Page 7 of Vengeful Lies

It wasn't his little girl.

Not that Dave deserved a death like this.

Knowing he had to do it, he covered the man’s body back up and rounded the car to the other side.

This time he was able to pull back the sheet without shaking. Gavin’s body lay beneath it, riddled with bullets just like his partner’s had been. These were two good men, men who didn't deserve to be gunned down in the street just because three rich, powerful men thought they got to play God with other people’s lives and do whatever they wanted.

Rage clogged his throat making it almost impossible to breathe.

“You know them?” the female cop asked gently.

“Yeah. They were hired to watch my daughter and her nanny.”

“Witnesses said an SUV pulled up, blocking traffic. Four men got out and fired at this vehicle. A woman and a little girl tried to run but they were grabbed and taken by the men in the SUV,” the male cop informed him.

Did it make him the most horrible human being ever to be glad that Gabriella had been abducted too?

Cade knew it did. Gabriella was everything he could have hoped for in a nanny for his daughter. Given the nature of his job, he needed someone he could trust to step in and be a parent to his child when he was traveling. Not only did Gabriella parent Essie, but she actually loved his daughter every bit as much as he did.

He was lucky to have her, but he never went out of his way to make sure she knew that.

If anyone was going to do everything within their power to protect his daughter it was Gabriella, but it was a lot to ask of her. She was young, almost a decade younger than him, and she didn't need the job, he knew she was worth millions. Yet she stayed, worked hard, gave Essie everything she had to give, baked, did crafts, and got down on the floor and played with Lego and dolls. They made puppets and put on shows, went to the park, and made frequent trips to the beach. They went to swimming lessons, ballet classes, and gymnastics. Gabriella even coached a soccer team for Essie and her friends.

Now because of him and his family and their quest for answers, she’d been abducted. Her life was on the line, and unlike with Essie, their kidnappers had no reason to keep her alive.

She was expendable.

“Cade!”

Shoving to his feet he saw Cole and Jax running toward him. As soon as he’d gotten the message telling him they were going after his daughter, he’d sent out a text in the group chat to let his brothers know that not only had the meeting with John Jones been a bust, but that Essie was being targeted.

“She’s not here,” he told his brothers as he walked toward them.

“Gabriella?” Cole asked.

“Gone as well,” he replied as guilt surged inside him. Guilt for blaming Gabriella even for a second, guilt for not firing her the second he realized these people were ruthless and would go after anyone, guilt for not sending both Essie and Gabriella away someplace safe, guilt for being glad she was still with his daughter.

“This was pretty ballsy,” Jax said, looking around the scene. “Taking a woman and child in broad daylight like this, right out in the open, with a whole ton of witnesses. Takes a whole lot of guts to do that.”

“Whole lot of determination and a whole lot of money,” Cole added.

“We’re going to need security footage,” Cade said, turning around and noting that three of the four businesses on the corners of the intersections appeared to have cameras. He needed to contact Prey’s Cyber Team and get them tracking the vehicle on every camera they could find. They needed to track where Essie and Gabriella had been taken before anyone laid a hand on his precious little girl.

“We need to talk to the witnesses as well, get everything out of them that we can,” Jax said.

A couple of dozen people were hanging about, another half dozen police officers working their way through questioningthem all. It would take hours to interview all of them and hours for Prey to access all cameras in the area in an attempt to follow the SUV that had been used in the abduction.

Too long.

Longer than Essie and Gabriella had.

For six weeks, the men who had raped his mom and set her up as a traitor to try to silence her and get her out of the way had been trying to get to them. For six weeks they kept failing. Cole and Susanna had survived being targeted, as had Connor and Becca. These men were getting desperate. They knew his family was doubling down on safety and that trying something risky like this was the only way to get to them.

Now they had an innocent little girl at their disposal.

What better way to manipulate him and his family into backing off than causing injury to a helpless child.

If they hurt his daughter, would he be able to keep up this hunt for answers?

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