Page 107 of Royal Flush

I could tell by the way Valerio was sucking in his breath he was just as distraught as I was. Yeah, family could be tight when the chips were down.

“What about the driver? There were some witnesses.” I was preparing to make more demands even though I’d grilled the crowd hovering around her like vultures with the tenacity of a drill sergeant.

He didn’t say we’d been over it ten times. “The police took several statements, but the accounts were all over the place. A black SUV, a blue sedan. Hell, one bystander even mentioned a red Dodge Ram.”

“My money is on the SUV. The impact caused damage.”

“Whoever it was might just park the damn thing where it will remain until the heat passes,” Valerio reminded me.

Gage ended the call, groaning afterward. “If she arrived on a commercial flight then she used another name. I have a buddy in the aviation industry who’s going to check on private flights coming from Australia.”

We had no clue if that’s where she’d flown in from. In truth, it was highly unlikely. I’d gone to her country, her home. I’d grilled her mother, anyone on the staff. Either she was no longer staying there or she’d been hidden well. Either way, I hadn’t found a trace of her and I’d hired the best private investigators to do everything to locate her.

Including breaking the law.

“Anywhere else she mentioned visiting or wanting to go to?” Gage was pulling at straws but I was appreciative. The hours since she’d been brought into the hospital had been gut-wrenching. “Nowhere. I think she mentioned Paris once. Or maybe it was Milan.”

I could tell my two brothers were giving each other that knowing look.

“Let me see what I can do,” Gage said. “I need caffeine. Anyone else want a cup of coffee?”

“That rotgut shit?” Valerio hissed. “No, find a liquor store on your way back.”

The two of them could laugh and at least I could provide a waning smile. After Gage left the room, Valerio shifted in front of me, leaning his back against the window. I always knew when he wanted to chastise me by how quiet he was.

“What?” I hissed. “Say it.”

“What do you want me to say, brother? To provide a reminder you can’t go off halfcocked beating up the world? That you still have a business to run? That there’s nothing you can do but allow the medical professionals to do their jobs?”

I gritted my teeth. The nurse had taken a new round of blood what seemed like hours ago. Additional tests. Learning more. Right. Where the fuck were they with the results? Did they need to go to another goddamn city to get them? I made a note to purchase a lab for fuck’s sake. “I know that, Val, but I also need to do something or I’ll go mad.”

“How can I help?”

“How? You can help me hunt down the person responsible.” I slowly turned my head, studying the way his hard expression softened. In the last four months, things had finally started to quiet down, the DC news no longer covering the various scandals like rats consuming their prey. Still, the news that several important, prominent people were involved in keeping their own little black book, which had allowed them to blackmail and extort in their efforts to get to the top, had been all I’d heard about.

Justin Sinclair’s name and that of his family had been shamed, people in their government turning their backs on the situation. However, I’d learned Justin had been a bit player, used more than being the user. Not that it mattered at this point. He was dead.

“I can try but we need to do this methodically and only after you learn about Jasmine’s prognosis.”

“Are you handling me again, Val?”

“Someone needs to, or you’ll end up in prison.”

He wasn’t necessarily wrong. I was ready to kill someone with my bare hands. “Anything to protect the woman I care about.”

“I know this is too little too late,” he told me. “But it’s good to see you caring about someone. I wasn’t certain if it would ever happen.”

I was so bone weary I couldn’t come up with some ridiculous answer. Maybe the rage was starting to return.

Valerio’s phone rang and I shook my head. “All business.” I wasn’t being kind.

“Maybe I put out a few feelers to try and satisfy your request. Give me a minute.”

I certainly didn’t need to be terse with my brothers, but I’d never felt so helpless or hopeless in my life. The memory of her face, the wheezing as she’d tried to speak would forever be ingrained in my mind.

Another reason I would have no issue making good on my mental threats to the person responsible.

I’d fucking kill them.

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