Page 82 of Blood on Ice

I heard footsteps above me and froze. Was that Benito or Marshall or someone else?

I kept quiet and ignored the pain in my wrist as I tried to stretch the ropes trapping my arms. I didn’t care if I broke every bone in my wrist, if I could get free and get out of here, it would be worth it.

More footsteps. There was more than one person here. That probably wasn’t good.

Then I heard a voice.Hisvoice.

30

ZEKE

Joe made some calls on the drive. Based on what I heard from his side of the conversation, the Marchesis had a hacker they worked with who could access the tracker.

When we got to Dom’s house, we all hurried inside.

“Did you find anything at his apartment?” Dom asked.

Joe shook his head. “Nothing. I don’t think he was taken from there.”

Dom turned to me. “Do you have any idea where Vito might have gone, or what he might have been planning?”

“If he’d told me anything, I would’ve let Joe know.”

“Are you sure? He didn’t tell you anything?” Lucien asked.

“I-I thought he was with you.” My voice broke. And I tried to take a breath. I did not want to cry in front of Vito’s whole fucking family, but I wasn’t sure I could hold back my tears.

“Lay off him,” Joe said. “He doesn’t know anything. He’s as scared as the rest of us are or worse. What if it was Peter who was missing? How would you feel then?”

“Watch your fucking mouth,” Lucien snarled. “And you know I would burn down the fucking world for Peter.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s how I feel.”

Dom frowned. “Wait a minute. Your game should have started an hour ago.”

“I left. I told them I had a family emergency. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it doesn’t matter. Have you accessed the tracker yet?”

“They’re working on it,” Lucien said. “I’ve got the best guy in the country on it, so it shouldn’t take long.” As he spoke his phone buzzed. He answered it, listened for a moment, then said, “I’m putting you on speaker.”

“Is it Emilio?” Joe asked.

“Yes.”

Val walked into the room, and Dom held up a hand, signaling for Val to be quiet.

“I’m homing in on Vito’s location right now,” Emilio said. Val and I both moved closer to Lucien. I wanted to hear every word. “The tracker is currently at….”

I held my breath, praying he wouldn’t say Vito’s address. I hadn’t noticed my jacket, but he could have put it down somewhere.

Emilio gave an address I didn’t recognize.

“That’s Benito’s house,” Joe said.

“Fuck me,” Val said.

“Let’s go.”

Val frowned at me. “Not you, you’re staying here.”

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