Page 134 of Contract of a Billionaire

“So it will be black and white from now on?”

A sardonic breath left me. “It’s never just black and white. There are so many damn shades of gray, and I’ll always do whatever it takes to protect my family. But I don’t need the illegal business nor the Corsican organization. So if he wants them out of Philly, they’ll be out of Philly.”

“Okay, then,” he mused. “This went easier than I thought. I’ll send Dante a message and let’s wait for the information while we enjoy the cookie. What do you say, Kol?”

“Maman. Cookie,” Kol mumbled with food in his mouth as if he understood a deal was just made to get his Maman back.

I’m coming for you, Autumn. Just hold on a bit longer.

For Kol. For me. For us.

* * *

I sataround the table with Nico, Byron, and Sasha Nikolaev in Nico’s office. His kids screamed, some cried, others played. Nico’s entire manor was a zoo - but a good kind of zoo. Kol was here too, currently under Bianca’s cookie spell. He’d probably be full of sugar thanks to her constant baking.

I finally made a deal with Dante DiLustro. Thanks to Byron. Basilio DiLustro kidnapped Wynter, Liam Brennan’s niece. To secure this passage to the Afghanistan mountains, Byron backed the DiLustros rather than his half-sister’s family… my half-sister, Davina. And I promised the Corsican mafia would be out of Philly once I married Autumn.

Needless to say, I owed him. Fucking big time.

I finally held Dante’s contact in my hand. I sent my pilot a note to be ready - day or night. We had a way in, the problem was where do we start.

We had no idea where to start the search and at this point, we could use all of the help we could get. Time was of the essence.

“If I had to guess, they’d make their way to the mountains.” Byron pointed to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan on the map. It was the same way I tried to get into Afghanistan a few months back.

“That was my thought too,” I grumbled. “That mountain goes for almost a hundred miles. Or if they are trying to cross into Pakistan, that is an additional sixteen hundred miles. It’s the proverbial needle in a haystack. It won’t be in and out.”

My eyes traveled over the map. “Mountains are where I’d wager they are hiding.”

“I think that’s our best bet,” Nico agreed. “The satellite surveillance shows a lot of activity in the mountains from the local military. They’ve been circling it like vultures.”

Just the thought of Autumn hiding, being chased like a dog made me want to go on a murder spree. Punish every single person that dared to even think about hurting her.

The door to Nico’s office opened and Bianca strode in with a tray full of cookies. Nico’s eyes darted to his wife and instantly his expression softened.

“Any luck?” she asked.

“We have a way in,” Byron told her. “If we could only get fucking coordinates narrowed down.”

“I’ll come with you,” Sasha offered. “I have nothing better to do. At least not for the foreseeable future.”

“What? No more DiLustro hunting?” Byron asked dryly. Sasha just shrugged, but a gleam in his eyes promised trouble. So much fucking trouble that I was glad he wasn’t related to me.

“Nah, I moved on. I have a more enticing target,” Sasha answered, the shark grin on his face not boding well for whoever he had in mind.

I’d need Sasha’s skills, but fuck if I had energy to decipher his cryptic messages. Or his psychotic ways.

“I’ll need your sniper skills,” I told him reluctantly. “Just sniper skills.”

“Fine, sniper skills it is.” He shrugged. “But your goddamn loss. I’m more fun in hand-to-hand combat.”

God help me, I didn’t know how Sasha’s siblings dealt with this crazy motherfucker. But before I could say anything else my phone rang. I answered it without glancing at the caller ID.

“Russo.”

“Alessio.” The soft voice I’d recognize anywhere.

“Autumn, are you back?” Silence. “Autumn?”