Page 70 of Pretty Poison

“You didn’t even think to track the GPS—”

“Stop being so fucking stubborn and let him do it,” Maze says, his voice dark and stern.

I push myself back from my desk and raise my hands in defence, giving Ciro access to the keyboard. His fingers work furiously as he pulls up the GPS tracker and connects it into our system.

“She’s downtown.”

“Or the car is, at least,” Silas adds, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t need your snarky little fucking comments right now, Si, keep that shit to yourself.” He shrugs his left shoulder in response. “Get in the fucking cars. Ciro, you lead.” Everyone jumps at once and we all run from the office, somehow keeping a single-file line.

Ciro climbs into his car with Cassian, Red and I slide into another while Remi and Maze take the last car, followed by Silas on his bike. I’m frantic, fumbling with my keys but adamant I drive. In this very rare case, my pain outweighs my anger. My thoughts are foggy, and I’m in a constant state of panic and overwhelming fear that we could be too late; I’m desperate to get to her.

Something within me screams that she’s not there, that she’s already gone, that somehow the bastard found her. I have no doubt she feels the same way about me as I do her, so her leaving of her own volition is out of the question.

“We’ll find her, Rio,” Red says, trying to console me. “We’ll bring her back.”

“Will we, though?” I ask through gritted teeth as we speed out of the driveway. I can barely think rationally right now, let alone give in to his poor attempt at sympathy. “Like we found Serra and Scarlett? I don’t need you lying to me right now, Red. I need the truth, because I might hate you if you lie to me again.”

He sighs, rubbing his palms against his slacks. “We didn’t find them because he didn’t want us to. He did everything possible to hide them from us, even in their deaths. This isn’t the case with Liana, Rio. He doesn’t even know she exists.”

He can’t be more fucking wrong. “According to Apollo, Gabriel and Antonio have been in cahoots for years. I can’t reiterate exactly what he said, but it was something like ‘if Gabriel could hurt Liana, she’s fair game for anyone’. I think it’s safe to say he knows about her and he’ll hurt her to get to me. He’ll hurt her to get to us… again. Nothing is off limits to that man.”

A deep, breathy sigh escapes him. “So, you think he has her?”

“I don’t know anything for certain, Red; none of us do, but what I do know is if she’s not within twenty feet of the car, someone’s got her. There’s no way in hell she’d leave.”

“A-are you sure? I don’t want to insinuate—”

“Then fucking don’t,” I bark with a sharpness to my words that cuts through the air like a knife. “I don’t need your pity or assumptions; I need her back safely. I know better than anyone that getting her back unharmed is the most unlikely scenario, so retrieving her in one piece is all I have to hold onto. Don’t fucking take that from me.”

“I was just… I just want you to know that if you did anything to scare her off, she could be taking some time to herself.”

I can feel my anger bubbling to the surface, my chest heaving and jaw tensing almost hard enough to break my teeth as I try to keep a lid on it all. The last thing I need is to overreact before we know anything, even though I know deep down, something’s gone wrong. It’s like a gnawing feeling in my gut that refuses to pass.

“The last thing I did was kiss her goodbye. We didn’t have a fight or even a petty little argument like we have in the past… Everything was fine.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “Ev-everything was f-fine.” My voice cracks as I sink deeper into despair.

Red notices, I know he does, but thankfully, says nothing about it. We’ve grown up at each other’s side, but have handled our personal matters in private. I don’t have that privilege right now.

My eyes well with tears, but I blink them away, coughing to clear my throat and the air shared between us.

“She’s a strong girl, Rio, you made sure of that. She’s strong both physically and mentally, so there’s no doubt in my mind she’ll be able to hold out a lot longer than whoever has her anticipates.” He pauses. “What about her friend? Do we think she’s involved in this?”

I go to shake my head, but something stops me. “I don’t know anything about her to make a solid conclusion. It’s something I hadn’t thought about at first.”

“I’ll have Ciro look into her when we get back.”

“You don’t have any hope that we’ll find her, do you?” I ask, taking my eyes off the road for a second, my hand gripping the wheel tighter.

“What I think doesn’t matter, does it? It’s what you think.”

“Everything within me wants to find her at the restaurant, having lost track of time, but I know she isn’t going to be there.” I swallow again, the lump feeling larger this time. “I don’t want to think the worst, but Lia is so innocent and trusting. Her friend could’ve played a part in all of this. That’s the only valid thing I can think of that makes sense at all.”

“She didn’t look like someone who would get involved in the worst side of the underworld, Rio. I know we only met her once, but there was something about her that showed genuine care for Liana. There wasn’t an ounce of hatred between them.”

“We both know looks can be deceiving, Red,” I tell him, my words harsh. “Looks are there to misguide you, to make you feel at ease and to trick you into a false sense of comfort before they snap. I guarantee you that showing us—a bunch of strangers—her true colours wasn’t on her to-do list. Plus, Liana never had a bad word to say about her. So unless she wears a disguise by day and lets it slip by night, we’ll neverreallyknow what kind of person she is until we see it for ourselves.”

“I’ll shut up now,” he whispers and I hum my response, my mind too preoccupied with the ‘what ifs’.

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