Page 30 of Frosted Hearts

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Smart Ass," Knox chuckles on the other line. "I didn't think you two would kill each other so I wasn't worried about that."

"Well thanks for the vote of confidence," I sigh. "What do you need? Do we have any news?"

"None yet. Senator Granger has been acting out of sorts. I've had Rome watching him and trailing, trying to find stuff out. He's had some blacked-out vehicles stopping by the house late at night. Tried to run the plates, but they came back to a shell company. Rome hasn't been able to get visuals on the subject or subjects in the cars," Knox explains while I start the engine, moving the phone from my ear to the Bluetooth in the car.

"So basically we still have nothing. How the fuck can we get no damn information? What is the Senator hiding from us?" My temper rises with every word I speak. This whole mission has been a clusterfuck since we took it on. I understand why Knox couldn't say no when Senator Granger asked, but that doesn't mean I approve of it. If the bastard would just share the damn information with us we could more effectively do our job.

"Are you in the car? What the fuck, Steel? Where the hell are the girls?" Knox shouts ignoring my comment. "You were supposed to be fucking watching them!"

"Are you done?" I ask calmly, tightening my hands on the steering wheel. I know I'm the carefree jokester most of the time, but I do actually give a shit about my job. I would never fucking risk the girls the way he is trying to insinuate.

"Am I done?! What the fuck?" Knox snarls. "I swear to god if you don't tell me that the girls are with you right now, I am going to drop everything and drive there to kick your ass. No, better yet, I'll call Shadow to send his guys to pick you up and beat you while I drive there."

"Don't you think you're being a touch dramatic?" I sigh, trying to hold my temper. "I would never risk the girls. You should know that. To answer one of your million questions, no the girls aren't with me, but before you lose your damn mind, they are safe at the cabin. I had to come get some groceries and I thought it would be safer for them to stay hidden than be seen in town. I showed Illeana where the safe room was and how to enter it. She knows the drill and is completely safe. Both she and Grace are. I can't believe you would seriously question me."

I hate that he is acting like he doesn't trust my judgment. I wouldn't ever risk them or my job. I'm not stupid. I chose the lesser of two evils, and trust me, I've hated not being at the cabin with them, but we needed some supplies, and I really wanted to make a special meal for Illeana. Sue me for trying to do something nice for her. If I thought there was any sort of risk to them staying behind, I wouldn't have left. Knox said it himself, though; we have no new updates, and we can't stay in the cabin forever. We'd probably make it one more week before needing to get out and find somewhere else to stay. The girls are already missing a week of school as it is, despite the fact I know they both have been getting homework done here and therethroughout the week. This was supposed to be temporary. There hasn't even been chatter about the girls not being in school or at the Senator's house. They're fine alone for a couple of hours.

"Why didn't you just have me send someone to bring you supplies? Steel," Knox sighs. I'm sure he is shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose right now in stress. "Well, what's done is done. Nothing we can do about it now. Are you sure they haven't turned their phones on at all? We haven't had any news but that doesn't mean someone didn't track them if they went against the rules. I mean I don't see either of them doing that but we both know in our world you can never be too safe."

"Neither of them has used their phones that I know of. They both know the risks involved, or well Illeana does. We gave a shortened version to Grace, so as to not scare her. And as for the groceries, I didn't want to bother anyone. It wasn't a big deal to run out and grab them. You're panicking for no reason, Knox. Trust me. I got this. You're the one who assigned me this case because you said you were too busy. So trust me to do my job." I may have gotten a little snippy at the end there but I was getting annoyed. It was like everyone was against me here, which only made me more concerned over the fact that Illeana and I slept together. God, if Knox found out, he really would murder me, and have the Chaos Brotherhood hold me until he arrived to finish the job. We have a rule about sleeping with our clients, and I definitely broke it last night. Illeana may not be our client per se but she is who I'm tasked with protecting.

"And you're the one who didn't want a babysitting job. Sue me for questioning why you'd leave them behind. This case is too damn important and is going to have way too many eyes on all of us if we fuck up. We will probably lose a good chunk of clients if anything goes wrong," he retorts immediately, not even taking a second to think about what I said.

"Thanks for the vote of fucking confidence, Brother," I snarl, before hitting end on the call. I don't need to sit here and listen to him remind me about why this job is so important. He's my best friend, basically my brother, he should trust me on this. So fuck him. If he wants me to talk to him again then he needs to call me back and apologize. I'm not going to sit here letting him berate me as I drive in the middle of a goddamn snowstorm trying to get back to the cabin.

My phone pings with an incoming text, the screen of the SUV radio telling me it's from Knox. Of course, he sends a damn text instead of picking up the phone to say sorry. Asshole.

