Page 12 of Escaping the King (The Sovrano Crime Family #13)

Carlo

“I t was spotted where?” I barked into the phone. One of my informants had access he shouldn't have. To databases and information, he really shouldn't have.

But it showed that Giselle's car had gone through a toll bridge in Chicago at eleven-fifteen last night.

Christ.

She must've run out of here within minutes of me pulling out of her pussy.

“Fuck,” I muttered and paced from Giselle's kitchen to her living room.

My informant gave me a few more pieces of information before saying, “Does she have any of your credit cards? Have you checked for activity?”

A sinking feeling weighed over me. I hadn't considered that. “I'll get on that.” I cleared my throat. “If anything else flashes on your radar, let me know.” I ended the call and had to quell the desire to chuck my phone through the front window.

I needed my phone. Getting a new one right now would waste valuable time.

Instead, I scrolled through my phone and found Asher. I clicked on him, and it rang right away.

Like the dutiful soldier he was, he picked up after one ring. “Any news?” he asked, skipping any niceties. Which I more than appreciated. Especially right now.

“Yeah, her car was seen going through a toll here in the city at eleven-fifteen last night.” I tried to swallow, but for some reason my throat wouldn't work.

“Good,” Asher said into the phone. “That gives us a better timeline. At least we know how long they've been gone for.”

Something sharp stabbed through my gut.

Yeah.

Giselle and Dani had been gone for fucking hours.

“They might've stopped to sleep, Carlo,” Asher said when I didn't respond. “I have my doubts about Giselle driving the entire night.”

I filled my lungs up with some much-needed air. “Let's hope. I'll call you with any more updates.”

After that, I closed my phone and dropped it on the chair. I wanted to sit down, but I couldn't.

The amount of pent-up anger and rage I had inside of me wouldn't allow it.

My phone rang, and I instinctively scooped it up. It was Nick. “Yeah,” I said to my best friend, hoping like hell he had some good news for me. ”Nothing,” Nick said, not sparing my feelings. “Yet. I've got everyone on it.”

That should have made me feel better, but it didn't. I wanted to throw my phone again. “Just got off the phone with Asher. I told him Giselle's car was spotted going through a toll in the city at eleven-fifteen last night.”

There was a short pause before he said, “Last night?” Nick confirmed with me.

“Yeah.”

I heard him blow out a burst of air. “Fuck. They've been gone a long goddamn time.” His tone sounded exasperated—which was exactly how I felt.

“I know, man. I know. And I didn't hear a fuckin' thing. I was completely out.”

A forced laugh rushed through the phone at me. “Sex with Giselle can make a man really fuckin' tired, Carlo. I'm not surprised you passed out.”

I strode back to the kitchen, resisting the urge to toss my phone through the kitchen window. My best friend had fucked my fiancée many times. Hell, they had an “arrangement” when his wife was pregnant and Giselle served as his own personal sex attendant.

But right now, I did not want to be reminded of the fact that his dick had ever been within a mile of my woman's pussy.

When I didn't respond, he spoke up again, “We'll find them. I know it seems bleak—”

I cut him off. I couldn't stand to listen to him tell me how this was all going to be fine.

It wasn't.

“And what happens when we do find them?” I snapped, my voice sharp and loud. “She obviously wanted to leave.” I inhaled a deep breath. “She'd fucking planned on it for Christ's sake.”

Nick cleared his throat. “She's got a history we still don't know shit about. Unless she finally opened up to you about it?”

I shook my head even though he couldn't see. “No, nothing. I try not to bring it up. It always sets her into a spiral when I do.” And that was true. Any time I'd ever attempted to learn about her past, she always shut me down.

A sigh and a long, “Mm hm,” filled my ears. “Exactly. The woman's got secrets. I just wish we knew what they were.”

I looked at a drawing on Giselle's fridge. It was littered with Dani's artwork. One piece in particular caught my eye. It was a stick figure drawing of me, Giselle, and Dani. Giselle had drawn the stick figure people, and Dani had added her generous scribbles to it.

I reached out and touched the smooth surface of the picture with my fingertips. Fuck.

I wanted more pictures like that.

I needed more fucking pictures like that.

But with more kids.

“I know. What was I supposed to do? Torture it out of her? She's not one of our informants, Nick. The woman was closed up. Tight. I'm sure if we had a little more time, she would have—”

Time.

Fuck.

Time.

I wished I'd had more time to squeeze the information about her past from her.

I wished a lot of things.

“And you will. We will. We'll find her and she'll tell us what the hell—or who the hell—she's running from.”

He sighed into the phone, and his voice changed. It was quiet and low. “Look, I hate to ask you this again. But I have to. And I promise this will be the last fuckin' time I do. But are you sure you guys didn't fight? That she didn't get pissed off with you and run?”

My head fell back, and I growled, “No, for fuck's sake. Nothing happened. Other than two hours of multiple orgasms. She was very satisfied before I fell asleep. We didn't even argue about the fuckin' blankets.”

He responded back right away. “Okay, good. Well, I mean that's good but also bad, I suppose.”

I frowned and continued pacing Giselle's small as fuck kitchen. “What do you mean? Explain,” I asked him.

So, he did.

“If you two had a spat, and she took off—then she'd probably come back after a while and work it out. But if she ran away because she was scared of something—”

It was my turn to interrupt. “Then she might be gone for good.”

Fuck.

He was right. Giselle must be afraid if she took off without telling anyone. She and Eve were best friends. They knew everything about each other.

Except for Giselle's past, that is.

She'd never shared that with Eve.

I stopped and peered out the front window and watched people casually walk by. As if something horrible didn't happen in the night and my entire life hadn't packed up and driven out of the city with my future in tow.

“Have you asked Eve if Giselle had ever shared anything with her? Anything at all that we don't know about?”

I heard a door open and assumed he was in his office. “Hang on. I'll ask.”

Then there was a muffled conversation. I could hear him talking with Eve, but I couldn't understand what they were saying.

Nick's voice raised louder, and he sounded—angry? Pissed off?

“What's going on?” I demanded from my end. “Tell me what the hell's going on. Now.”

Nick's voice came through clearly. “We'll be over in ten minutes. My wife has some shit to share, apparently,” that was all he said before he hung up on me.

“What the fuck?” I said into Giselle's empty house.

What the fuck, indeed.