Page 35 of Vicious Arrangement (Alpha Billionaire Daddies #7)

Chapter Thirty

NOAH

I made it back before six.

The thought keeps going over and over in my head, a useless broken record.

It’s been minutes, and it feels like hours. The doorbell rings and I punch the door and then the elevator button.

Asher and Katie rush out. I look at them as Katie runs past me to Angus. “Poor baby, where’s Ari? Huh?” She hugs the dog.

I raise my brows at Asher and mutter, “I’ll ask questions about this when we get Aria back.”

“You sure someone took her?” Asher asks, taking the phone from me, looking at it.

“If Angus lost his shit, then someone took her,” Katie says, holding the shaking dog. She frowns up at me. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Someone drugged him.” I push the words out, anger on the dog’s behalf rushing through me. “When I got home he was going crazy, barking, grabbing at me to show me where Aaron got in. He drugged Angus and hit Aria.”

The nausea rocks me, and Angus makes his way to me, pressing in, Katie following. I stroke the dog’s soft head. “We have to get her. She could be… she could be badly hurt.”

“Did you call the cops?” Katie asks.

I shake my head and exchange a look with Asher. “I called the mafia after him. But I need to get there first. You understand, right?”

“We need to get there first. Angus can bite him,” Katie says, staying down with Angus. “To get his own back.”

Angus whines and then barks.

I look at Asher, who’s frowning at the phone. He has the kit he always has on him out, but he’s not doing anything, and I want to scream at him.

“Wait, where’s Josh?” I ask.

“Babysitter,” Asher mutters. “He’s good. She might even be a replacement for you, this babysitter.”

“Never happen,” I say, but my heart isn’t in it. My heart’s too sore, too sick with worry for Aria. “Can you get the phone working? She idiotically doesn’t have Face ID or a passcode.”

“I’ll let you know,” Asher says, taking it to the kitchen island. Katie gets up and Angus goes with her and I follow.

She turns. “Why didn’t you call the cops? Mafia?”

“My PI got me where he was staying, and this morning I contacted the guys he owes money to. I gave them his details and where he was staying on the proviso he doesn’t come near me again.”

She gapes at me. “You asked them to kill him.”

“No,” Asher says, then looks at me. “Right?”

“Of course not,” I snap. “I paid them half of what he owed, and they’ll get the rest plus half again when they have him.

Then they’re to make sure he’s alive and somewhere far from here.

And that he’s told, in very fine detail, never to come near me or mine ever again, or there will be retribution.

His debt would be back on and he’d have to pay. ”

She frowns. “Won’t he come after you for more money? And can these mafia dudes teach my coworker Dave a lesson?”

“Probably not,” Asher says, “and you don’t want to mess with the mafia, Katie.”

She sighs, but I can see she’s teasing to try and stop panicking.

“He won’t come after me or Aria because he’ll think they’re doing me a favor, and his debt is still there, in stasis. If he fucks up,” I say, pacing with Angus keeping me company, “he’ll owe it again.”

“What if they kill him?” Katie asks.

I’m about to say it’s not my problem, but I don’t. “They won’t. He’s worth money to them. They hold the debt over him, but he doesn’t have to pay, and I’ll guarantee they’ll put him to work.”

She just nods and I think she’s thinking what I am. What Asher is.

“Of course,” I say, “there’s a chance they’re playing me and took her to try and squeeze more money out of me.”

I don’t know that much about the mafia, but they moved quickly on the deal. They haven’t contacted me so I don’t think they double-crossed me. They stand to make a lot by removing Aaron from the picture and getting her home.

Part of me hopes they took her to get a reward and they’ll rock up any minute.

But again, at their hearts they love loyalty and business, and I’m good business.

They might figure I’ll deal with them on something down the road.

Knowing a very rich and lawful man who they did a paid favor for is worth more than fucking it over. Fucking me over.

“But I think it’s worse,” I say softly. “I think Aaron got lucky and saw them coming and he took Aria for revenge.”

“So why hasn’t he called?” Katie asks, voice wobbling.

“A longer wait means more panic, or he’s trying to make a deal or… I don’t fucking know a thing except this is on me.”

