Page 69

“Ha!” He sounds positively delighted, the prick, almost as if my walking away is part of some greater plan, one he somehow orchestrated himself. “Well, while I can’t offer to help personally, Luke Macarthur is an independent operatorand is perfectly free to commit himself where he likes. I think you will find him very... resourceful.”

No shit.Luke Macarthur is one of the most lethal motherfuckers I’ve ever seen in action.

I grin. “I seem to recall him being pretty fucking resourceful the last time we met.”

“Quite!” I’d swear Mak is actually rubbing his hands with glee on the other end of the line. “I hope the antipodean climate agrees with you, my friend.”

He hangs up before I can ask what the fuckantipodeanis.

I make it through security with enough time to buy a change of clothes, toiletries, and a bag to put them in. Thank Christ I had my laptop with me when I went to Leon’s yesterday. I call the London hotel I never returned to and ask them to store the bag I left there.

By then, it’s time to board. I glance at my phone, see three missed calls from Roman, and decide he can damned well wait until I land.

Perth, Western Australia

Present Day

“You’re fuckingwhere?”Roman’s barely restrained fury is almost as savage as the Australian sun shimmering off the tarmac outside Perth Airport.

“Abby’s missing, Roman. I have to find her.” I peel off my jacket.

And I thought Miami was warm.

In early February, the Perth sun feels like it’s about to peel the skin off my face.

Roman is still raging down the phone line. “For three months before she went missing, Abby didn’t send you so much as a goddamn text message. Why are you so sure the girl wants to be found?” His impatience is close to outright fury. “For that matter, how do you know she didn’t stage her own disappearance? It wouldn’t be the first time she’s pulled something like that, from what Darya’s told me.”

Anger surges through me, raw and sudden. “Darya doesn’t know the full story. Neither of you fucking do.”

His response comes hard and fast. “Oh, and you do, huh?”

I come back just as hard. “I know a lot more than either of you.”

Way to sound like a five-year-old, Dimitry.

I clench my fist, longing to put it right into Roman’s face.

Not least because he’s right. The annoying thing is that Roman fuckingknowshe’s right, since one night recently, when the vodka got the better of me, I was dumb enough to actually admit to him that I don’t know Abby’s full story. I take a deep breath and force myself to remain calm, though I can’t hide my bitterness.

“Darya should have more faith. Abby might have run out on me, but Darya’s like a sister to her. She would never have cut off contact with her, no matter what is going on between us, and you know it.”

Suddenly, I know I’m right. I’ve been so lost in misery over the past months that I’ve started doubting everything I was certain of. But twenty-four hours on a plane staring at the newspaper photograph of the twisted, blackened remnants of that car wreck has given me time to think. And the truth is that while Abby might have left me with no more than a note on the bedside table, she could no sooner leave Darya behind than she could her own heart.

“More faith, huh?” I can hear the ferocity behind Roman’s surface calm.

And I don’t give a fuck.

“I know how much you love that—Abby.” Roman barely manages to correct himself in time. “So I’m going to let your comment about Darya slide. But now is the wrong time for a side mission, Dimitry. Look.” I can almost picture him glaring out the window of the Hale offices. “I can send a team to look into Abby’s disappearance. Get one of Mak’s crew onto it and order them to track everything they can find. But I need you back here. I’ve held off from saying it because I know you’ve been having a tough time, but the reality is that we’ve got a security breach, and that means I need you on deck, brother.”

I grip the phone and stare at the line of cars snaking around the pickup lane. “If it was Darya who was missing, would you leave the search for her in someone else’s hands?”

In the brief pause that follows, I know I’ve just crossed a line.

“Don’t make this about Darya.” His voice is dangerously quiet.

But the damage is done. The line is crossed, and even if I wanted to go back, I know I can’t.

“You wouldn’t trust anyone but yourself to go after her, and you fucking know it, Roman.” When he doesn’t answer immediately, I keep going. “I have to find Abby. It’s the only thing that matters to me. I’m sorry you’ve got trouble over there, but Mak made it pretty clear that he’s got your back, and I’m sure he’s going to be more help than I could be.”