Page 50 of Covert (Ruthless Love #2)

Chapter forty-six

Axel

I t's been weeks. It's been weeks since I slept for more than a couple of hours.

Since I've eaten a meal that consists of more than Twizzlers and Dr. Pepper.

Since any of us has seen her. I know Maddox and Diesel saw her.

I'm tempted to camp out at the strip club, knowing she goes there sometimes, but she was explicit when she told Maddox to stay away.

And I know I could never just see her and not hold her, not have her with me.

I've never felt lonelier. I've never felt more hopeless.

My phone pings with a text message, but I barely register it.

I'm numb to the outside world right now.

I've downloaded every scrap of information I can find on the Riccis, their operations, their property, their banking.

There are rumors on the dark web about them buying and selling women, but nothing concrete.

I pray they won't try to sell Nikki. She wouldn't allow it, right? Her brother wouldn't allow that. Right?

The love I saw between them when he picked her up seemed real, but it's been ten years. What if he's changed? What if he's not the guy she thought he was? A lot can change a man over a decade.

I numbly unlock my phone to read the text message. It's from a blocked number.

Blocked: Natalie is safe and with Nikki

And then a URL.

The mention of Nikki and Natalie in the same sentence kick-starts my heart again. Natalie. Natalie is safe? And with Nikki? How ?

I stumble out of my chair to find Maddox.

"Mads!" I shout into the hallway. I have no idea what time it is, or if he's even home. I click the URL as I rush down the hallway.

"Mads!" I shout again, stumbling into his empty bedroom first. I check the kitchen and living room before I see the light in the gym is on. I barrel in. He's lying on the mats on the floor on his back, simply staring at the ceiling. We're all crumbling in our own ways.

"They've got her. Natalie. They've got her and Nikki. Nikki's with Natalie," I ramble, my brain sluggish. He raises to an elbow.

"What?"

"I just got a text," I say, waving my phone at him. "From a blocked number. That Natalie's somehow with Nikki and that she's safe."

I look back down at my phone and bring it closer to my face. For a moment I don't understand what I'm looking at, and then it clicks. A sigh whooshes from my lungs. It's a map. With a neon green dot in the middle.

Her tracker.

I collapse onto the mat next to Maddox and simply stare at the blinking green dot. I zoom out until I recognize the map. She's at her house. Or, her father's home. Her home is here, with us.

"It's her location," I whisper to Maddox and Beckett, who just showed up in the doorway.

They both gather closer to watch it in silence.

It's small, but it's a lifeline, letting us know she's still alive.

I forward the URL to both of them and Diesel, think about it, and then follow up with a warning for him not to do anything stupid.

Wordlessly, we all walk back to our rooms. I'm tired in a way I've never experienced before. It's a weariness of the soul that I can feel in my bones .

I type the URL into my browser on my computer, and angle the screen towards my bed. I lay down, finally, and watch her little green dot, and finally give in to sleep, knowing that she's okay.

And that somehow the universe put Natalie into Nikki's orbit, and that Nikki will keep her safe.