Page 87 of The Wicked

She was still chatty as we drove, talking about how she was taking a road trip in three days because her grandmother wanted to experience it before she passed, and then she spoke about her grandmother, who was her only family. She asked me about my family, and I told her I had none.

It wasn’t far from the truth. I was dead to Elia.

We arrived at a convenience store a few minutes later, and I told her I’d find my way from this point. I wished her and her grandmother well and watched her drive off.

I walked into the building and made my way up to the counter; a boy in a beanie with headphones around his neck eyed me wearily. My gaze shifted to the phone in his hand. “Can I use your phone, please?”

He blinked before slowly outstretching the device to me wordlessly.

“Thank you,” I said, dialing Casmiro’s number offhand.

He answered almost immediately. “Before you say anything, I want you to know that I will never forgive you for hurting my baby. Destroying her like that.” His voice rang through, and I was pleased that he knew off the bat that it was me. He knew I would find a way to contact him.

“Glad to see you had a comfortable night in a comfortable bed, Casmiro. My night was fine too; I spent it in the woods, very comfortable, sleeping underneath the open sky. I didn’t miss my bed, and I was far from danger. Did you have breakfast? Because I didn’t, and I’ve just remembered that I didn’t have dinner. How wonderful the last twenty-four hours have been for the both of us.”

He sighed in resignation. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“Good, I found your artist. Where are you? I’ll send people over.”

“No need for that. I’ll be at the compound shortly; I have somewhere else to visit.”

“Where’s Zahra?”

My fingers drummed against the counter. “She got kidnapped about an hour ago.”

There was a slight pause as if he was trying to detect a joke.“Is that a joke?”

“No.”

“Hold on, I—what? What is—what do you mean kidnapped?”

“Hm. It’s none of my business; I’m sure she can handle herself.” I flexed my fingers. “Hopefully, she can’t and does me a favor by dying. I don’t really care.”

“Her team members have been here, seeking info.”

“Tell them she was—”

My gaze shifted to the transparent doors of the store, and held.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

“Elio?”

I blinked. “Tell them she was kidnapped, but it has been taken care of,” I said, watching the familiar white van move beside a fuel stand. A masked man in black hastily rushed out to fuel the van.

I knew it was empty now, and he was the only one inside the van; no one was in the passenger’s seat. They’d dropped her off somewhere—at a site. Who knew. Hopefully the van had a location installed.

I shook my head, closing my eyes as I rubbed the space between my brows. The luck this woman had was…

“What do—”

“I’ll be back soon.” I took the phone from my ear, blocking and deleting the number before handing it to the boy, who was now staring at me with wide eyes. “Do you have cigars?”

He shook his head wordlessly.

“What do you have?”