“It’s on your twisted half-brother,” Asher says. Then he looks at me and puts the phone down. “Sorry man, it’s pretty fucked. Not sure what it would tell us, anyway. It isn’t with her and last time I checked you didn’t have her chipped.”

Something lights up lightning bright in my head.

“I got her the latest Apple Watch for running so she could record her steps and fitness. So if we can’t track the watch via her phone then?—”

“Her iPad!” Katie says.

We race upstairs to her room, and Katie lunges for her iPad, which is on the coffee table.

I let her log in. That? Aria has a password. And of course, her best friend knows it.

Angus and I pace as Asher taps his foot. The air vibrates with palpable tension, thick, cold, and clammy.

What if she didn’t link the watch? Nausea twists my stomach. What if she wasn’t wearing it? I got the fancy one that’s feminine, but… shit.

Asher lunges to the sofa and takes the iPad when Katie says, “I’m in.”

He starts tapping away, and I can’t look.

It’s taking too long, even a second is too long, I should have called the cops. I should have fucking hired the mafia to take out Aaron, become what I was always destined to be, a murderous monster, even if I didn’t pull the actual trigger.

I spin. “Hurry the fuck up,” I spit at Asher.

“Chill, man,” he says, unbothered by me. “I’m going as fast as I can.”

A few seconds later, he grins and holds up the iPad. “Got her. Some vile area of lower Manhattan, a no man’s land, by the looks of it.”

I call the car that’s waiting to take Aria and I to our dinner when I snatch the iPad and Google the address.

The street’s tiny, with an overspill of council buildings, and a few old historic tenement hoods. And the address? A hole in the wall rent by the hour hotel where a lot of the forgotten, those who want anonymity and drug heads and hookers play.

“Let’s go.”

Katie says, “I’ve got Angus?—”

“No, you stay here. Look after Angus, he needs some TLC for being such a good dog.”

He barks and sinks down, shaking.

“But—”

“Katie, you know Aria would kill me if I left him here, alone and distressed. He was drugged, he lost his mama, and he needs you. Right, Asher?”

“Fucking A. Look after him, Katie, and keep this place safe.”

With that, we race out. She’s angry, I can feel the burn, but she doesn’t argue.

We jump in the car waiting for us, and I tell him to step on it.

Asher glances at me. “What are you going to do?”

“Whatever the fuck it takes to make sure my woman’s safe,” I mutter. “I swear, if he’s hurt her, I’ll kill him with my bare hands.”

“Listen,” he says, putting a hand on my arm. “You’re not killing anyone. You’ll get your girl, and we’ll go. If the mafia took her, they’ll have already contacted you, like you said. We both know keeping someone like you on good terms works in their best interest.”

“I’m not worried about the mafia,” I say, pushing out the words. “I understand their language. Handshakes, word being bond, contracts, deals, it’s all the fucking same.

“Trust is earned, and you’re right, they know what I am, and being in my good books helps them. And they’re not interested in me, not really, not beyond the idea of a future deal. I handed them Aaron, and more money than he owes.”

I stop.

“I’m worried it’s Aaron.”

“If it’s him, then he’ll be counting on you giving him the cash he needs in exchange for Aria. He wants out of this mess, and he decided you’re key. He’ll demand money.”

“It’s not even that much he owes them. I’ll pay them six hundred grand. He owes two.”

“Well then, Daddy Warbucks, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

I force myself to laugh, even though it feels oily. “You and your references and what was that fucking-A thing?”

“Shut your mouth,” Asher says, going along with it.

We’re singing canaries in a mine.

“And you and Katie, huh?”

“Shut. Up.”

Before I can say anything else, my phone buzzes.

Aaron. “Did you tell the mafia about me?”

“I don’t deal with mafia. What the fuck have you got yourself into and where’s my wife?”

I can hear someone screaming and laughing in the background. “I need three hundred grand by tonight. Or you’ll never see your pretty knocked-up filly again.”

I close my eyes, forcing myself to breathe. It’s on speaker, and Asher’s biting his tongue. I open my eyes and lie. “I don’t have that kind of cash lying around. I’ll need time, and proof she’s?—”

“Fuck no. She’s alive. For now. Figure out how to get me the money. You’ve two hours.”

