Except I never told him that we found out it was Orlov.

“Orlov?” I ask, knotting my brows.

“Yeah, man, what a blow.” He looks up at me, and instantly his eyes are filled with panic as he realizes he’s slipped up.

“Shit. I just remembered that I have to—“ he stands up, knocking his coffee over. Swearing, he bends down to grab the paper cup, but it’s already spreading, dark, hot fluid over the floor.

“Justin,” I say with malice, rising to my feet.

“Fuck.” He mutters, stepping backwards and falling back into the sofa. His eyes are wide with fear. If his slipping up with that information wasn’t enough, his reaction now is all the confirmation I need.

I leap over the coffee table and grab his collar, shaking him. “It was you?” I snarl into his face. “You’re the rat? This entire fucking time? We’ve been working together for years—what the fuck—“

“I didn’t have a choice.” He shouts.

“You always have a fucking choice.” I snarl.

“The money—“ he stammers.

“What about the fucking money—what about your fucking loyalty.”

“They said I could get a cut of everything I stole.” He whimpers.

My mind is racing. I can’t believe this. What am I supposed to do now? Someone this close has been working with the enemy—someone I trusted. Someone I would have called a friend.

My phone rings and I pull it from my pocket, answering with anger in my voice. “Nico speaking.”

Luka is on the other line. “Nico, where are you?”

“The office. I’ve got—“

“They found her bodyguard dead. She’s gone. They took her.”

“What?” My mind snaps in two.

“Outside the doctor’s office. The cops tipped us off because they traced the plates to us after some poor guy stumbled over the scene. She’s gone, Nico. They took her. We’re pulling up the surveillance footage now to find the plates of the van that took her.”

I can’t breathe and my anger is so intense that my vision turns white with blind rage. “I’m going to call you back in a moment,” I say to Luka before hanging up on him.

Beneath me, Justin’s eyes flash with fear. He heard the conversation.

“Where is she?” I growl, savage and dangerous.

“Nico, man, I never knew they were going to take her, they just said she—“

“You’re the one who gave her to them?” I ask, not realizing that his betrayal went deeper than money and all the way to the pits of hell.

“I found out you two were together—they pay me for information. She had an insane price on her head, so I told them you two were dating—“

My fingers lock around his throat and I squeeze, blocking off his air and snapping the words from his lips.

He gags and chokes and tries to squirm out from beneath me.

“I’m going to ask you once. Just once. And if you don’t answer me, I won’t show an ounce of mercy. Do I make myself clear?”

His lips are turning blue and his eyes are beginning to bulge from his head.

“Where is Serafina?” I say, my voice void of even an ounce of emotion. The lethal delivery of my tone has him shaking beneath me.