Page 86 of Beautiful Chaos

“What’s the report tonight?” Ryder continues.

“I won’t say anything about you,” he swears, making both Kade and Ryder cackle. He turns white at the menacing sound.

“Before that,” Ryder pushes, digging the glass in to remind him of its presence.

“Andre said he saw something suspicious, but I don’t know more than that. He said he would follow her and report back.”

“Follow who?” Ryder’s fist wraps around the blood-soaked collar of his shirt and yanks him off the ground to growl the question.

“Some woman, I don’t know more than that.”

My phone buzzes in my hand at the same time as Ian’s voice comes through the comms. “Andre DeLeon. Just sent his photo and details to Noah. Scar already had us looking into him before she disappeared.” I hold my phone and show it to the rest of the guys. I recognize him instantly as the second mark that disappeared.

“Start running through the footage of the gala,” I tell Joe at the same time Luca nods to Ryder who happily obliges the silent order, slashing the jagged edge of the champagne glass across his throat. Blood spurts from the multiple wounds that shred his throat. He’s dead before his body even hits the floor, the life gone from his eyes before he had a chance to realize this was his end.

Charles clears his throat, wiping the splatter of blood from his face. “Scar wanted me to give you guys a message if she disappeared tonight.” One moment, he's wringing his hands together nervously, and the next Luca has him pinned against the wall by his throat.

“What the fuck do you know? Did you do this?”

Charles shakes his head rapidly, or as much as he can. He taps Luca’s hand, but he doesn’t relent. Sighing, I step up and place a hand on his shoulder. “Let him answer.” The calm I infuse in my voice is a complete lie. I remember the strange looks between the two of them all day. The feeling like I was missing something. The way her words didn’t put me at ease. That glint in her eye. I knew something was off.

“She said if anything went wrong or if she disappeared, to remind you guys not to panic.”

Declan snorts, encompassing how we are all feeling. As if we wouldn’t.

“And that you guys can track her.”

Air is knocked out of my lungs as I stand stupidly with my mouth open. The panic had taken over, made it hard to breathe, hard to fucking think. All of the guys mirror the same expression back to me. We were all so stuck on the last time she disappeared and we couldn't trace her. Not this time. She’s not running. She wouldn’t do that to us. Not anymore. Not like this.

I pull up the program on my phone that has all of our locations on it and lock in on hers.

“Let’s go.”

Chapter Twenty-One

My wrists sting,but not enough to stop me from pushing the ropes free of the tender skin.

What an idiot. Can’t even properly tie someone up. I’d roll my eyes, but that would give too much away. This needs to be timed perfectly if I’m going to manage to still get the answers I need from him.

The clock on the wall behind him tells me I’ve been gone for just over an hour. The guys must have panicked. It’s the only explanation for why they aren't already here. Still, it should only be a few more minutes if Charles did what he was supposed to. I started counting down the moment I was thrown into the back of a car.

Andre DeLeon stands in front of me, pacing with a smug smile on his face as he tries to make a call again. He has no idea who I am. I’ve at least been able to confirm that much since he grabbed me when I walked out of the ballroom. But I know him.

As soon as I spotted him at the gala, I had Joe running basic background checks. He once worked at one of the shell companies we know Donahue owns and now works for Mending Hearts. He has a position that, while not directly under Josie, is close enough that he has reason to be near her at all times. Has access to her schedule. Her emails. There’s no denying he’s Donahue’s main set of eyes on her. The man he has trusted the most with monitoring her and reporting everything he deems vital. He may be unaware of the true nature of his search, that he’s looking for Charlotte Devereux, but he’s not clueless to the empire Donahue has behind him.

He hangs up the phone and shoves it into his pocket, his frustration boiling over. His earlier excitement is dissipating, now that his calls are going unanswered and this won’t be the simple drop off he had anticipated.

The messages he’s left and the short conversation he had with someone else has told me that much. I hadn’t been sure that slipping Josie a note when the guys weren’t paying attention would be enough to do more than draw his attention. The tail when I gave him the opportunity was a given, but the kidnapping was not wholly expected.

Of course, I had planned for it. I just didn’t think he would take the bait so easily. That is until he revealed if it was a dead end with Donahue’s obscure mission for him, selling me into the skin market was still money in his pocket.

Just how many women have fallen prey to this same scheme of appearing suspicious?

“What should I do with you while we wait?” he asks menacingly.

I keep my mouth shut, but the look in my eyes dares him to try it.

I know my men. Trust them. They’ll be here before he can even lay a finger on me.

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