Page 37 of Overstaying His Welcome

I turned, closing the door behind me. When I looked back at them, I found alarm in their features.

“Tank isn’t here because he was with me. And at some point this morning between waking up beside him and me making breakfast, someone infiltrated my home and took him.” I tossed the drive in Memphis’s direction, the man I knew to be a computer genius. “Check the footage on this. I went back a few days to ensure you had what you needed. I can log in to get you more if that’s not enough.”

“Hold the fucking phone.” That came from Cohen, the joker of the group. “You can’t expect us to skip over the waking up in bed together portion of this.”

I shook my head. “Then get it out of your fucking head quickly please because my bed and walls are covered in his blood right now, and we have no FUCKING idea where he is. Are you going to get hung up on shit that was never any of your business before today or are you going to help me find him?”

The room was silent. I’m not even sure if anyone was breathing anymore.

Or maybe it was just me who couldn’t breathe anymore?

Takeshi started signing after he snapped to get people’s attention. Tank had taught me some things, but not enough to keep up. When he was done, the rest of the team nodded.

I was waved to take a seat, then I got to see what my boyfriend’s life was like in real time. The group began discussing who it could be and why. They went over all the information they could gather, carefully considering each option while also having a sense of urgency I appreciated.

“Did he say anything to you before last night? Maybe about a meeting he had today? Or do you have any enemies we need to know about?”

Snorting a laugh, I shook my head. “I’m running for mayor, not the presidency.”

“Yet,” muttered one of the men.

“As I was saying, I don’t have a ton of enemies. We hadn’t been talking about work while he was there. It was meant to be an escape from reality for a couple of days. The last work-related thing we spoke of was the Diestro money stuff. He was upset, though he never got back with me on what to do. I’ve had the payment on hold instead of transferring the files like we normally would have done.”

Orion, or Mr. Good Looking, as Tank once described him much to my chagrin, spoke up then. “What do you mean on hold? You can’t just pause a payment.”

“Not usually, but I have an in at the bank. I told them to hold everything until I could get in touch. If anything, it would get deposited to a nest account first, then moved to the main one for use. I had them hold off completely since Tank made it seem like accepting anything would be incriminating.”

Godric, Cohen’s other half and one of the big muscle guys in the bunch, drummed his fingers on the table. “Could be Lune then. Maybe he realized we’d made the connection to hisdonation after the money didn’t leave his account. He decided to take the opportunity to get Chance and instead got Tank.”

“That makes no sense. What would taking me do?” I asked the group. “I’m not involved in this.”

Takeshi’s hands exploded in movement. The man beside him seemed to try to calm him down by signing back, though it looked more like they were arguing than anything.

“My husband thinks that maybe you were meant to hurt us. If they knew your relationship to Tank, then they’d find taking you to be beneficial. Maybe Tank being there was more opportunity than anything.”

“I’d say so,” Memphis piped in. He nodded towards the big wall behind them, where the footage from outside my house came into view. This time, when it played, there was audio to go with it.

“What a fucking steal! Got the bastard when we were going for the golden carrot, eh?” The man with the gun said cheerily.

The other one grunted. “Yeah, but you’re not the one who had to fight him. He got me good a few times before I knocked him out. There’s blood everywhere.”

“No worries. We’re gonna be long gone before he even realizes. Idiot is still in the kitchen cooking.”

“Fuck him. I can’t hold this pig forever.”

The video cut out, leaving the room in a sea of fury. I stood slowly, my hands moving to the desk as I tried to take deep breaths.

“Whoever they are, I want them found. I don’t care what you need to use, do it. I will pay through the nose. But find them. Alive preferably.”

I’m not sure if it was the menace in my voice or the look in my eyes that gave away how serious I was. No matter the reason, the team looked at me as if I were an alien.

“What?!” I asked when no one moved.

Ronan scrubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just… you don’t seem like the type to be this way. The whole burn down the world thing is our stuff. You’re a politician with plans on running for the senate, right?”

“I could give a fuck less about my position or this goddamn country right now, Ronan. My only focus is on getting back the man I love and treating the people who took him to a taste of their own medicine. Are you going to be able to help me with this, or will we need to have group therapy to discuss everything before one of you gets to work?”

It was silent for a second before Memphis let out a booming laugh. “No wonder Tank loves him. They’re perfect together.”

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