Page 70 of Savage Hearts
I can’t help it now. I have to touch her. I grab her and hold her tight, wrapping my arms around her back and lowering my head so I can speak urgently into her ear.
“I don’t know how bad it is, but we’ll find her. I promise you. We’ll do whatever it takes.”
She trembles in my arms, breathing erratically. I think she might be going into shock.
Until she pulls away abruptly and pins me with a death glare. “You also promised me she’d be safe in that safe house! So no more promises, okay? What’s the game plan? How are we going to find her? How are we going to get her back? What specifically are we going todo?”
This is one of the many reasons I love this woman. This clearheadedness. This grace under pressure. This absolute, no bullshit, fearless badassery.
I almost feel sorry for Malek.
If my queen ever gets her hands on him, he’ll wish he were never born.
“I’ll put the word out. Offer money. A lot of it. If anyone’s seen or heard anything, I’ll know fast. The major transportation hubs will be monitored. If he tries to take her through an airport or a bus terminal, he’ll be stopped. And I’ll call Grayson as soon as we’re done talking.”
Grayson is my handler in the FBI. If anyone’s going to be able to discover where a notorious Russian assassin is circulating in the U.S., it’s him.
Sloane swallows. She nods slowly. She moistens her lips.
Then she says something that enrages me.
“I’ll call Stavros to see if he knows anything.”
“Absofuckinglutely not!”
When she only stands there looking at me with watering eyes, I feel like an arsehole and lower my voice. “He’s attempted to kill me twice in the last month.”
“He hasn’t succeeded. And you know he won’t, no matter how many times he tries. The man has only ever shot at fish. He’s never hit any of those, either. He’s completely incompetent at murder.”
“He’s also obsessed with you.”
“Exactly. He’s our best bet.”
“I’ll call Kazimir. He’ll know more than your gobshite ex–boy toy.”
“Kage is your enemy. He hates the Irish. He won’t tell you shit.”
She’s probably right about that, but the bastard still owes me a favor. I had his FBI file erased, for fuck’s sake.
She adds, “Unless I call Nat first.”
“I don’t think it’s necessary to get her involved.”
Ignoring my comment, she thinks for a moment, then nods, as if she’s made a decision. “She’s known Riley since she was a baby. She’ll want to help. And if anybody can make Kage talk to you, it’s her.”
Without waiting for me to answer, she whips her cell out of the pocket of her jeans and dials her girlfriend.
I watch her, shaking my head.
Whoever said it’s a man’s world was bloody fucking deluded.
TWENTY-TWO
KAGE
Lying naked in bed beside Nat, I’ve got a full belly, a full heart, and an empty set of balls.
My baby’s gonna be sore in the morning.
