Page 97 of Because I Need You
“What can I do?” Loren asked.
“Go get the briefcase.”
“Chicago?”
“Under the bed, I think. Call Nadia. She’ll get it for you and meet you at the airport.”
“I’ll call Flynn.” Loren sighed. As he walked away.
Fuck, I should’ve looked inside that fucking briefcase. I didn’t think to, since I’d seen the envelopes she opened. Rings, diamonds, more rings, more diamonds. Those were valuable, sure, but something else must have been in there for this to happen and I should’ve checked for it.
“Loren,” I shouted. He stopped walking and turned around. “Call John to check on Petra. And don’t tell me sister about this.”
He didn’t comment as he turned around and kept walking. I didn’t know what that meant, but I knew he wouldn’t
Dean patted my shoulder and told me he’d look at the camera footage on that intersection in case he saw something, before turning to speak to Rocco quietly as Dominic and I left the room and headed outside. Nico, who was smoking a cigarette, threw it down, eyes wide when he saw us. We either looked completely deranged or like something out of the movie. By the time we reached him, Nico was in the driver’s seat starting the car. Dominic walked out of the warehouse, looking around for a second first. He’d been the only one out of the three of us to take care to do that. I couldn’t even berate myself for not doing it. I just wanted to go. He jogged to the SUV and shut the door after getting in. Nico started driving, looking at me.
“Where to, boss?”
“Sixty-Ninth and…” I looked over my shoulder at Rocco.
“Grand,” he said.
Nico gave a nod. Shit, he was in Joey’s enough to know exactly where we needed to go. My heart pounded faster as we drove closer, the adrenaline finally kicking in again. My phone buzzed in the center of the car, and everyone froze. I picked it up quickly, looking at the screen. Blocked Caller. My heart pounded harder as I answered it and held it to my ear.
“What do you want?”
“You know what we want.” It was a man, but I didn’t recognize the voice.
“I don’t make assumptions.” I bit my tongue hard to keep my voice steady and not add more to that statement.
“Maybe you should,” he said, and suddenly I heard Isabel’s scream. My hand gripped the phone tighter. “The briefcase. Where is it?”
“I’ll get you the fucking briefcase, but if you hurt her, you’re dead,” I growled.
“Well then.” The man tsked. “I guess I better start looking for a plot.”
Anger punched me in the chest, but I tried not to react, tried not to give anything else away. They already knew how much she meant to me. Whoever this was knew me and had still done this, which meant they probably wouldn’t mind hurting her or killing her if it came to that.
“Where do I meet you?” I asked.
“I’ll be in touch. Your little girlfriend told us the briefcase was back in Chicago, so I’ll be patient and give you a few hours.”
I ended the call, then screamed and punched and kicked the shit out of my car. I knew it wouldn’t help, but it was the only thing I could do with the pent-up rage I felt right now.
“He wants the briefcase.” That was Rocco. I turned around quickly and stared at him.
“How the fuck do you know that?”
“Word on the street is people have been asking around for it, from Queens to Jersey, trying to figure out who would have it.”
I turned as much as I could in my seat. “Who wants it?”
“Silvio for sure. Some other guy, tall, blue eyes, black hair. He never says his name, but he’s been sniffing around.”
Blue eyes. Fuck. I turned around and kicked the dashboard again, then faced him. “Any idea who it might be?”
“If I knew, we wouldn’t be here right now.”
I turned and faced forward again, picking up the phone again.
“Anything on the bingo hall?” I asked.
“I’m looking at surveillance footage as we speak,” Dean said, distracted. “One of Silvio’s cars parked in the back alley last night around the time we’re looking for and it hasn’t moved since, so either someone sleeps there on the regular or your chick is there.”
I shut my eyes, wishing I could feel some kind of relief, but I didn’t. The only thing I felt was determination. It was better than anger. Anger made people do stupid shit. Anger could get her killed and I couldn’t live in a world that Isabel wasn’t a part of. My best friend had already been ripped from my life, and most days I was okay, but somedays I was barely holding on. Isabel gave me hope, though. Isabel the helper, the teacher, one of the strongest people I knew. She’d survive this. She had to, or else I wouldn’t.
