Page 19 of Oathbreaker

Veronica’s eyes land on him, and her body goes slack in Rio’s hold. She starts to cry as she looks at the tall Ukrainian man.

“Hunter Brigham,” he says in an unmistakable accent. “It’s wonderful to meet you again. It is unfortunate it’s under these circumstances.”

I look at him for a hard beat, then swing my gaze at Leo. “What the fuck is he doing here?”

For the first time, I see Leo freak out at something I’ve said or done. His eyes widen to a comical point, bugging out of his head.

My attitude has been insufferable over the last few days. I haven’t slept; I haven’t eaten. My every thought revolves around the urgent need to find Winter.

You promised to keep her safe and look what happens—not even hours later.

I don’t stuff down the thought. Instead, I let it wrap around me, whip at me until I bleed.

It won’t be enough.

I breathe in as deeply as my broken bones will allow me to. “My apologies. I’m not at my best at this moment.”

Misha doesn’t smile. He quirks an eyebrow at Leo.

He chooses to let me live another day and says, “As a favor to Leonardo, I have pulled in my resources to assist you in finding your woman,” he says. “It was very well hidden, but we’ve been able to track down who took her from your club yesterday.”

“Who is it? Where is she?” My mouth dries as I suck in panicked breaths.

Misha cuts a glance at Leo. The latter stares at me hard.

I lift my hands as a sign of silent apology.

Misha’s gaze returns to me, and with a smirk, he continues.

“Were you aware that Ms.Vaughan has a protective order against a man named Adam Collins? The reason for the order is sealed; it appears to be dating back to her adolescence.” He scrolls a bit more. “Of course, we got the sealed information, but that’s just background noise. The important thing is Adam Collins was granted parole five weeks ago.”

Veronica releases a strangled cough. “Parole? We were told he’d never be granted parole! How…?” She trails off, and she reaches for one of the chairs.

Rio helps her sit.

The bottom of my stomach drops out. In the grocery store, I’m confident she saw him. I know she did. He’s been stalking her.

Where does Father play into this? My head spins.

“Well, where the fuck is he?”

“I sent a man to check on him at his last recorded address. Mr.Collins was nowhere to be found. That said, we pulled the surveillance from that night at Appleton. Looks like a match. What do you think?”

Misha hands the tablet over to me with a side-by-side picture of Adam Collins’ inmate photo and a grainy CCTV still of a man standing in front of one of the Tahoes that our security detail uses. He wears a black hat low over his eyebrows when he opens the back door to the SUV.

I tap the screen, and the video footage begins to play.

Heat rushes to my face when Winter’s form appears in the display. My eyes trace the beautiful curve of her neck, the supple roundness of her ass, and her powerful thighs. She barely glances at the man before entering the car. Her eyes remain fixed on the phone in her hand. She’s distracted.

His profile comes into view when he turns to walk around the front of the car. When I analyze the image, it’s clear the man is Adam Collins.

I pass the tablet to Veronica, and Leo acts as the courier, handing it over to her. She studies the images for a long minute before looking at me and then at Misha.

“That’s him. That’s Adam,” she says with tight lips.

“Great, now we know who took Winter—” My voice cracks at the mention of her name.

Fucking weak. Fucking pathetic.

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