Page 151 of SINS & Riley
Sabine checks her phone, her face draining. “Elena was missing from her room since last night. Everyone assumed she just needed space, but… how?” She shakes her head, rattled, her voice fraying at the edges. “Even Elena didn’t know where she was. The location is never disclosed.”
For a beat, I don’t move. Don’t breathe.
The silence before it all goes nuclear in my skull.
How did I not see this?
“The necklace.”
“What?” Dominic asks.
But Sabine knows. “Elena’s fucking necklace,” she says.
Andre pulled the exact same play with Elena that I did with Riley.
He put a tracker in her necklace.
Rage detonates through me, savage and hot. I didn’t save Elena. Andre set the bait, and I strolled right into his goddamn trap.
And now my stronghold—my sanctuary—is compromised.
My jaw locks, words like glass in my mouth.
“Riley.”
Sabine’s already halfway out, phone pressed to her ear.
“Sabine, wait?—”
“My op, remember?” I've already gone back on my word once with her. I won't break my word again. Reluctantly I nod. “You save your girl, Zver. Emilio has fucked my life for the last time. I’ve got this.”
With that, she's gone. I shift my focus to my own phone. “Find her.”
Boris lets out a frustrated grunt. “They’ve got ten minutes on me. How?”
Dominic’s voice is the calm before the storm. “Her watch. It’s another tracker. I’ll send coordinates.”
“I’m in pursuit.” I grab my Glock, slide snapping as I check the clip, and head for the door.
“Catch,” Dominic hollers.
Something sails through the air. I snatch it mid-flight.
I open my palm.
It’s glue. Dominic tossed me a small tube of super glue.
A symbol. A bond.
A stupid metaphor for fix your shit before the world falls apart.
I slip it into my pocket and keep moving.
I’ve already lost too much—my family, my father, pieces of myself I’ll never get back.
I refuse to lose Riley and our baby, too.
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