabbed it for me. I stayed in the car like a good girl.” Jesus, she actually traced some psycho and grabbed a laptop. I really needed to talk to her.

“Well, Victor’s not hiding anymore,” I snorted. Ronnie looked at me, confused. Enzo and Luca had come in after Ronnie and were having a heated conversation with Dimitri. Fists were thrown, but I heard the words ‘body’ and ‘courtyard,’ so I guessed they were on clean-up duty. Served them right after taking my sister on some half-assed mission without clearing it.

“What do you mean?” Her nose wrinkled in confusion.

“He’s dead in the courtyard,” I deadpanned.

?

“Interesting.” But her expression shifted from confusion to a mild disinterest when I mentioned that it was Victor. “Why was he here?”

"He came after Natasha,” Maddox said with a shrug. "We aren't sure why. Eli helped out."

"Are you okay?" Concerned, Ronnie stepped forward, her palms gently sweeping over my arms as she sought reassurance about my well-being. There wasn’t a scratch on me, but her face reflected her deep-seated worry that I might disappear.

"I assure you, I'm perfectly fine. I was rescued just in time,” I said, hoping to alleviate her concern. She nodded in response, but her eyes were still shadowed with doubt.

“What about Eli,” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant but failing miserably.

“He’s gone, but it’s funny that you ask that. He was interested in you too,” Dimitri’s voice was silken with intent as he leaned forward on the counter. “Why is that?” Her eyes narrowed slightly, and I knew that look all too well. She was curious about him, the way Ronnie got when something or someone caught her attention in a way that made her want to dig deeper, burrowing beneath the surface until everything was exposed and bleeding.

“Was he?”

I sighed, stepping closer to her. “You okay?” I asked softly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “You left the house.”

She nodded, her eyes still trained on the dark hallway. “Yeah, I’m fine. I had a lead.” She bit her lip. “I wish I had met Eli. While he was here.” She looked disappointed.

Ronnie typically showed little more than a surface interest in boys—men. She liked looking at them or commenting on them, but she didn’t engage in dates or anything.

Ronnie shrugged, leaning against the counter. “I don’t know yet. I’ve never seen him in person — just on camera when he leaves me things.” She looked away from us, embarrassed. “There’s something there, something… I can’t explain it.” She looked at me, her blue eyes sharp with determination. “I’m going to figure it out.” I barked out a laugh. If I were Eli, I’d be running scared from my sister. She was like a bloodhound. If he thought he could hide from her, he’d be wrong.

“I’m not sure he’ll even come back here, Ronnie. He doesn’t seem like a social guy. He seems dangerous,” I added in a last-ditch attempt.

“I know,” she replied, her tone dismissive as she returned to her laptop. “But I can be dangerous too.” I wasn’t sure my sister was up to the danger that Eli could rain down on her, but I kept my mouth shut.

Dimitri’s phone buzzed, pulling our attention back to him. He frowned at the screen, then looked up at me. “Luca says they’ve handled it. Victor’s body is gone.”

“Good,” I muttered. It was one less thing to worry about. But now, as I glanced at Ronnie, I realized there were new concerns that involved my sister’s sudden fascination with a man who seemed as unpredictable as a storm.

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