Page 77 of The Players

This only ruffled Sy’s feathers more and for a second there, Vince thought they were going to end up fighting. But, Sy surprised him by sitting down again.

“Must be nice,” Sy bit out, “to have had perfect parents. No baggage that wakes you up at night.”

He knew he’d had it coming, but the words were still like a punch to the gut. Old, dark memories resurfaced, but he realized he had to come clean with his friend. If he didn’t, it would turn into an open wound and fester.

“Every morning, I wake up to the image of my dead mother in the kitchen,” Vince said, and poured another drink. “It’s seared into my brain and won’t leave. I can’t help but think they left her on the kitchen block with her brains spilling out, just to scar me and my brother for life. Killing our father wasn’t enough. The Families wanted to set an example. I remember putting a towel around her head so Gio wouldn’t see her, but he wouldn’t have it. He just walked up to her, tore away the towel, and stood there for over an hour, without moving a muscle.

“We all have baggage, Sy, but I’m trying to deal with mine. You think I didn’t think about how this could become Carmen? I’d die before letting anything happen to her. She’s my light, hell, she’s both ours, if you would just open your eyes. Ever since waking up to Carmen, the dead images of my mother have waned. She’s still there some mornings, but a hell of a lot less than before. So, man the fuck up and think about what you’re letting slip through your fingers.”

Just as he finished, his phone went off. He looked at the display and put it to his ear.

“Hey, Jazzy.”

“Is my sister with you?” she asked in a voice that made him stop dead.

“No. She went to the mansion to grab some stuff.” He hadn’t wanted her to go, but he understood her need for closure. If it were up to him, it would be the last time she ever went there.

“I can’t reach her. I’ve called, like, five times in the last hour.”

Ice suffused his veins. “Maybe her battery died. I sent someone with her. Let me make a quick call.”

He saw Sy already pull out his phone.

“That’s weird,” Jazzy said. “See, I’ve tracked her phone and the signal went dead a few blocks from the mansion, in the opposite direction to your apartment. I have Tess tracking her down.”

Shit. Fucking shit. “Let me know if you find anything.”

Sy cursed. “She’s not picking up. Her bodyguard ain’t either. It goes straight to voicemail.”

The ice in his veins started to crack as a burn hit his chest.

“Keegan!” Vince snarled.

“Fuck!” Sy looked grim. “We searched for him all night. He was next on the list, but the fucker has just disappeared.”

Vince started making phone calls. One after the other, calling in every marker he got. An hour passed, and another one, but they were still nowhere.

Sy was growling into his phone. “Don’t give a shit if you think he left the state. He ain’t gone. Find the fucker. And round up a crew. The second we find him, I’m gonna go rip his head off.”

More time passed by as they tried to get a hint on Carmen’s whereabouts. It was close to noon when Tess finally called.

“Tell me you’ve got something,” Vince commanded and put his phone on speaker.

“I never call when I can’t come bearing gifts,” she said, sounding affronted. “I followed several traffic cams and found Carmen in the back of a van at a gas station. There were two men in the car who have ties to Keegan.”

Shit. It was as they had feared.

“Ah, hell.” Sy brushed his hand over his head and looked ready to explode. The bartender who had been walking up to them with a drink, made a turn and backed away.

“There’s more,” Tess continued. “I spotted another woman in the van, sitting next to the driver. I did some digging and I think it’s the girl Carmen is looking for—Marni.”

It took a second to process that. “You sure it’s her?”

“Positive as a paternity test. The aging software didn’t give an exact match, but she, most likely, is the disappeared girl, now ten years older.”

It would make sense. The girl, the Bridemaker, and Keegan. It was a Bermuda triangle Carmen had gotten sucked into.

“Tell me you have a location.”

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