I sit next to him and bring my hands up to my face. “Fuck!” I yell with utter frustration spiked raw fear.
“We’ll find her,” he reassures me without looking up from the screen.
Suddenly I remember Fester and leaving him in the building. “Did you send the crew to take care of—”
“It’s already done,” Sebastian interjects. Then he leans in with a worried expression. “What the hell happened today?”
I rise to my feet, unable to remain still and walk over to my desk. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I tell him as I grab my laptop to look into any CTV footage that could help us while Sebastian works on the properties.
“I think we should.”
“Not now.”
“Fine,” he says. “I just sent you the list of local properties.”
I open his encrypted email and scroll through the properties on the planning and zoning databases. “We should also check lien holders and proposed structures, notonly titles.”
Sebastian comes to stand next to me and leans over my shoulder, his finger pointing at one of the properties. “Check out this one. It’s in escrow with the Hughes Enterprises.”
My eyes narrow. “That’s The Henderson downtown.”
“Weird,” Sebastian mumbles. “I didn’t know his family owned that piece of shit.”
I highlight the date of purchase. “They recently acquired it.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Sebastian says. “I can hack into the commercial security system to see if there was any movement.”
I shake my head. “You think Andrew would go in a regular door?”
“They probably have cameras all over that place.”
“He would not walk by a spot where there are cameras. Especially if he took her there, he would have felt comfortable with the security.”
“You could be right.”
As we’re planning to check out the first location, I recall the conversation I had with Andrew. My eyes dart up to my cousin’s. “Andrew called and he wants me to come alone.”
His eyebrows snap together. “Not happening.”
“Yes. I can’t risk Lux’s safety any more than I already have.”
He slams his hand on the wooden desk. “Absolutely not. I’m not letting you walk into a suicide mission.”
My eyes bore into his. “That’s not your decision to make.”
“River, that is insane,” he argues. “You don’t know what he has planned or what you’re walking into.”
“I can take care of myself.” My arm muscles flex, knowing full well I’d burn this fucking world down for her.
“You’re such an egotistical asshole,” he spits. “Let me and the team take the perimeter.”
I rub my lips together, contemplating what I know would be the safe move, but I cannot risk Andrew getting word of it. “I’ll keep you updated.”
Sebastian squares his shoulders. His expression hardens. “When we first put this operation together, we agreed we’d be a team. But you slowly took the lead. And I was fine with it because you’re like my older brother—by only three years, but it’s something.”
“Your point?”
“My point is, I stepped back from being CFO at TI in order to run this,” he continues, his fingers gripping the edge of the desk. “I am in charge of what goes on with the night team, which means I’m going with you. And if you have a problem with that, then you can fuck off.”
