Page 80 of Forgotten Vows

The flightback is the longest three hours of my life. Declan is in the back of the plane, refusing to admit that he needs more help than we can give him here.

I sit in the front, staring out the window at the darkness below, my mind racing. Someone in my organization betrayed me.

When we land in Chicago, I have the men take Declan to a safe house and tell them to call the doctor on retainer for situations like this. He protests, says he wants to help, but I shut him down.

"You're no good to me dead," I tell him. "Get patched up. I'll handle this."

He looks at me for a long moment, and I can see the pain in his eyes. Not just physical pain, but the pain of knowing he failed. That he let Gio get away. That his man's betrayal led to this.

"I'm sorry, man," he says quietly. "I should have seen it coming."

"It's not your fault." I grip his good shoulder, careful not to jostle his injuries. "Just focus on healing. I'm going to need you when this is over."

I get back in the SUV with Rian and Jack. "Take me to the penthouse."

"Boss, if Gio has Adriana and Matteo?—"

"He doesn't have them at the penthouse. That would be too easy." My voice is cold, detached, because I can't afford to feel right now.Can't afford to think about what Gio might be doing to them. "He took them somewhere else. Which means someone helped him get past our security."

Rian's jaw tightens. "You think it's one of the guards?"

"I know it is." I pull out my phone and start making calls. "Get everyone to the penthouse. Everyone who was on duty last night. I want them there in twenty minutes."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find out who betrayed me. And then I'm going to kill them."

The penthouse is exactly as I left it. The guards are still at their posts, pretending everything is normal. But I can see the tension in their faces, the way their eyes dart to me and then away. They know something is wrong.

I walk past them without a word and head to my office. Rian and Jack follow, along with the six guards who were on duty last night. I close the door behind them and lock it. "Sit down," I say, gesturing to the chairs arranged in front of my desk.

They sit. All of them look nervous, but one of them—a guy named Jonathan who's been with me for a very brief time, hired when I bulked up security before bringing Adriana home—looks terrified. His hands are shaking, and there's sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool air in the room.

I lean against my desk and cross my arms. "Someone wants to tell me how Gio Santoro got into my penthouse early this morning and took my wife and son?"

Silence.

"No?" I look at each of them in turn, letting the weight of my gaze settle on each face. "Because I'm having a hard time understanding how that could happen. I have the best security in the city. I have men posted at every entrance, cameras covering every angle. And yet somehow, Gio walked in here and walked out with my family. So either you're all incompetent, or one of you is a traitor."

More silence. But Jonathan is sweating harder now, his eyes fixedon the floor, his breathing shallow and rapid. "Jonathan," I say his name softly, and he flinches like I've hit him. "Look at me."

He doesn't.

I move around the desk and grab him by the hair, yanking his head back hard enough to make him cry out. His hands come up to grab my wrist, but I don't let go. "I said look at me."

He does. His eyes are wide and terrified, and I can see the guilt written all over his face. Can see the way his pupils are dilated and his lips are trembling as he tries not to cry.

"It was you, wasn't it?"

"Boss, I—" His voice breaks. "I didn't have a choice. He sent me here. He said he'd kill my sister. He said?—"

I don't let him finish. I pull my gun and press it against his forehead, right between his eyes. "Where are they?"

"I don't know! I swear, I don't know! He didn't tell me where he was taking them; he just said?—"

"What did he say?"

"He said he'd call you. That you'd have to meet him. That's all I know, I swear?—"