Page 42 of Pretty Poison

He picks up the towel from the floor and wraps it around his waist again as I try to catch my breath. With him gone, I’m cold and empty. It’s the same with him inside me, I felt full and now that he’s gone, it all went away in an instant.

Opening the door, he peeks his head around the corner, his deep voice reverberating in my head. “What do you want, Red?”

“We’ve got a trace, Rio,” Red says as if he’s out of breath.

I watch as Dario’s body turns rigid and his jaw tenses. “Give me two minutes and I’ll meet you in my office.”

“Are you okay?” Red asks, the sound of his boots inching closer before Dario stops it.

“Yeah, just not decent,” he replies matter-of-factly, gesturing to his towel.

“You’re not hurt?”

Dario shakes his head. “I think I know how to shower and not injure myself.”

“The blood on your towel…”

Dario looks down, clearing his throat. “I was in the soldiers’ house, hence the early shower. I’m fine, but I can’t say the same for the guy in C5. I’ll see you in my office, Red.”

Dario closes the door, throwing his towel off and walking back to me. “Let’s get you back in the shower, little one.”

I shake my head. “You’re leaving?” Tears well up in my eyes and I blink them away.

“We’ll run you a bath and I’ll be back in five minutes, okay?” he says softly. “Red needs to speak to me, but I’ll be right back.”

I swallow the lump in my throat and nod, pulling myself up off the bed, ignoring his helping hand and walking into the bathroom.

Turning around in the doorway, I stop, my hands bracing against the doorframe and the door itself. “I can run myself a bath,” I state, trying to keep a brave face when the tears threaten to escape me.

“Liana, I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m not leaving you here.”

“Then you should get dressed and head down, shouldn’t you?” As his mouth opens to respond, I close the door in his face, locking it behind me. He audibly huffs and leaves his room a minute later, and I let my emotions take control as I glance down at my thighs and see trails of red trickling down them.

I feel disgusting, used and overall just embarrassed; all three feelings mixed together make nausea swarm over me.

Nineteen

DARIO

Stepping into my office, I see Red and Maze making themselves comfortable—Maze sprawled out on the couch and Red in my chair, his feet up on my desk. As soon as they spot me, Red scrambles to his feet and offers a tight-lipped smile.

“What did you find?” I ask, walking over to my desk as Maze kicks the door closed.

“Antonio landed in New York three days ago under an assumed name,” Red starts, handing me a file. “But no one using that name signed in to any hotels, hostels or B&Bs. It’s like as soon as he entered New York, he… vanished.”

“It’s more plausible that he has multiple aliases. He’s been here three days and there are no signs of him; he didn’tvanish, he’s hiding like the little bitch he is.”

“Yeah, well there’s been no sighting of him whatsoever. He’s off the grid,” Maze chimes in, raising himself into a seated position. “He’s back in town, Rio, and I need you to keep your cool. Remi is searching every security camera from the airport until he drops out of sight of the feed, and Silas is being a shadow on the streets—we’ll find him.”

“Why is he here? What could’ve brought him back here?” I ask, placing the file down in front of me, flipping through the pages.

“All we know is he’s back; the reasons are still unknown.” I can sense the anger radiating off Maze, his voice straining with each word.

“If I have any say in it, he won’t be leaving alive.”

“How does one find a man who not only doesn’t exist but hasn’t shown his face since he landed?” Red asks, squinting his eyes and folding his arms across his torso.

“It’s what we do, Red. With Silas’s skills of staying hidden, Cassian’s underground fights that resemble the ones Antonio used to visit frequently, Ciro’s hacking abilities and Remi’s soldiers who love to take on new missions, we’ll find him before he even thinks about leaving.”

---