Page 112 of The Art of You

“You have my word.” Constantine spoke for all of us while I grappled with trying to not lose it all over again.

I squeezed my eyes closed, and memories of my time with Bella over the years flipped through my mind.We’re meant to be together, and so help me . . . Bianca, please watch over your sister. Keep her safe until we can get to her.

“I’m so sorry.” Enzo’s broken voice hauled me back to their father’s office, and I opened my eyes. “This is my fault. Green must’ve found the statement I gave to the CIA when we signed the deal, right down to where we tortured Keith’s brother and how I took his life. If I hadn’t opened my mouth, Keith wouldn’t know what really happened.”

“You should never have tried to sacrifice yourself in the first place, throwing yourself on the sword like that,” Alessandro said in a somber tone. “Because we were all there. Allcomplicit. But regardless, Keith would’ve found out about this some other way. Don’t you dare blame yourself.”

“He’s right. I need you to compartmentalize and focus on your family. We have it covered here.” Constantine continued to remain in command of his emotions, trying to keep us all focused and in line. “Keith’s brother was a killer, just not Bianca’s. If we didn’t take his life, he’d have hurt more women. So, this conversation is over. Guilt won’t bring Izzy and Callie back. End of story, you hear me?” He looked at me, then to Alessandro, for confirmation. “The only assholes to blame for what happened are the men we’re going to kill today when we save our family.”

Alessandro stroked his jaw, eyes on me, the rage once again simmering behind his grays. He was ready to go. The beast was back, and we needed him. Now I needed to wake the fuck up, too.

“Just . . . keep me updated.” Enzo sounded as lost as I felt. “I’ll have my phone on me. Let me know when Dad wakes up.”

“We will.” Constantine swapped a few more words with him and Maria before ending the call, turning his attention to a new problem standing in the doorway.

Special Agent Clarke, of-fucking-course.

Clarke lifted his hand as a request to hear him out, then locked his arms over his blue-and-gold FBI raid jacket. “Dean’s house was broken into an hour ago while he was asleep. He was stabbed before his security detail could get to him. He’s in surgery. A different hospital from your father since he was in Manhattan.”

“What?” The word barreled fast from my mouth, but honestly, I shouldn’t have been surprised by this. Dean was the AG who’d helped arrange immunity for the Costas after killing Keith’s brother, orchestrating the deal between their father and the CIA.

Clarke pushed away from the doorframe. “Listen, Maverick told me what happened, and why I was really given those files. I shouldn’t have handed Kit the AAR from your op, and she won’t be getting the other nineteen reports. I also didn’t know Maverick’s kid was at risk, or I’d never have . . .” He cleared his throat. “Now I know what’s really going on. Well, some of the story. I can draw a conclusion as to why this house was hit, at least.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “We’re not doing this now.” If he planned to try and stop our rescue mission, he’d wind up in the hospital, too. No fucks or regrets given.

Clarke met my eyes, and I saw something there that had been noticeably absent in the hospital. Compassion?

“Look, while we may not see eye to eye on how you conduct your, uh, side business, it’s clear to me who our enemies are, and they’re not in this room.” He turned to the side, patting the doorframe. “I won’t be stopping you from doing what needs to be done, but if you can keep those fuckers alive so the FBI can have a go at them, it’d be appreciated. And if not . . . just be sure Adelina’s nearby, and leave before more badges show up.”

Yeah, I didn’t expect that.“One less obstacle to deal with is fine by me,” I said after Clarke left.

“Same.” Alessandro turned toward his brother. “Holler the second Echo Team and the others are here and we have a location.” He started for the door, presumably resuming his time-killing mission until we could save Bella and Callie.

Constantine checked his watch. “Roman and his team are en route. Adelina picked up Sydney from the airport twenty minutes ago. They’re on their way. All we need is a location, and we’re spinning up.”

At least we had a team of SEALs prepared to step up, along with a real-life Lara Croft wanting her own vengeance againstthese assholes for threatening her son. And while Alfie’s team had to hang back in Spain to wrap things up, he’d flown with us to have our six here. Since Rose’s brother—KeithOberland, not Keith Jenkins—and her husband clearly had an arsenal and their own militia at their disposal, we’d take all the help and resources we could get.

As Alessandro left the room, I removed my phone from my pocket, hating playing the waiting game as much as he did. Opening Instagram, I checked to see if there were 365 posts yet. The friend request hadn’t been accepted, and we’d yet to convince anyone to unlock the account for us because of privacy laws. But what was more concerning was the fact Falcon Falls and Echo Team, who had some of the world’s best cyber experts, couldn’t crack the account.

“Follow him, will you?” Constantine tilted his head toward the hallway. “I have a hunch I want to check out.”

I stowed my phone instead of chucking it at the wall like I wanted to do. “What kind of hunch?”

“Something Enzo said got me thinking. If Keith read Enzo’s statement from the CIA and knew where we killed his brother . . .”

I walked back a step as it clicked. A possible location. Thank fuck.

“That factory is still owned by my family. That whole row of properties down by that port, actually. All still abandoned because of what we did. My father decided not to sell off the properties, so they’re sitting there desolate and empty.”

“And you think he took them back to where this all began for him, where we killed his brother?”

“Gut feeling.” He unlocked his phone, preparing to make another call. “I’m going to divert Echo Team there to do some recon. I’d suggest we jump on a helo now and head over, but I don’t want us going the wrong way if we need to be elsewhere.”

I nodded, feeling like that was all I was capable of doing, still stuck between two modes: extreme worry and rabid rage. “I’ll let Alessandro know.”

I left the office, walking fast, fueled by adrenaline at the possibility we might finally get one step ahead of the architects of this madness.

Upstairs, I found Alessandro on his knees in one of the hall bathrooms, holding on to something.

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