Page 66 of The Art of You

I joined them so I could check him out and ensure he hadn’t faked his background, that he wasn’t one of the other guys from my old Team suddenly deciding to take revenge on me fifteen years later. It felt absurd to consider, but I couldn’t dismiss any possibility.

“I don’t think I’ve seen him before,” Bella said as I looked over her shoulder. “You?” She turned, catching my eyes, but I’d been leaning in to view the screen from just over her shoulder, so now our faces were too damn close.

Her lashes fluttered as she stared at me, and I had to swallow and order myself to stand upright so her mouth wasn’t so close to my own.

“No.” I cleared my throat, not as subtly as I’d have liked. “He’s not familiar.” I glanced at Constantine at my side. I had no clue what he was thinking, and honestly, I didn’t want to know.

Regrouping, I studied the screen again, but from a distance. The man was an average-looking thirty-two-year-old white guy with brown hair and eyes.

“No serial killer or stalker vibes from what I can tell,” Bella said softly. “But pictures can be deceiving.”

“Well, he stays on our suspect list the same as Pablo. Just in case,” Constantine said as if only now making up his mind on that.

“Our suspect list feels as long as it does short,” Bella murmured, resting her elbows on the table before lowering her forehead on top of her hands.

I had to resist the urge to stroke her back and offer her comfort. It was already taking all my energy to resist brushing my mouth over her bruises, as if somehow I could heal her with my lips.

“Anything else?” I turned toward Constantine as he returned to the breakfast bar.

“Unfortunately not,” he answered.

“This accountant wasn’t on the party list, right?” I asked.

Alessandro shook his head no. “Not unless he used an alias. I’ve been scouring social media for pictures and videos from the party to see if Alfie, or anyone who wasn’t supposed to be at the party, was there. Haven’t found anything that’s stood out yet.”

“People were too busy reposting and resharing the video of us dancing, as if that was newsworthy,” Bella said after an exasperated sigh, lifting her head. She swiped away the wild strands of her hair clinging to her face. “I should call Mom back at some point since she clearly got wind of the stories and is worried.”

“You should phone your dad, too.” Alessandro lifted his chin at me like a directive.

“Right. That’ll be the highlight of my night.” I reached around to my lower back, the achy pain there not yet suppressed by the medicine. “I also think I should speak with Kit, preferably in person.”

“That’s exactly what she’s expecting, and why I think you should hold off until we know more,” Constantine responded, shutting his laptop.

“I can get her to tell me her source. To see if she’s connected to any of this mess.” And that was precisely what this was—a disastrous and confusing mess. I may have been exhausted and in pain, but it felt like we were chasing our tails. And that chase was intentional and purposeful.

“Someone may be watching her, waiting for you to confronther,” Alessandro said, seemingly in agreement with Constantine. “That headline may have been a carrot being dangled for you. Maybe for your old man, too.”

Shit.They were both right. But still. “We’re missing something. Like the main point,” I shared my thoughts aloud, bringing my hand around from my back to my stomach to emphasize this was a gut feeling. “I think everything is connected somehow.”

“What could it be?” Bella stood and faced me while Callie and the others quietly joined her on their feet, too.

All eyes were on me as if I could pluck the answers from the universe and offer them up on a silver platter. I wasn’t even close to being able to come through for them right now.

“Why don’t you call your father, then get some rest? We can regroup tomorrow. See if our guys following Kit and Clarke turn up anything by the morning. Adelina’s still trying to get the Feds to share details of the case, too.” Enzo was offering up a reprieve, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to take it.

I covered my mouth, eyes on the ceiling as I tried to rally and think through this as if our lives depended on it.Because they very well might.What was I missing?

“If the kidnapping is connected to the photo, to Kit’s headline story, even to Alfie being at the party—and my gut says I didn’t imagine him—then I have to believe Ambassador Aldana’s daughter wasn’t taken for money. And whatever reason she was abducted might somehow be what ties everything together.” That was the best I could manage right now given my state of mind, but it was a start.

“Your dad and the ambassador seemed pretty close in the library,” Bella noted. And in the chaos of the weekend, I’d nearly forgotten that. “Maybe they’re more than friends.”

“Those men could’ve abducted any number of rich people for money, but they chose a diplomat. And what doambassadors generally do? They make deals and have access to a lot of high-level shit, right?” Callie pointed out, and Alessandro nodded at her.

“The ambassador said diplomacy doesn’t always work. Maybe Hudson’s right.” Bella continued running with the theory I’d let loose. “Maybe those men wanted something from her that she couldn’t risk giving up. Not even for her daughter’s life.”

“And it was a classified something she couldn’t share, so she lied about what the kidnappers wanted?” Callie proposed.

I’d happily let Bella and Callie go back and forth on this. They were doing a damn good job.

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