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“Fletcher took the phone Warner sent,” Garrett informed him in a flat voice.
Elias didn’t get it at first. When he did, a few emotions crossed his face, settling on an anger that was only eclipsed by her husband’s.
“Don’t worry. He won’t get away.”
Garrett rose, resting a hand on her shoulder. “No, he won’t. It doesn’t matter what hole he tries to hide in. We will find him.”
Chapter Seventy
GARRETT
The question of whether Emma would be forced to sleep in the apartment where she was attacked became moot when George came home. She coaxed his wife into taking a sedative and marched her out the front door and into her and Rainer’s apartment.
“I put her over there,” Rainer gestured to the largest spare bedroom when Garrett came in. He was carrying a sleeping Stella over his shoulder.
“Thanks,” he said, laying his baby girl next to Emma on the California King.
Stella cuddled instinctively against her mother’s body.
Their daughter had been so worn out by her day out at the zoo that she hadn’t noticed the tense atmosphere of all the adults around her. She thought they were having a fun sleepover at George’s house.
As for why her mother was too tired to greet her, she just thought Emma had another one of her headaches. He promised they’d all sleep in one big bed, with Mom in the middle, which more than made up for any disappointment.
Garrett watched them for a long time before leaving them curled up next to each other. He would join them shortly. But first, he had business to attend to.
He walked back to their place. In the space of a few short hours, the penthouse had been converted into a makeshift Auric headquarters.
At least half a dozen of their soldiers were scattered across the living room, a few on the phone, working their local contacts while others were on military-grade laptops doing God knows what.
Ian had arrived while he was over at Rainer’s. His best friend was here too, while George and a few men watched over his sleeping family.
The pair were getting a debrief from Elias.
Elias was still furious with himself for letting Fletcher get away. Garrett was frustrated about that too, but he was angrier at himself.
Fletcher had been a huge part of his life since high school. He’d followed Garrett to college, seeking him out again after they went to different business schools. Garrett had built a billion-dollar business with him.
And all this time he’d been a fucking snake in the grass. He’d stabbed Garrett in the back, a wound so old he hadn’t even felt it for years.
If Emma hadn’t come back into his life, he would haveneverknown.
And thanks to him, Fletcher had plenty of fuck you money. Enough to disappear and make a life anywhere in the world.
Hell, the asshole might even get plastic surgery. That’s what Garrett would do in his shoes.
He paused halfway through the living room, stopping at the recliner where Toya Almari was typing away on a laptop so hard it was like she was trying to punch through the keyboard.
“Thank you for coming,” he told the former intelligence operative in a voice like sandpaper.
Toya looked up at him, her expression fierce. “You and your girl don’t have to worry.I’ve got this.”
Nodding, he went to the bar, shaking his head when Rainer offered him a drink.
Neither Elias nor Ian had drinks either. The three of them wanted to be ready when they finally ran Fletcherto ground.
“His place is empty, nothing in his safe,” Ian reported. “Some of his clothes are gone but both his cars are there. The ex-girlfriend hasn’t heard from him in weeks.”
“He wouldn’t get into a vehicle we could trace that easily,” Elias muttered, his hand kneading something—one of Stella’s toys, the squishy kind that were multiplying like gremlins in her room.