Page 54 of Broken Promises
“Don’t apologize. You have every right to be worried, but I swear, wewillfind her. And when we do, you’ll make sure she’s okay, and then we’re going to kill any and everyone who even remotely helped with their bullshit.” He grumbled and added, “I’m so sick of Sergey and his bullshit. I thought his death would be the end of it all, but it feels like it’s only the beginning.”
The wheels in my head started turning as random things started to click in my mind. But so far, there wasn’t even one clear picture, so I kept my ideas to myself.
“Do we have anything?” I asked and heard him sigh.
“I’ve found a half-brother to one of the men killed in the house, but he’s a young teenager. He’s being watched and monitored, just to be safe, but I don’t think he has anything to do with it.”
James walked out of the front door of the building, so I said to Lucian, “Let’s just hope the blood tests give us something. Gotta run.”
“Later,” Lucian said and disconnected the call.
James got back into the vehicle and pulled away from the curb. “Devlin said they’ll be landing soon, so we need to get to your place. He’s got some ideas we need to flesh out.”
I looked at him and asked, “What’s his ideas?”
“He didn’t share, but a few things have crossed my mind, so why don’t you and I talk them out on the drive, since it looks like we’re going to be in traffic for a bit.”
I looked up and saw a line of red taillights in front of us. I closed my eyes, trying to stave off an impending headache. Atthis rate, we’d be in traffic all damn day, and I felt like I could jump out of my skin.
“Rhys, look at me.” I brought my eyes to him, and for the first time since I was twelve, I saw my cousin sitting across from me and not the uncaring assassin I’d known him to be for the last decade. “We’ll figure this out and wewillbring Hannah home. I need you to stay with me. I need your keen observation and analytical thinking. Hannah needs you to stay here and not slip into the darkness. You’re no good to her there.”
Closing my eyes again, I breathed deeply, trying to push the impending dark cloud away in my mind. It had been years since I felt the rage and despair that the darkness threatened to rain down on me, and if it wasn’t for James, I knew I’d fall into a pit of black.
When I felt a little calmer, I opened my eyes and saw James offer a tight smile as he kept his focus on the road. I spoke to him while I reached into my briefcase and pulled out my laptop.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, and we’ll go from there.”
For the next half-hour, he bounced ideas off me, but it was when we were getting close to my house that things really started to click in my head.
“From Sergey’s own testimony, there were nine families in the original Syndicate, and when we raided the house, we found three additional families who’d been trying to gain admission.” James nodded, so I asked, “What if there were more than three and we’re just overlooking their connection? That slimy fucker, Nico, said he’d been given permission, but there’s no way he could’ve been speaking of Sergey, right? He’s been dead for almost five years, and the years prior to that, the feds had him so tight under lock and key, there was no way he could be making deals.”
“Makes sense. So, who’s brokering the deals?” James asked as we pulled off the interstate and turned onto the road leading to my house.
“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?” I pondered as we reached the front gate of my property.
I leaned over as James rolled down the window, and my guard looked in before pressing a button to move the gate. We continued down the driveway, and when we got to the front of the house, I noticed three black SUVs parked on the side of the driveway. James pulled up to the base of the stairs and turned the car off.
He placed his hand on my shoulder as I was going to open the door. I looked at the connection and back to him. “We’re going to end this, once and for all.”
I nodded, and he released his hold on me as we both got out of the car and walked up the stairs. My head of security opened the door before we got to the landing and stepped to the side as we entered.
“Devlin and Skid are here, and Lucian’s team just checked in. They’re ten minutes out,” he relayed as we walked down the hallway and into my office.
I placed the urn on a side table, removed my coat, and grabbed my laptop before we left the office and walked down to the large room I used for dinner parties. Not that I’d had many . . . okay, I’d had none since I bought the house.
Devlin and Skid were connected to the giant screens I’d had installed for when I needed to look at large amounts of information without having to click between pages. There were four, so James and I plugged our computers into the two remaining ports and brought our systems up. The four computers were being projected across the wall as the four of us shook hands.
“I appreciate you coming,” I said and felt a lump in my throat.
I’ve never been an overly emotional person, but seeing them standing here, ready to dig deep to find my woman, made me realize I wasn’t alone in the world. I had friends.
“Let me fill them in on what we were discussing in the car,” James suggested, and I nodded as he began to explain.
“So, who’s in charge if they aren’t following orders from Sergey? ‘Cause I’ll admit, it didn’t make any sense for this to kick off over four years after he died. I mean, no offense, but what kind of criminals wait four years to enact a plan?” Skid asked.
Devlin interjected. “Let’s pull up the list of underbosses and see what we’re overlooking.”
Regan stepped into the room and asked, “Can I get you something to drink, or snacks maybe?”
