Page 92 of Corrupted Deception

She scoffed. “Home sweet home.”

“I thought the warehouse was home.”

She shrugged. “It is, and so is this… sort of.”

Not knowing who was inside waiting for her, the caveman in me wasn’t about to drop her off and leave her here with the mystery guest in the black SUV.

I parked the car and followed her up the steps to the front door and the security panel next to it. She leaned right into the panel, and the sound of a lock disengaging sounded.

The moment we stepped inside, Ray rounded a corner down a hallway straight ahead and came racing toward us in the hardwood foyer, surrounded by stone walls.

“It seems you already knew Nacio and Julio,” Charlotte said as she petted an overexcited Ray who was doing circles around her as she led the way down the hall. “And now, you know Aiden Quinn.”

As we turned the corner, she motioned to the tall, wiry man who sat on a black leather sofa on the other side of the open living room. The man with watchful, dark-blue eyes.

The man I’d known for years as John Doe.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Charlotte Santoro

The room crackled with a volatile energy as Cielo’s gaze locked onto Aiden like a predator assessing its prey. An undercurrent of something unspoken passed between them, making it feel like I’d just walked into a minefield. In my own home.Awesome.

“It looks like you managed to find her after all,amico,” Cielo said, his voice carrying an air of casual indifference that contradicted the ice in his eyes.

Aiden chuckled, a nonchalant echo that barely masked the chill in his gaze. “Guess I did,” he replied as he stood up, leaving his laptop on the coffee table in front of him and the mess of papers and maps spread out all over the leather sofa.

I looked back and forth between the two landmines in the room, then rolled my eyes. “Do I even want to ask?”

As Aiden began to speak, I held up my hand, halting him mid-sentence.

“Rhetorical question. Don’t answer.” Because no. One hundred percent no. I had no room for any more trouble or surprises. “It’s been a long day, so you both feel free to show yourselves out… or don’t.” I shrugged.

If they were in the mood for the world’s longest stare-off, then so be it.

“I’m tired. I’m going to bed,” I announced. And hopefully, forgetting all about the lives I’d taken today—god, was it really only hours ago?—and the fact another day had passed and I was no closer to finding my father.

“Come on, Ray,” I said, forcing the casual call out past the lump at the back of my throat.

“I found surveillance footage of our rat, Char,” Aiden said, stopping me in my tracks.

Surveillance footage was a glimmer of hope in a mine of uncertainty. I pivoted back while my heartbeat kicked up a notch.

“Surveillance footage of what?” I asked.

“It’s him, fifteen minutes before his one and only call to Silva,” he replied.

The thread of anticipation pulled at my senses and had me flying across the room and parking my butt on the sofa in front of the laptop on the table, shoving the papers to the floor.

Ray followed, more than game for a little running in the house and not the least bit hindered by the papers underfoot.Oops.

“Char,” Aiden said, his voice full of warning as I moved to click the video on his screen. “I don’t thinkthisis a good idea.” He nodded in Cielo’s direction.

I scoffed. “Me neither. But if you thought I was stubborn and bossy, you should try spending five minutes with him,” I replied with an exaggerated eye roll.

“I’m not sure that’s possible. I don’t thinkSignorLuciano is often in one place that long,” he replied, making reference to Cielo’s… travel habits. He spoke lightly enough, but I could hear the disapproval in his tone.

“I’ll be here as long as Charlotte needs me to be,” Cielo responded, no venom in his voice as he crossed the room and stood behind the sofa.

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