Page 78 of Declan

“I have a few places we can check,” Jessica replies. “But I’m concerned that she isn’t answering her phone. That’s not like her.”

Dare frowns, now also looking concerned, as he says, “Try her again.”

Jessica takes her phone back from Matt and presses the call button, then she frowns, “Voicemail.”

“Fuck,” I spit out, my blood running cold at the same time as fury envelops me. If Issa was ever going to meet the real me, this is exactly the way to make that crazy fucker show his face.

I take a cleansing inhalation through my nose, blow it out through my mouth, and then I say, “I can locate her.”

They all look at me in surprise, but then the boys smile knowingly, making Jessica ask, “Okay, what am I missing?”

We all turn and exit the room, making our way out of the building in a rush as Matt answers, “Apparently, Declan has tabs on Issa.”

“Tabs?” Jessica asks in confusion. “What the hell does that mean?”

I don’t answer, and they follow me to my car. I grab my phone from the glove compartment, where I left it during the court proceedings. I turn the screen on, annoyed that I don’t have any messages or missed calls from Issa, but then relieved when my device tracking app shows her location.

Jessica looks over my shoulder and asks, “What is that?”

“That’s Issa’s last known location.”

“Oh, through her phone?”

I give her a bland look and nod, and she sighs in relief as she says, “Oh, great.”

I hand the phone to Matt, who glances at it and then says, “Looks like she’s headed south, likely stuck in slow-moving traffic by the rate of speed she’s traveling.”

“Either she’s with someone, or she’s in a cab because she doesn’t have her car,” Jessica explains.

Matt nods, then says, “We’ll circle around and try to cut her off further down the freeway,” he pauses and turns to Jessica as he adds, “You should go straight to her Malibu residence in case she’s headed there.”

“Fuck you,” Jessica quips. “I’m coming with you.”

“That may not be wise,” Dare replies.

“Why the hell not?” she spits out. “Issa is my girl, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit back and do nothing while she may be in trouble.”

I open my mouth to argue, but Matt puts his hand up and says, “It’s fine. She can come.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, man?” Tony asks. “She may not be ready to witness what we’re going to do out there.”

“What are you talking about?” Jessica responds, a frown on her face. “What are you going todo?”

Tony laughs, appearing rather delighted as he answers, “We’re gonna go fuck around.”

Her frown turns pensive, and then, after a few beats, she says, “Good. Let’s go do that.”

Tony gives her an appreciative nod, and Dare chuckles, but Matt steps closer to her and says in a concerned tone, “Are you sure you wanna be privy to this?

“Let me tell you something, Mathias,” Jessica responds in a cold tone. “Issa is my person. We found each other, we saved each other, and we take care of each other. If I have to bludgeon a thousand nasty motherfuckers in this lifetime to save her, then get me a goddamn rock ’cause I’m doing it.”

His eyes widen, but he doesn’t say anything; he just nods and opens the back door of the car and motions for her to get in. She doesn’t hesitate, and soon, all of us are buckled in and on the road, Tony behind the wheel because he’s a crazy fucker.

Everyone is quiet; the only sound in the car comes from Matt as he gives Tony instructions on the best route to get ahead of Issa, but then Matt curses. “She’s through the traffic, so we may not get in front of her.”

“That’s fine,” Tony responds. “We’ll follow her and see where she’s going.”

“I’d like to get close enough to her to see if she’s alone or if we have a bigger problem to tend to,” I interject, anger and concern battling for dominance in my rattled brain.

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