Page 93 of Protecting Bianca

“It will take at least a couple of hours for anyone to get close to that container. You can’t go in, Jager.” Will’s voice broke. “I’m so sorry, man.”

This time, he wrapped his arms around me and held me to his chest. Christian and Jake squeezed my shoulders. They offered me comfort, but I couldn’t allow it. I couldn’t believe she was dead. I’d only just found her again. Everything was perfect. We had our whole lives ahead of us. “She can’t be dead,” I whispered. “She can’t be. I was going to ask her to marry me.”

Will pressed me tighter. My chest felt as though it imploded, and pieces of my broken heart crumbled down to the pit of my stomach. My throat convulsed, and I gagged from the pain.

I pushed Will away.

This couldn’t be happening. She was not dead.

“No,” I said. “No. I won’t believe it.”

I turned to Walsh. “What fucking happened?”

“I told you. Those guys carjacked us—”

“I don’t believe you. I don’t fucking believe a word of that story.” I grabbed him by his shirt collar and pushed him up against the brick wall of the warehouse. “Tell me the truth. What happened? Because I don’t believe she was in there.”

Will wrapped his hand around my wrist. “Let him go, Jager.”

“No.”

“We’re checking out Walsh's story,” said Khan. “We have police canvassing the area for the men he described.”

“You’re not going to find them because they don’t exist,” I said, still clutching Walsh’s shirt between my fingers. “Why did you take her? Where is she now?”

Walsh’s panicked eyes changed for a moment. In them I read something peculiar. Cunning? Arrogance? Deceit? I wasn’t sure, but he was hiding something.

Towers.

What if another car took Bianca and was now on its way to kidnap Towers?

I let go of Walsh’s shirt, and he fell forward with Khan catching him.

I marched to Will’s truck. “We got to get back to Bianca’s office. We need to secure Towers. Maybe someone is taking Bianca there. But I’m not sure. Nothing makes sense right now.”

Will started the car while Jake and Christian climbed into the back. My knee bounced as Will took every side street to reach the office, avoiding heavy traffic as much as possible.

“I need your thumbprints,” I said as I pulled out my phone. After opening the scanner app, I made everyone press their thumb to the screen.

When we reached the office, I opened my door before Will came to a complete stop at the front of the building. I raced to the elevator and pressed the button over and over until the doors opened. It didn’t speed it up, but it made me feel better doing something other than waiting.

“Can you check the cameras while we go upstairs?” I asked Will. “They’re in the large boardroom down the hallway.”

“Definitely,” said Will, and Christian followed him.

The tenth floor was empty, or so it appeared at first.

“Jager?”

I turned toward the voice. Jeremy stood still, his eyes assessing me and my brothers. I narrowed my eyes. “What are you still doing here?”

“I told you. I had to pick up some things for tomorrow’s event. Why are you here?”

“I need to speak to Towers,” I said.

“He’s not here.”

“The hell he’s not.” I turned to Jake. “Stay with him.”

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