Page 76 of Inside the Wicked

He’s the last voice I want to hear right now, and I can’t help the lethal stare I target on him.

“You shouldn’t fucking be here,” I snap.

Rix says, while typing at some code, “He’s actually proved quite useful. We wouldn’t have gotten inside the country club without him. His father’s a member, clear of the bullshit though. We don’t have another Gregory Forbes on our hands, thank fuck.”

I’m wondering who the fuck was daring enough to risk touching her. I can barely think about it without feeling like I might combust into a damn inferno. I want to rip the guy’s hands off and feed them to him. I’m having the most intense and downright savage thoughts I’ve ever had, and I don’t know how to manage them except to keep myself busy.

“I want absolutely every resource on Allie right now,” I tell Rix. “Comb through every inch of the DeVerres.”

“Yes, boss,” Rix says, swinging around in his swivel chair. “I’m keeping an eye on my little shithead of a brother too.”

There are three people I need to get back, and it’ll take careful patience, because I’ll be damned if I lose any one of them.

“He’s not been back to the country club?” I ask.

“No. It’s got me worried as shit. I haven’t seen him in any feed for a week.”

Alistair is difficult to find. I know he took up bold residency in his manor in D.C. while he had Ana, but I assume he’ll be leaving there soon knowing I’m on the loose and coming for him.

“DeVerre?” Adam backtracks. “As in, the most renowned law firm in the States?”

I’m trying to forget his presence when his voice buzzes like a mosquito I want to swat.

“Crazy, right? I couldn’t believe it. I knew she was rich as fuck, but I didn’t think she was basically Kardashian levels of fame,” Rix says.

“Her family are just buying a five-month leave? She’s barely even taken two weeks off in six years,” I say irritably.

“They say they spoke to her directly—full phone call, not just a text—and that they’ve heard from her every few weeks from Kauai, apparently. We have an inside guy in the firm feeding us their updates on her.”

It’s such bullshit, and I can only think they don’t want to cause a scandal by assuming she’s run off-grid like her brother did four years ago. They’ve never been the most loving or caring family, and I feel for Allie and her loneliness.

“Liam Forbes—where the fuck is he?” I demand.

“Should we be looking into him?” Rix asks.

“He’s been missing since the shit with his father,” Adam informs us. “I would guess he’s hiding from law enforcement, which makes him look guilty as fuck.”

His father was exposed around the same time Allie was taken. It’s not a damn coincidence, and my fist slams the desk.

“Dude, I swear you’re gonna owe me a whole new setup in a minute,” Rix says.

I can’t decide if it’s relief or dread I should feel when my conclusion seems so glaringly obvious. “Liam has Allie,” I say.

Adam and Rix snap their heads to me. I don’t know how long that motherfucker has been working with Rix, but it’s unnerving to witness their synchronization since the moment we got here.

“How can you be sure?” Rix quizzes with a hooked brow.

“I can’t be certain he has her, but I’m rarely wrong. I believe he’s still in love with her from a long while back. Perhaps he found out about the hit in time to get to her. I just don’t know if he’s a twisted fuck like his half-brother and he kidnapped her, or if he could actually have saved her a whole shitload of trauma.”

“Glad to have you back, man. I knew you’d find her as quickly as Sherlock.”

“He hasn’t found her,” Adam counters.

I take a few steps toward him, which wisely has him dropping his comfortable stance. “I don’t know why she’s forgiven you. I don’t fucking care. But you’re inmynetwork now, and there’s no taking that back. So when I say jump, you fucking jump. Got it?”

Adam concedes with a look, turning to the screens again. “I don’t know what you got her to see in you,” he grumbles.

Neither do I, but I’ve decided not to question the one absolute blessing in my life.

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