Page 69 of The King of Hearts (The Raven Group #1)

I slam to a stop in front of the estate and get out of the car.

Marcelo heads toward my office as I run up the stairs to Savina’s and my bedroom.

I have multiple safes in several rooms of the house.

This one is where I store most of my guns and ammo.

I grab out a Glock that matches the one I’m already carrying and put several clips in my pocket.

I don’t bother closing the safe before stalking out of the closet.

Marcelo is just exiting my office when I hit the last stair, the envelope I requested in his hands. We go back to the car and speed away.

“Message Bishop and Cassio and tell them to meet us at their parents’ place,” I order.

“Already done.”

I glance over to my guard, and the closest person I have to a friend.

The muscle in his jaw is tense, his pupils dilated.

I’ve known him long enough to recognize the anger on his face.

He may have been working on my order when I hired him to be Savina’s bodyguard two years ago, but I know he’s grown attached.

Outside of the males in her family and Tomas—and only him because he likes dick—he’s the only man I’d allow to form a bond with my wife.

In fact, I welcome that bond because it means he’d do anything to keep her safe.

I know he’s feeling the loss of Max, the guard I assigned to my mother years ago, and I feel it too, but I keep that emotion locked tight for the time being. I need to keep a clear head.

It takes half the time than normal to get to the Rivers’.

I don’t knock, I just barge through the front door and go straight for Alexander’s office, where I know he’ll be.

Savina’s father is sitting behind his desk, and his head jerks up from whatever document he’s reading when his office door slams against the wall.

“What the hell?” he barks, getting to his feet.

I get right to the point.

“Savina’s been taken,” I growl.

“What do you mean, she’s been taken?” he asks, slowly getting to his feet.

“I mean,” I grab the envelope from Marcelo. “Someone broke into my house and fucking took her.” I toss the envelope on top of his desk. “Look through those and tell me if anything stands out.”

He doesn’t even spare the envelope a glance as he orders, “Tell me what happened.”

“The details will come after you look in the fucking envelope,” I grit out, my patience wearing thin.

I don’t know what the fucker’s plans are with Savina or what his end goal is, but time is of the essence.

With jerky movements, Alexander slides out the stack of papers and pictures.

He riffles through them, reading each message and looking at the pictures.

Some of those shots are of me fucking his daughter, but I don’t give a fuck if her father sees them, not if it means he can use this information to find her.

A muscle tics in his jaw when he looks at one of the photos.

It was taken the night of the ball. From the angle of the shot, he had to have been hidden in the bushes that are just off the terrace.

The quality of the shot is nice and clear, even with it being taken at night.

Savina is down on her knees in front of me, her mouth stretched wide as she takes my cock down her throat while I fist her head.

Alexander lingers on that picture for too long, and I see the anger building on his face. The hand holding it fists the glassy paper. I snatch it out of his hands.

“Look at the others,” I bark.

If looks could kill, I’d be bleeding out on the floor right about now.

But I couldn’t care less whether Savina’s father is pissed at the way I fuck his daughter.

She’s an adult, and what we do is private.

The only reason I felt it necessary not to filter these pictures is because maybe he’ll see something I haven’t that’ll give us a clue as to who sent them.

“Who sent these?” he demands after he’s looked through them all, tossing them on the desk.

“I was hoping you could help shine light on that answer. I’ve been getting them for the last few months. I’ve had a guy working on it, but he’s had no luck. Whoever it is, is good. He’s been inside both of our homes.”

The door bursts open behind me, and I don’t bother to look. I know who it is.

“What’s going on?” Bishop demands, striding up beside me. Cassio appears beside him.

“Savina’s been taken,” I inform them.

“What the hell do you mean, she’s been taken?” Cassio says before his brother can.

My hands curl into fists at my side. I’ve already fucking been over this once. The longer we fuck around in this office, the longer Savina is in the hands of whoever took her, doing God only knows what to her.

Alexander passes the letters and photos to Bishop. I keep the one I took from him. We don’t have time for bloodshed, and I know that’s where it’ll lead if Bishop or Cassio sees this particular picture.

“Ryker has been getting these from an unknown source. They came into his house and took Savina.”

“Where the hell were you? Why weren’t you with her?”

I grit my teeth and grit out. “I was meeting with my private investigator. I was only gone for a few hours. She was gone when I got back.”

He looks down at the papers in his hand, looking over each one before going to the next. It doesn’t take a genius to see the murderous rage on his face as he looks at the more lewd shots. He slaps them against Cassio’s chest after he’s looked at the last one.

“How do you know she hasn’t just left you?” Bishop asks, his voice full of anger.

“Because she wouldn’t have put our family in danger of being exposed,” Alexander answers before I can. “She sacrificed herself and married him. She wouldn’t go back on her word.”

“The tracker I had placed in her arm was cut out and left at The Reef. Even if she did leave me, she wouldn’t have removed it because she didn’t know it was there.”

“You put a fucking tracker in my sister?” Bishop takes a step forward, putting himself way too close to me. I’m seconds away from unleashing the pent-up rage I’m feeling.

“Yes. I knew someone had their eye on her. I put it in her in case they managed to get to her.”

“All the good it’s fucking done,” he growls.

“Bishop, back the hell off and get your shit together,” Alexander barks. “We don’t have time for this.”

His eyes flash with anger, and it doesn’t go unnoticed that his hands are fisted at his sides, but after a moment, he backs off. “What do you know?”

“They haven’t had her for long, so they couldn’t have gotten far. They knew about The Reef, so they’re either really fucking good, or they have someone on the inside.”

