Page 74 of The One Night Match

I chuckle. “You think this is the first time my driver has hoarded flat shoes for my sister? She does it every single time and thinks she’s sneaky about it.”

“I’m okay for now. I think I can make it a few more hours for the sake of the outfit.” She smirks. “Plus, if I admit defeat and change into flats, there’s no way Monica isn’t getting back in that line to prove how inadequate I am for this position.”

I scowl, the thought of that evil woman being near my wife again making my skin crawl, especially seeing as her stepbrother has been attached to her at the hip all night.

Colten appears in front of us, his eyes alert and worried, which puts me into boss mode like a switch flicking.

“What’s wrong?”

“We have a problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“The kind where the safe house was hit, and our guests are missing.”

The calm I was feeling just moments ago is long gone as I shove myself to my feet. “Davis and the team?”

“Dead or MIA.”

I run a hand down my face and take a look around. Almost the whole family is here tonight, which means if this was an inside job, there are people outside the De Luca organization involved, which is a real fucking problem.

When your rats are internal, it’s only a matter of time before you weed them out. But there are thousands of criminals in this country, and more abroad. There are any number of people that Dennis could have aligned himself with. It doesn’t matter how good Colten is. There’s a chance we won’t figure it out until it’s too late.

Riley squeezes my hand on her thigh. “Go. I’ll be fine here. Do what you have to do.”

My chest tightens at the idea of leaving her here with a bunch of people I’m not sure I can trust, but there’s security at every entrance. No one can hurt her with this many people around.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Absolutely,” she promises.

I only hesitate for another second before pushing to my feet and dropping a kiss to the top of her head. “Don’t go anywhere alone. Don’t let Monica or Timothy corner you. If you get worried, go to Lexi or Mom.”

“I’m fine, Cruz. I’ve been living this life since the day I was born. I know the drill.”

I force myself to turn on my heel and follow Colten across the ballroom, not pausing despite how many people try to stop me for a chat.

It’s not until we’re on the street that he finally turns to me, the evidence of his worry clear in his eyes. He’s known for his lack of emotion, but right now his face is showing everything he would normally keep hidden.

“How the fuck did this happen?” he growls. “No one fucking knew where they were. We’re the only ones who know about that safe house.”

“Fuck.” I rub my hand over my face. This is the part of being the boss no one ever tells you about. The part where you don’t know who you can trust. The part where you do everything right, you’re careful about everything, and yet it still blows up in your face. The part where everything feels so fucking hopeless.

“What do you want to do?” he asks.

But I don’t have an answer.

It feels like everything we’ve done has been for nothing up to this point, but the moment Dennis and Vernon tell the rest of the family that we were holding them captive, we’re going to have a mutiny on our hands.

“Should have kept them in the cellars,” I mutter.

“Should have just killed them.”

I huff out a laugh, but there’s no humor in the sound. “Let’s head to the safe house to see what we can find out. We’ll be there and back in twenty minutes, and then we can regroup once we’re back home, where everyone is safe.”

The place is trashed.

Actually, I don’t think that word is strong enough to describe the condition the safe house is in right now.