Page 60 of Absolution

“That isnotthe answer I want to hear.”

“Ava,” I growl again.

“What?” She turns to face me, and her cheeks are red with anger.

“Do you think she’d still be standing if she knew something?”

Ignoring me, Ava shifts her attention back to Brenda. “I want to know everything.”

Brenda repeats her earlier claim, but Ava doesn’t appear to believe her.

“I want her locked somewhere, don’t let her leave.”

Angus is standing by the entrance of the kitchen. When I look at him, he nods before escorting Brenda out of Ava’s sight.

I’m attempting to stay cool to keep Ava calm, but it’s not easy. I try to hold Ava in place, but she pulls away and leaves the kitchen.

We search every corner of the mansion but come up empty. There has been no sign of Niko in the fifteen minutes since we noticed his absence.

Niko isn’t here. There’s no way he could have left on his own, but the cameras don’t show Grace leaving with him.

“I swear to the heavens, if you don’t find my son, I’ll burn this city down with you in it,” Ava screams at me.

“Calm down,” Oliver tells her.

It’s the wrong move. Even I wouldn’t say that to Ava, and she’s my wife.

“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down! Niko has been taken, and none of you did a thing to stop it.” Her anger is overtaking her. “No one saw anything. It is as if he walked himself out of the mansion!”

“Enough, Ava,” I command, realizing that blowing her top won’t help Niko right now.

“Enough? You haven’t seen enough.” She stands before me, her lungs competing for air with mine. “I’m holding you responsible for this. You swore we were safe. Pure fucking lies.” She slaps me—hard.

I grab her wrist, holding her in place, my hold tight enough to be almost painful.

“Go,” I shout to Oliver.

He appears almost grateful for the order.

Oliver is barely out of earshot when Ava shouts, “Let me fucking go.”

She tries to fight me off, but I hold her tighter.

She fights and fights and fights before she’s eventually out of breath and sags against me. “He’s my fucking world,” she sobs into my chest.

As her tears soak my shirt, we drop to the floor.

“I know.” I try to soothe her, but my words seem pointless. “He’s my world too.”

“You have to find him. I’ll die if anything happens to him.”

“I will find him. And I’ll put a bullet in every person who had a hand in this.” Her sobs double my need for blood. “I need you to trust me and calm down. I can’t do my job if I have to worry about you. Aisling needs her mother too.”

After a few seconds, I stand with my arms still around her and guide us to my office. She is quiet, but I prefer the silence over her heartbreaking sobs.

Inside my office, I lead us to the couch where we sit. Ava still isn’t in the right head space for me to start my hunt.

A minute later, the office door shoots open, and Oliver enters with a glass of water.

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