Page 34

THIRTY-FOUR

ZEKE

“WHAT ARE YOU doing?” Savannah stands at the end of the kitchen island, staring at me, her dark brows pinched together in confusion.

“Making breakfast.” I had so many plans for this trip and none of them have really panned out. Savannah didn’t get to enjoy her stay at The Gaylord. We didn’t get to visit The Parthenon or tour The Grand Ole Opry.

So, while I hadn’t planned to tackle this project until we were back in Alaska, I decided to stop at the grocery on my way back to Memphis yesterday. Now, the handful of items I picked up are lined down Christian’s counter and I’m elbow deep in my very first cooking adventure.

It’s not looking good.

Savannah’s green eyes track the ingredients laid out before me, going from the flour to the farmer’s cheese, to the eggs. “Are you making syrniki?”

The soft way she asks—like she can’t believe I would do something like this for her—makes me think Savannah isn’t used to having someone take care of her.

She’ll get there.

“I guess you’ll have to tell me what I make.” I drop a scoop of the sticky dough onto the floured counter and do my best to flatten it out. “The instructions weren’t exactly clear.”

They probably were, my skill set just leaves a lot to be desired. The recipe could have been written with toddlers in mind and I’d likely still think it wasn’t simplified enough.

“So far it looks like you’re doing pretty well.” Savannah starts to come stand beside me, but I shake my head.

“No helping.” I point to the line of chairs across from me. “You cooked for me. Now I’m cooking for you.”

She gives me a shy little smile as she slips into one of the seats. “You don’t have to cook for me.”

“I want to cook for you.” Never in my life did I think those words would come out of my mouth. The next ones would have been even less likely. “And from what I hear, I’m going to have to cook for everyone else at some point too.”

Savannah’s dark brows lift. “Everyone else?”

I pause my pancake flattening so I can pour her a cup of juice. Christian isn’t a fancy coffee drinker, so I can’t make her one of those things she gets with Elise. And I didn’t want to venture out to pick one up when I knew she could wake up at any minute. I make a mental note to figure out what I’m going to need to blend those things up and order it when we get back to Alaska.

Once she’s sipping her OJ, I go back to making the small, cheesy disks while the pan heats on the stove. “Everyone on Shadow is putting in to be transferred to Tennessee.” I finish up with the last of the dough then pour a little oil into the heated pan. “Last night they told me their only request is to have a place like the townhomes.” I lift my eyes to Savannah’s. “Or a place like Christian and his brothers have.”

She studies me. “Is that something you would like?”

I scoop up the first of the pancakes and set it into the pan. “I don’t think I would dislike it.” I wish I could give her a better answer, but that’s all I have. I’ve spent years being fine with the state of my life. Imagining it in such a different way isn’t easy. “But I’m not making any promises.”

After flipping the dough disks, I give them a minute or two to brown before sliding them onto a plate. The last step is to ‘dust’ them with powdered sugar. I have no fucking clue what that means, so I sprinkle some on with my fingers and pass them across the island along with a jar of strawberry jam. It’s not the fancy cream stuff the recipe said to serve them with, but fruit sauce was listed as an alternative. Hopefully jam is close enough.

Savannah looks the plate over. Then her misty eyes lift to mine. “These look perfect.”

Making her cry was not my intention. I just wanted her to see that I listen to what she says. That I will give her everything she wants. No matter how big or small. “No.” I round the island. “No, no, no. Don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying.” She sniffs, sucking in a long breath as she blinks rapidly. “I was just thinking about it.”

Sitting down in the chair next to her, I haul her onto my lap, tucking her close. “You can’t cry when I cook, Sweetheart. It’ll look bad.”

She snorts out a watery laugh as she wipes one eye. “First of all, you will never look bad.” After pulling in another long breath, she leans to hook one finger over the edge of the plate and drags it in front of her new place at the island. “Especially when you’re making these for me.” She picks up one of the disks coated in clumps of powdery sugar then takes a bite. Her eyes well up again as she chews.

“That bad?” I snag one of them for myself and shove the whole thing into my mouth. I don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like, but it’s edible.

“They’re perfect.” Savannah leans in and presses a kiss to my mouth as I continue chewing. “Thank you.”

I give her my best scowl. “You don’t have to?—”

My cell starts to ring and I push up to my feet, holding onto Savannah as I stretch to reach it on the other side of the counter. I’m not entirely surprised to see it’s Isaac calling. Hopefully Heidi finally found something for me.

“Tell me you have good news.” I settle Savannah back into place across my thighs and shove another pancake in my mouth. The things aren’t half bad.

“I’ve got another address for you.” Isaac rattles it off like he’s not going to have to send it to me. “Heidi thinks there’s a good chance they might still be there if you hurry.”

As much as I hate to have to do it, I place Savannah back onto the next seat over. “We’ll head out shortly.” I disconnect the call and rush to clean up my mess.

“Did they find something?” Savannah opens the jam and slathers some onto one of the pancakes. She takes a bite and her eyes roll back as she lets out a little moan that has my dick hard in an instant.

“Let’s hope so.” I rack up the dirty dishes and wipe down the counter then hurry to her side, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Because I’m ready to put this shit behind us so we can get busy with all those plans I’ve been making.”

I know everyone’s going to say it’s too fast, but I don’t fucking care. I’m ready to marry Savannah. Ready to give her kids and a home and anything else she wants.