He hangs up.

“Fuck!” I slam my fist into the plexiglass partition. I booked one of the company cars that offer a little privacy. “Drive faster, dammit. We need to get to her.”

“Calm down,” Asher says, worry staining his voice. “Anger won’t help her.”

Thank god the hotel appears in the kind of New York sketchy I didn’t think existed anymore.

It’s old and uncared for, neon flashing with ‘by the hour’ or long term rentals available’. Another sign says ‘cash only’.

Two women hang out outside, smoking and wearing heavy make up, fishnets and sky high heels and micro-minis. Their tops over their huge tits are three sizes too small.

“Fuck,” Asher whispers. “Is there a hooker catalog? Because that’s cliché.”

This is where I make a smart-ass comment to let him know I’m okay. Except I’m not. I can’t muster the will for that. Everything I have is focused on keeping it together until I find Aria.

“Hey baby, wanna good time?” One of them asks Asher.

“Got one.” He points at me.

I barely register it as I push past them going into the building. I don’t stop at the clerk, who’s watching TV and smoking like it’s the seventies behind a wall of glass.

“Fifty,” she says.

Asher shoves three twenties through the slit at the bottom, and she pockets it. No change, but I grab his arm. “This way.”

I don’t care that I’m in an expensive suit and Asher’s smartly dressed. I don’t care what the fucking hookers or two-bit criminals and junkies think of us.

We pass them all along a hall where two people shoot up in a room, the door open. There’s another room with a girl in it, and the door’s open too because they’re clearly filming, and naked men in masks and shoes line up to just outside the door.

It’s not her.

I keep going.

There are three floors, and we try the handles of the doors on the first one as we go. Most don’t seem to lock, and there are screams, silence, invites, in every room people are doing fuck knows what… some fucking, some doing drugs, others… I think in some of them people live there.

Aria isn’t on the first floor, so we head up the worn stairs and hit the second floor.

A junkie rolls out of a room, needle in his arm, as a girl starts throwing things. The guy shoves me, and I lose it. I grab him by the throat and throw him into the wall.

“Where the fuck is she? My wife, have you seen her?—”

“Dude.” Asher puts his hand on my arm. “You’re choking him.”

With horror, I look at my hand wrapped tight around the wastrel’s neck, his face turning mottled red and blue. I let him go, and he sinks to the floor, head lolling, and he starts laughing.

I want to kick him but restrain myself.

Fury’s unleashes now, and it’s whipping up one hell of a storm. I fling open the doors I can and kick open the ones I can’t.

“She’s not here, Noah.” Asher grabs me and shakes me. “Calm down, and don’t do anything stupid. Jail still takes rich men, you know. Remember you’ve got a wife and a kid on the way. Don’t mess it up with someone who isn’t worth it. Because Aaron’s not worth it.”

I nod, and we head up to the third floor.

It’s quieter here. Someone screams and laughs in a room, and there’s a lot of moaning and banging sounds from a lot of the rooms.

I’m betting this is where the girls rent themselves out in the rooms. Or their pimp does.

Suddenly, a door near the end opens, and I grab Aaron, dragging him back to the side, pressing against the wall.

“Fucking hot, airless room. Piece of shit bitch. Do they have ice here? No. Fuckers, all of them.”

I nudge Asher. “Aaron,” I mouth to him.

And before he can stop me, I take off down the hall, risking a peek inside.

He’s clearly trying to get air, and I can see him muttering things to someone. I risk another peek. The bathroom wall blocks most of the view, but I see the corner of a bed.

And I press back against the wall.

It’s Aria, it’s got to be.

The door slams shut, and he’s talking again, but I can’t make out the words.

She’s okay, she’s okay, she’s okay.

But no matter how much I tell myself that, he might be talking to her dead body, and that’s killing me. I don’t have a weapon, and I don’t care.

Asher comes up. He’s got two pieces of wood that look like legs off a chair. He hands me one.

I’m going in. I hold up three fingers and count down.

Three.

Two.

One.

I grip that makeshift weapon tight. Then I kick open the door.