Page 68 of Redemption's Inferno

“Sorry, I meant to but I fell asleep.”

“We had a break-in, Em.”

“At the house?” She got to her feet and began to pace. “Is Misty okay? Oh my God, how much damage? What did they take?”

“Misty was at the library, so she’s fine. They tore the place up but didn’t take anything—that’s why I was afraid they’d taken you, Simone or both of you.”

She swallowed. “Oh fuck. That’s what they were after, but I was afraid she would come after us so I brought Simone here.”

“She? She who?”

“Is Jamie there? You guys need to come over.”

“We’ll be filling out police reports for a while,” he said. “What’s this all about?”

“It’s Franny,” she said quietly. “The person who’s either after or already has Chains is Franny.”

“Franny?!” Viggo couldn’t hide his shock. “What in the fuck would she want—”

“Look, it’s a lot to explain. As soon as you get through with the police, come on over. Dante has people looking for her now. By the time you get here, we might have answers.”

“Right, okay. See you soon.”

Emilie didn’t know what to do, but she couldn’t just sit and wait. Since Franny may have figured out they were on to her, if she was actually holding Chains prisoner somewhere, she might kill him. If he was still alive, though, she’d obviously had a reason for keeping him alive and Emilie might be able to use that to her advantage. Looking down at her stomach she thought of the baby she carried inside her. She didn’t want anything to happen to him, but she also couldn’t walk away from the man she loved. She knew deep down in her gut if he was still alive, whatever he was enduring was because they’d threatened to hurt her if he didn’t. Exactly what he’d always worried about. He’d loved her enough to put himself in danger, after having already saved her once, so this time, she would be the one doing the saving.

There were just a couple of things she had to do first.

* * *

By dinnertime, Viggo, Jamie, Misty, Karl, Kate and Joe had all arrived. Emilie and Becca sat around the large dining room table with everyone, listening and exchanging glances. Becca knew her friend well and she’d instantly recognized Emilie was hiding something, but Emilie had simply said she was overwhelmed and worried about Chains. She knew Becca didn’t believe her, which was why she was watching her so intently. Emilie was carefully biding her time, though, making sure her facial expressions didn’t give anything away; it wasn’t that she didn’t want their help, it was just that she didn’t think Franny was stupid enough to let them trap her. The only way to get Franny to actually take her to Chains was to go alone, and Dante and Viggo would never allow it. So she was going to have to find a way to contact Franny and sneak out without being seen. Once she knew where Chains was, she would somehow let them know so they could help her get him. She wasn’t sure how to do that yet, but a plan was formulating in her mind.

Chapter 25

Emilie changed into yoga pants and the Sex Pistols T-shirt she’d given Chains in London. She pulled on socks and sneakers, put her hair in a ponytail and wrapped an ankle cell phone holster around her left ankle, stuffing a burner phone in it. She put her regular phone in one pocket of her pants and her wallet in the other one. Gripping her keys tightly in her hand, she leaned over and brushed her lips over her daughter’s cheek.

“Mummy will be home soon, darling,” she whispered.

She tiptoed down the back stairs and out the kitchen door that the housekeeper usually used. She paused to pet Dante’s German shepherd, Puzo, named after his favorite author, Mario Puzo, hoping to keep him from barking. Luckily, though he could be ferocious with strangers, he seemed to love Emilie and let her scratch behind his ears for a few seconds before she kissed the top of his head and finally reached her SUV. She sat in the driver’s seat and took a deep breath. Simone and almost everyone she cared for was either safely inside Dante’s house or nowhere near Las Vegas. Now if only she could get to Chains before it was too late, if only it wasn’t already too late…

She pulled onto the street and got on the highway, putting her phone in the hands-free cradle and using voice commands to call Franny. It rang once, twice, three times. Emilie clenched the steering wheel tightly; she didn’t know what she would do if Franny didn’t answer. Finally, she heard the line engage.

“Franny? Are you there?”

“Hello, Emilie.” Franny’s voice sounded strange.

“What do you want in exchange for Chains?” Emilie kept her voice level.

“How did you figure it out?” she asked blandly.

“Does it make a difference? I know your husband was Gary Matthews and he died in Iraq on that mission with Chains.”

“Bastard let all of them die!” she hissed in response.

“There was no parachute,” Emilie said gently. “He jumped into a group of trees.”

“Liar!”

“I’m not lying.”

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