Page 100 of The Pawn
Nothing though. I see nothing. If there ever was anything the rain is washing it all away.
I try her phone again. I don’t even know why I’m doing it.
“Here!” Someone calls from nearer the house.
Hope surges in me and I run, shoes sinking deep into the ground, mud squelching with each step. As I get close, I hear it. The phone.
“Allegra!” I hurry, almost falling in the slippery mud in my haste. But when I turn the corner, that hope evaporates, gone as swiftly as it came. I slow. It’s not Allegra he’s found. It’s one of my jackets. It’s caked with mud and torn. I take it from him. The sound of the phone ringing is coming from inside one of the pockets. She must have put it on when she came out here. It stops ringing as soon as I reach for it.
“Inside,” I say, knowing there isn’t anything more to find out here. We need to regroup. And I need to get more out of Angelo. Because she’s long gone and I don’t know where. I don’t have a clue.
Once I’m in the house, I go back down to the crypt. Jet has a bottle of water to Angelo’s bloody lips. The instant Jet sees me, sees the phone in my hand, his expression darkens.
“Were you working together to dethrone me? Is that what this is about? You fucking bastard, I trusted you!”
“No, Cassian. No. It’s not what you think,” my uncle pleads.
“Then what the hell is it?” I demand.
“I found out a few days ago. That’s all. A few days. Andre, my driver, I heard them talking.”
Andre. Andre who delivered the gun to Severin’s man to then deliver it to Gage. To distract me. To make me suspect Severin who already hates me.
“What did you hear?” I ask, half-hearing myself, no longer trusting myself. My instincts.
I trusted Enzo. I trusted Angelo.
He shakes his head. “Andre wanted more money, or he’d give him up. So, I confronted Enzo. Demanded he tell me what was going on. Cassian,” he pauses and just keeps shaking his head. “His head’s all turned around. He thinks... Ah fuck.” He closes his eyes. “No.”
“What does he think?” I demand, knowing I won’t like the answer. Knowing I will hate it. “Fucking say it.”
“Your brother’s disease. Your father’s. He thinks your blood is tainted. He thinks the family…”
Something inside my gut twists. I bite down on the pain. I can’t do this now. She needs me now.
“It’s not his place to think, is it?” I hiss. “Where did he take her? Where the hell did he take her?”
“It’s my fault. He thought I loved you more than I did him. I should have seen what was happening. I could have talked to him.”
“I need to know where the fuck she is. That’s all I care about right now, Uncle,” I say, feeling his blood betrayal anew. “You say you loved me.”
“Love,” he corrects. “I love you, Cassian, in spite of everything.”
“You say you love me. Then tell me. Because if Malek gets hold of her, he’ll hurt her very badly. You know that as well as I. So, if you love me or my brother or my father, I need you to tell me where he took her.”
“Don’t hurt him. Promise me. Promise me you won’t hurt Enzo.”
I bite my tongue, holding back. I want to kill Enzo. But right now, I need to find Allegra. I need to get her back.
“Give me your word, Cassian.”
I draw in a tight breath and nod once.
He slumps against the wall in relief. “I have spyware,” he says. “Tracking on all their devices.”
“What?” I am surprised by this.
“Your father and I always did that. In case. Shit, Cassian, I’m betraying my own son.”