And nothing and no one is going to stand in my way.

“IT LOOKS JUST as fucking deserted as the other one.” I pass the binoculars off to Luca, letting him look to see if he thinks the same. “I’m going to kill Vincent for this.” It will actually be the first thing I do when we get back to Fairbanks. I’m going to hunt his ass down and beat the shit out of it.

“I don’t see anything that makes me think anyone is inside this place.” Luca lowers the binoculars, switching to staring directly out the filthy window of the building we broke into across the street. “How long are we going to sit here?”

I have no desire to spend two more days sitting in an abandoned building for nothing. Two more days driving back to Memphis for a few hours of sleep and a few hours of holding Savannah before coming back to sit in the cold and stare at nothing. “I say we go in now.”

It’s what we should have done at the last place, but I was still a little cautious after the explosion. One building falling down around me was enough for one trip. Finding out the building we were watching was empty chapped my ass, and I have a feeling the same thing is about to happen this time.

The only difference is, I’m not willing to wait around two days to find out this is another dead end.

Luca nods in agreement. “Might as well get started then.”

Activating the speaker on my earpiece, I spend the next few minutes formulating a plan with my team. Once we’ve decided the best way to move in, everyone disperses, taking their assigned location surrounding the dilapidated structure. I’m unsurprised to see no signs of life as I circle to the back. All the tracks are old and frozen over, and I don’t see a single movement through the broken panes of glass.

I’m positive the place is empty, but just to be safe, Luca and I are the only two who will be going in. That will leave as many eyes as possible on us while keeping risk of injury to a minimum.

As soon as everyone is in place and has confirmed their location clear, I break out of my hiding spot and move toward the back entrance. Luca does the same at the side. We’ve done this so many times it’s easy to pace ourselves so we reach our respective doors simultaneously.

I expected to have to kick mine in, but when I grab the knob it easily twists in my hand. I pause. “Luca. Is your door unlocked?”

“Yup. Yours?”

“It is.” I go still for a minute, holding my breath. No one says a word through the line in my ear. We’ve worked together so long we can practically read each other’s minds, and everyone knows Luca and I are both listening for any sign we’re walking into a trap.

When my lungs start to burn, I release my breath. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Me either,” Luca comes back immediately, his voice low. “I still think we need to be more cautious than we thought.”

“Agreed.” After one more scan of my surroundings, I pull the door open. “Going in.” I slip through the gap, letting it silently latch behind my back.

Keeping my weapon ready, I scan the room I’ve entered. It’s dark and quiet, but, to my surprise, the place appears to have been recently used. Footprints disturb the layer of dust across the concrete floor. Cups and food containers litter every available surface. Normally, I would think it’s the same demographic that trashed the hotel behind the factory that blew up, but the takeout bags and plastic containers are from higher end establishments. Places far enough from here they wouldn’t be easy to access on foot. Especially in the dead of winter.

“Boss?” There’s an odd inflection in Luca’s voice. “You need to come look at this.”

Leaving behind the room filled with trash, I cut toward the center of the building in search of where Luca entered the structure. At the end of the short hall, the space opens up into a large room with a soaring ceiling. Luca stands on the opposite side of the room, his back to me.

I cross to where he is, holstering my weapon and letting the team know no one is inside. As I close in, the wall in front of me comes into better focus, revealing what it is Luca’s staring at.

It’s photographs. Hundreds of them.

And when I see who is in them, my stomach drops.

Luca turns to me, his expression tight. “It’s Savannah.”

I don’t respond. I can’t. I’m too busy looking from snapshot to snapshot. Savannah in the passenger seat of Elise’s car. Savannah through the window of her townhome. Savannah on the sidewalk in front of Sadie’s home, talking to her sister. Savannah picking up groceries at the store.

“Someone’s been watching her.” Luca points out the obvious. “There’s pictures of her here in Nashville too.

Bile climbs my throat when I see Savannah sitting across from me at Uncle Bud’s. “The fuck?” I rip the image off the wall, tearing it free from the tack holding it in place.

These motherfuckers took pictures of her right under my goddamn nose.

“That’s not all.” Luca steps back, clearing my line of sight to the other half of the photographs. “There are pictures of Sadie here too.”

There’s an equal number of photos of Savannah’s sister. Photos of her from all over Fairbanks.

And photos of her in Memphis.

“Fuck.” I dig out my phone and dial Maddox’s number, stalking toward the exit as it rings. When it goes to voicemail I hang up and dial again.

Again, it goes to voicemail.

“Maddox isn’t answering.” I start to run, barking out orders as I switch to Christian’s number. I let out a little air when he answers on the second ring. “Is Savannah with you?”

“I’m on a job.” The sounds in the background confirm his claim. “Lydia called about an hour ago though. She got a message from another woman in trouble, so I’m guessing Savannah probably decided to help her out with that.”

I can’t breathe. Can barely think.

Luca takes the phone from my hand and presses it to his ear. “You need to call everyone you know and figure out where your wife is because there’s a good chance she’s in danger.”

Luca grips my coat, dragging me along as I struggle to stay upright, my brain fogged with fear. Maddox knew he had to stay with Savannah. He wouldn’t have gone against that order. Not for any reason. He knows how much Savannah means to me. How fucking feral I would go if something happened to her. There’s only one way he wouldn’t answer my call.

If he’s dead.