“No one would have betrayed the organization,” Cassio inserts. “Each person is vetted and are loyal to a fault. We trust every person brought in.”

“And yet, I managed to sneak my way in right under your noses.” The air explodes with tension, but I pay it no mind. “They knew about the tracker and the only other person besides myself who does is Dr. Bale.”

“Dr. Bale is the one who put the tracker in Savina?” Alexander asks.

“Obviously, since I just said he’s the only other person who knows about it.”

“He wouldn’t have betrayed our family like that.”

If the situation wasn’t what it was, I may have smirked. “He would if I were blackmailing him with something more important than his loyalty to you.”

The pulse in Alexander’s temple visibly pulses. “One of these days, I am going to kill you.”

“But not today. And it won’t be until after you help me find my wife.”

“Cassio.” Alexander turns to his youngest son. “Lock down the coasts. No one steps foot off this island until Savina is brought home.” He turns his attention to Bishop. “Call Markus and get his ass here.”

Cassio walks out of the room, leaving the door open, while Bishop steps away, pulling out his phone.

“Dr. Bale didn’t tell anyone about the tracker,” I tell Alexander.

“I know that,” he says, his hand leaving grooves in his hair from swiping his fingers through it. “But what makes you so sure?”

“What I’m using against him. He wouldn’t have taken the chance that I’d use that information. He’d protect it at all costs. Even offering his own life.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he mutters. “What do you have against him?”

“That’s between me and him.”

He doesn’t like my answer, but he respects it by giving me a tight nod.

A sharp gasp comes from behind me, causing Alexander and I to whip around.

A petite woman with long blonde hair stands in the doorway.

She’s looking at me, her eyes wide and filled with horror and fear.

Even from across the room, I can see her whole body shaking.

I narrow my eyes; something about her seems familiar.

I didn’t sense that familiarity the night Bishop and I rescued her, because she was out when I made it to them.

This odd feeling is coming from her eyes.

“No,” she whispers, lifting her hand to her mouth. “It can’t be.”

Her stare leaves mine long enough to skip all over the room, as if she’s searching for something. Then she’s darting across the floor, and she picks up the fire poker from in front of the fireplace. She holds it up in front of her in a defensive mood.

“H-how did you find us?” she stammers.

“Lili?” Bishop calls, approaching the woman slowly. “What’s going on?”

She lifts a shaky hand and points her finger at me. “That’s Grant.”

I look from the woman, Lili, to Bishop, then over to Alexander, before going back to Lili. Curiosity has me taking a step toward her, but I stop when she holds the fire poker up higher.

“Who’s Grant?” I ask no particular person.

It’s Bishop who answers, his voice a grated growl. “The bastard who abused her since she was a small child.”

“And you think I’m this man?”

She doesn’t say anything at first. Just holds the fire poker in a tight grip, her troubled eyes never leaving mine.

I don’t have time for this, but I wait her out, some internal voice telling me this might be important.

Besides, she was the last person, other than Beatrice, who saw Savina.

Maybe she’ll have something that’ll help.

“You look just like him,” she says eventually, a wrinkle forming between her brows. “Except… you look younger and Grant doesn’t have tattoos. Who are you?”

“Ryker West, Savina’s husband. I believe you were at my home right before Savina was taken.”

She gasps. “She was taken?”

“Yes,” I force out between my teeth. “It must have happened right after you left.”

“Oh, God.” She drops the poker to the floor, and it lands with a dull thunk. “You’re him,” she continues in a whisper.

“Who, Lili?” Bishop asks. He comes up beside the woman and turns her to face him, but she still doesn’t look away from me. It’s not until Bishop calls her name more sternly that she gives him her attention.

“Grant used to talk about his younger brother. He hated him. No.” She shakes her head. “Hate isn’t a strong enough word. He abhorred him. He used to boast how one day he would be given the chance to kill him. He never said why, and I never asked.”

I interrupt her. “I know what you’re insinuating, but my brother died over twenty-two years ago.”

She looks at me. “I’m sorry to say, but you have to be wrong because you’re both the spitting image of each other. And besides, I’m not surprised you think he’s dead. He always said he was a ghost to you. The way he said it made me believe that his family thought he died.”

My blood runs cold at the implication. At the possibility that my older brother has been alive this whole time.

I was never told directly that my brother was murdered, but I overheard my father and mother discussing it one night several weeks after he disappeared.

During that conversation, my father told my mother that his body was found at the bottom of the sound that separates the mainland and Hollow’s Reef.

His body was nearly unrecognizable, but the DNA results came back as Aiden.

I didn’t understand half of that conversation because I was so young, but I understood the part where my brother died and my mother was hysterical with grief.

Did my father lie, or did he truly believe that Aiden died? My parents loved both of us, and they showed it all of the time. Aiden and I were happy kids and had a charmed life. My father was strict, but in a way that was healthy. Mom was the softer one of our parents.

When I got older, after my father disappeared, I started digging for information about what happened to my brother, but I never found anything.

My father wouldn’t have let the kidnapping and murder go.

He would have used every resource open to him to find out who took him and what happened afterward.

There wasn’t a single fucking shred of evidence of my father’s research.

Not a goddamn thing. That just made me hate him more because it seemed like he didn’t look into it.

I focus back on Liliana, and again a niggling feeling tickles the back of my neck. I ignore it for now. “I need to know everything about Grant and your family. Anything you can give me.”

Is Liliana’s father the one who took Aiden all those years ago? Or did he buy him on the black market?

Regardless of the hows and whys, my instincts tell me that this woman’s brother, possibly my brother, is somehow linked to Savina’s kidnapping.

And brother or not, he’ll pay the fucking price for taking what belongs to me.