Page 140 of Safe and Sound

“More than you’ll ever know.” I pounded my fist into his right side.

He shook his head. “People…want…her.” He spit out a stream of blood. “She…is….important.”

Before I could hit him again, his words stopped me cold. “What people want her?”

“Overseas…agent.”

My blood ran cold. “Someone is looking for Ava?”

“Found…out…when…I….was…stalking…her.”

Fuck. Someone else was after Ava?

“How did you find out?”

“Stop…hitting me….and I’ll tell you.”

“Don’t test me,” I snarled. After giving Wesley time to catch his breath, I jerked my chin at him. “All right. Out with it.”

“After I broke in to talk to her–”

Grabbing him by the throat, I countered, “Don’t twist the fucking facts. You broke in to rape her, boyo.”

“Fine,” he choked out. After easing up on his neck, Wesley said, “I knew I couldn’t get to her myself, so I went on the dark web to find someone to take her to bring her to me.”

A shudder went through me at the thought of all the heinous people who could have come for Ava. “Then what happened?”

“Someone saw her picture and started asking all these questions about where she was from and who her parents were. It creeped me out, so I decided just to bide my time until I could get her myself.”

Fuck. Just when I thought I’d taken out the threat against Ava, another fucking one had to pop up. Leaving Wesley, I stalked across the room.

“Where are you going?” he called after me.

After slipping out of the room, I grabbed my phone from my pocket. Instead of dialing our IT specialist, I bypassed him for a better one.

Gianni Neretti was Callum’s brother-in-law. If anyone could find out who the threat was to Ava, it would be him. He answered on the third ring. “What’s up, D?”

“Hey man. I need a favor.”

He chuckled. “I imagined as much since you were calling.”

“I need an extensive background check on Ava Carras. I want to know anyone who could possibly have a beef with her.”

A pause came on the line. “Is she someone important to you?”

“Very.”

“Gotcha. I’m on it.”

“I don’t have to tell you how serious this is, right?”

“Nope. I hear you loud and clear.”

“Thanks, man.”

“I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks.”

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