Page 118 of The Devil's Heir
The woman pretty much threatened me, but I can't blame her—I fucked up. It's been two fucking days—Lily can be anywhere. Make no mistake, I will not stop until I find my pauper and heaven help the motherfucker who took her. If there's the littlest mark on her perfect body, I'm going to take my time and make the bastard suffer.
"Can I have a word with you, Sir?" A voice asks from the doorway.
I'm sitting on the couch in my office, my head in my hands as I try to keep myself calm enough to function. However, my head snaps up at the sound of another person, and I see Jackson standing in the doorway. He's been a wreck, too. He feels at fault because he didn't insist on returning to Lilyto take her home that day. The fault is all mine—I told him it wasn't needed.
Heath fucking Richards.
There's no doubting his involvement now. He's been MIA the whole time, but I can't for the life of me understand what his motives were.
Sighing, I motion Jackson in with my hand, saying, "Come in."
I sit back, leaning against the couch, and watch Jackson shut the door before taking the armchair to my left. There's concern in his eyes as he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together.
"I didn't know it was the same guy," Jackson starts off, adding, "I never knew his first name because you always referred to him as Richards. I try not to get into your business unless you want me in it, so I don't pay much attention to the other men you have working for you. You're my main priority—well—along with Lily now, but—"
"Just spit it out, Jackson," I order, getting annoyed.
"Er, sorry, Sir. Um, I think Richards is Lily's former foster brother who she ran from," Jackson states.
This grabs my attention, and I sit up straight. Goosebumps break out across my skin because this is new information that could help tremendously.
"What are you talking about? What former foster brother, and where did you hear this?"
"Lily told me the day we went on the shopping trip. She had been spooked because she saw the guy at the shopping center and she made us leave immediately. She seemed very fearful of him, Sir."
"Why am I just hearing about this now?" I ask Jackson angrily. He should have told me as soon as he found this information out.
"I'm sorry, Sir. Lily begged me not to ever mention it. She said that it was her past and that she wanted to move forward," he explains, but this doesn't sit well with me.
"Who do you work for, Jackson?'
"You, Sir."
"And who do you answer to?"
"You, Sir."
"Do you realize how dangerous it is to keep such information from me?"
"I know, and I am so sorry, Sir. It will never happen again."
I glower at him. I've killed men for lesser offenses, but I've come to regard Jackson as a friend as well, and although I'm beyond pissed, I can't kill him.
I scrub my face as I let out a heavy breath. Meeting Jackson's eyes again, I say, "Go on. Finish what you came in here to tell me. I want to know everything you know."
Jackson nods. "Lily didn't tell me too much, just that at some point, this Heath guy had planned on pimping her out, and when she heard his conversation about it, she ran. I don't know when this took place, she didn't say."
"Former foster brother?" I ask to confirm, and when Jackson nods, my mind wanders back to all those years ago.
I remember the young boy I talked to outside her house one day, but there's no way that's who Jackson is talking about. Trying to think back further, back to when I first saw her, I search my memory for anyone I had seen her with. No one comes to mind.
How could I have missed this?
"I don't think it's a coincidence that one of your men has the same name as Lily's foster brother, especially since both are now missing." Jackson points out to me, drawing my attention back to him.
He's right, and now that we know who took her, we have a direction to dive into with our search. It may have been wrong to think it, but I had still held hope that Richards was lying dead somewhere, not wanting to believe one of my own would betray me like this. That isn't the case, and I'm going to make his death extra special because of it.
I've had Koval watching the address Heath had put on file, but now I'm texting my capo, ordering him and his men to go in and try to find anything that may lead us to Lily. What comes out of Jackson next has me pausing and fixing my stare on him.