Hitting his name on the screen his text plays through the speakers of the car. "Yo Jerkface, when you're done throwing your hissy fit like a child call me back. You know I'm just stressed and worried. You know how to do your job. You're one of the best and I don't question you on that. I just don't like this shit with the Senator. He's being shady, even more so than before. I started doing some digging into him and the shit I've found isn't good. If I get any real leads I'll let you know. Just be on high alert. Call me immediately if you see anything suspicious."

"Why the fuck didn't you start with that, Asshole?" I snarl in the empty vehicle. I swear he makes shit complicated on purpose. If he had told me that before, I wouldn't have left the girls alone. If the Senator is into some shady shit then the girls would be in danger, even more than we've suspected with a stalker. Fuck!

Pressing my foot on the gas, I speed up to the point of concern. The roads are starting to get covered and slick, but I need to get back. This isn't my first time driving in a snowstorm like this and I doubt it will be my last. I know just how much this car can handle, and I have every intention of pushing it to the limit. I'm hoping to make it back to the cabin in less than an hour. I guess we will see if that happens or not. It damn wellbetter. And after this, none of us are leaving without having a plan in place. This will be the last time I leave the girls alone, it also means no more trips out in the snow.

Ireally should have listened to Steel when he told me not to open the door for anyone, not even him. Did I? Nope. Of course not, I heard a car and opened the door, walking right outside, not even thinking. Now I'm left standing here in front of six men I have never seen before in my life. All of them are dressed in fancy ass black suits, not even wearing any winter gear. They look out of place. No, better yet, they look dangerous. I'm definitely never going to hear the end of this when Steel returns.

Fuck! Steel, where the fuck are you!

Slowly, I begin to back up toward the door wondering how long it will take to get back inside and lock the door. Not that I believe a locked door is really going to do any sort of good. But it would give me time to make it to the panic room with Grace, and that's what's most important. My sister needs to come first and be protected. I'd never forgive myself if something happens to her.

"Good morning, Ma'am," the driver of the vehicle calls out as he moves toward the front steps, leading to where I'm standing on the porch. I watch him cautiously but make sure to keep theother in my sights as well. "Do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?" he calls out again when I don't answer him.

The man is seriously creepy. His suit looks perfectly pressed despite the fact that he had to have been in the car for a while. I know when we arrived it took forty-five minutes to get here from town. Plus the suit really just doesn't fit in for the area. It's freezing outside and he has no coat on. I doubt anyone in town would be caught dead wearing a suit daily, it's too rural here for that. His black hair looks oily and is slicked back in a way that adds to his old man creeper vibes. I think he has to be at least fifty considering he has a weird-looking mustache that most likely has grey hair. He still has his sunglasses on so I can't make out his eyes but I'm sure he is staring at me, considering everything else about him.

"I'm not really sure that I can help you," I answer, trying to figure out how in the hell I'm supposed to get him to leave without exposing that Steel isn't here. If anything I need him to think that Steel is inside but I also don't want him to call my bluff. Damnit I don't know how I'm supposed to do this.

"I'm just looking for someone that I know is in the area. We've gotten a little lost with this snowstorm," the man states as he reaches the bottom step of the snow-covered wooden stairs leading up to the cabin.

Yeah, sure, dude, you got lost in the snowstorm. I doubt that completely. It only started snowing hard about thirty minutes ago, but even I knew it wasn't bad enough yet to make it hard to see. I also don't know why they would think I've seen anyone in this area. From what I've noticed, all the cabins are super secluded. We don't have any neighbors around here, so I doubt they took a wrong turn.

"Sorry, I don't think I can help you much," I answer, feeling the door handle behind me. Reaching back, I grasp the handleand turn it so all I need to do is push the door open and rush inside.

"No need to fret," the male soothes, grasping the railing on the side of the stairs like he is about to climb up them toward me.

My eyes move behind him, catching some of the other men moving around the vehicle as well. Two of them approach the cabin, both going toward corners. They don't go too far, stopping just within my sight. The third was still back by the vehicle, leaning against the driver's door nonchalantly. I could feel my hands shaking as I continued watching everyone.

Come on think, Illeana. How the fuck are you going to get out of this. You have no fighting experience and these guys are probably armed. It'd be stupid of them not to be, and they are dressed like the security guys my father employs for special events. They don't look like the same guys, especially the one who has a neck tattoo. That doesn't mean they aren't as dangerous, if not more so. I really wish we had gone with Steel now. This is ridiculous.

"Would it be alright if we looked around? It wouldn't take long at all. I promise. We just want to make sure we haven't missed anything," he smiles, walking up the steps slowly.

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