Page 62 of Virtue & Vengeance

My fist clenched as I read the first few pages and then the phone on my desk rang, interrupting me.

“What?” I growled into the phone. “I said I didn’t want to be interrupted.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Hale, but it’s Eden Vaughn, and she says it's an emergency. I can tell her to call back if-”

“No, put her through.”

I waited until I heard the line connect. “Eden? What’s wrong?”

The entire conversation that followed had me on edge, and by the time I hung up the phone with the agreement to leave the car outside the impound lot, I knew something wasn’t right.

I could feel it in my chest, and after what I’d found in the file that Vinny dropped off on Allen Payne. I knew whatever had been terrifying Eden the past couple of weeks had to do with him looking for her here in my Casino. The pictures of him inside the file confirmed he was one and the same.

Everything Vinny had found on him told me he was a piece of shit that had infected Eden and her mom like a sickness. Destroying them both in two very different ways.

Eden was in trouble.

I knew it deep down in my gut.

I told her I would have the car outside the impound lot at six and I would, but I would be there, too.

Shoving my cell into my pocket, I stood from my desk and made my way to the front.

“Car,” I said, as I passed the front desk.

I stood out front for a minute when my car pulled up. I took the keys from the valet and took off.

I made it to Kennedy’s place in less than three minutes. A dark feeling passed over me as I rode the elevator to the top floor.

Something wasn’t right.

My fear was suffocating as I approached the door to their condo. It was left slightly ajar. I couldn’t picture Eden leaving the door open that way, which further let me know that something was wrong.

Eden was cautious and was always looking over her shoulder. Leaving the door open wasn’t something she would safe doing. I pushed the door open and stepped into the entryway, and then I knew the sinking dread I’d been feeling was right.

The kitchen stools were knocked over and the glass bowl by the front door that Kennedy used for her keys was smashed on the floor.

The broken glass crunched under my shoes as I rushed through the place searching for Eden.

“Eden!” I called out, my voice echoing through the white, streamlined condo. “Angel, where are you?”

I was panicking.

I wasn’t one to panic ever, but the gut feeling was expanding into every other part of my body, and my heart was beating at a high rate of speed.

Eden was in trouble. She’d been in trouble this whole time, and I’d been too stupid to get down to the truth of her fear. I wasn’t going to make that mistake any longer. After checking every square inch of the condo and finding her not there, I drove like a bat out of hell back to Empire Sevens. When I reached my office, Jerome was already waiting there for me.

“Do you want to contact the authorities, boss?” Jerome asked.

I shook my head; my eyes stuck on the city outside my office window.

“She’s of age. She’s not missing. She’s gone. For all we know she hauled ass back to wherever she came from. That’s what the police will tell us if we contact them.”

Jerome nodded, understanding what I was saying without saying it.

No cops.

They wouldn’t kick up any dust over Eden for forty-eight hours. Even though Kennedy’s place was trashed. Even though there was obviously a struggle. They would wait.

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