Page 78 of Unleash You

“We’d talked on the phone so much. It was rude not to make the effort to come meet them in person.” She elbowed him in the ribs.

Matt had moved to New Orleans after our stint in Venezuela. Up until a few weeks ago, he’d been in charge of Ela’s security detail. I was glad he’d found someone. But right now, I had to get out of here.

Ela’s gaze darted from me to Matt. After a few beats, she turned to Mom. “Lilly, how about we get started on those scones?”

“I think that’s a great idea. I’ll get some tea going.” Mom winked at her and headed to the next room.”

“It isn’t tea. It’s just straight up bourbon,” Matt said.

“Omigod, thanks for the warning.” She raked long fingers through her hair. “I’ll stay with her. Looks like the two of you need to talk.”

“Thank you.” Matt kissed her on the lips before he turned to me. “She saw you last night sneaking out with a friend, armed to the teeth.”

“Oh, sorry about that.” I rubbed the stubble on my face. “I hope we didn’t scare you.”

“No worries. I wish I could say that was my first time.” Her cheeks turned pink when she glanced at Matt.

One day, Matt would have to tell me what happened there, but for now, Anabelle was my priority. “I’ll bring him back in ten.” I gripped Matt’s sleeve and pulled him toward the study. “We need to get Zack.”

“Shit. He’s in on this? What the hell is going on, Wes?” He shut the door behind him.

“There was no way around it.” I texted Zack and asked him to join us. “Let’s wait until Zack gets here. I’m too tired to explain myself twice.”

Before Matt could ask any more questions, Zack barged in, then slammed the door. “Rebecca is fucking gone.”

I sat behind the desk. “Were you not with her?”

“I was. But she drugged me.” Zack practically spat the words. Of all of us, he was the Zen one. Nothing riled him, not like this. He rubbed his eyes and inhaled. “Is she okay?”

“We found Charlie. He’s knee deep in some shitty dealings. Best I could figure, he wants Rebecca to hand her over to Marcel. And Anabelle.” My voice quavered. “I have no idea what he wants with her. At this point, I think we should assume the worst.”

“Where do we start?” Matt glanced down at his phone and swiped the screen a few times. “Did you guys get this?”

“Yeah. This can’t be good.” Zack glared at his screen before he tossed it on the sofa.

My devices buzzed in my pocket a few seconds later. A very cryptic text from Derek flashed in my notifications. He wanted to talk to Matt and Me. “Does he know you’re here?”

“Yeah, I talked to him yesterday.”

Me: We’re in your library. Call us here.

Derek: Turn on the telepresence.

Matt shook his head but did as Derek asked. “In so many ways I’m not surprised he has this in his house. He was always all about the gadgets.”

The device rang a few times. As soon as we hit the green light, Derek’s office appeared on the screen. “Hey, sorry for the weird message. I wanted to make sure you weren’t around Mom.”

“Now what?”

“Bad news, I’m afraid.” Dom, Derek’s best friend, walked into view. With his hands braced on his hips, he appeared relaxed, but the fire in his eyes told me something bad had happened.

“Just tell us.”

“Tyler got shot.” Derek blurted out, then exhaled. “We’ll leave as soon as Valentina gets here.”

“He’s fine. He’s in a hospital in Jersey. A friend of mine is with him.” He pursed his lips.

I met Matt’s gaze. Tyler had gone back to New York to work on a case that would afford him the opportunity to work on Rebecca’s case and uncover who was working with Smith and Marcel. Or as it were, with Charlie, who coincidently was now back in the country.

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