Chapter Thirty-Four

Caspian

"Shouldn't Larissa be home by now?" Jude asked as he came into my office.

I looked up from the files I was working on and smiled. "She's okay. Jason won't let anything happen to her."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He handed me a flash drive. "The senator got the appropriations committee to approve the port we wanted. I have all the figures for future endeavors listed for your approval."

"Good job." When the phone on my desk began to ring, we looked at each other. "Hang around for a moment. I think this is the call I've been expecting." I picked up the phone and put it on speaker.

"This is Caspian Morelli," I said.

"Andrei Petrescu here, and I have some bad news. We raided the castle but only found a handful of people working for Amon Corvin. They swore his sister never returned. I had someone check, and she never got on the plane."

My blood froze in my veins as what he was saying sunk in. I held my emotions in check as I told him we would take it from here, then ended the call.

Fuck!

Jude's hands curled into fists. "Rissa won't be safe until we catch Nadine."

We both looked toward the doorway when Ezra came into the office. "Jonathan just called to check on Rissa. He said she should've been here by now. I tried calling Jason, but he's not answering."

"Nadine never got on the plane to leave the country."

"Let's go. We've got to find her," Jude said.

Ezra was already calling security as I came to my feet, and we went toward the front door. We would take some of the men and have them follow behind us. Dammit, this couldn't be happening again.

We'd only been driving about ten minutes when we spotted the car off to the side of the road.

"A flat, maybe?" I was grasping at straws because that didn't explain why Jason wasn't answering his phone, and there was no sign of Rissa. I rubbed the palm of my hand, feeling the scars.

Jude pulled to the side of the road, and we jumped out, guns in hands. Our men pulled in behind us. We eased to the back of the car and found Jason. He was lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to his chest. I quickly checked for a pulse.

"He has a pulse, and he's still breathing."

His eyes fluttered open. "Flat tire. I got out to change. It was a woman. She shot me. Fuck, sorry, I should've been more careful…"

"We'll find her." I looked up. Ezra was already calling for an ambulance.

"Don't try to talk," I told him. Jason was a good man.

"Caspian," one of the other men called.

I had one of the others stay with Jason as I came to my feet. We hurried to the front of the car.

"Did you find something?"

He came to his feet. He didn't look happy. "I think it's blood."

"I'll kill the bitch," Ezra muttered.

"She better not have hurt Rissa," Jude said.

We stopped, staring at the blood on the ground. It wasn't a lot, but enough to cause concern. I made a quick estimation. "She didn't kill her, but she did shoot her."

"How do you know?" Jude looked at me.

"If she'd killed her, Nadine would've left the body here for us to find. No, this is one spiteful bitch. She's going to torture Rissa before she kills her. After all, we're the reason her brother is dead."

"We have to find her."

"We will," Ezra said as if he just remembered something. "I gave her a phone. There's a tracking device on it. It won't get us exactly where she is, but it'll be damned close." He pulled out his phone and quickly checked. "Got her. Let's go."

We left one man with Jason, and the rest piled into the cars and took off. Ezra gave me directions as I drove. I knew we still might not be in time to save her.

No, I wouldn't think like that. We couldn't lose her again. Not when we'd just found her. Fate would not be that cruel. I drew in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

"I've lost her," Ezra said.

"What do you mean you lost her?" Jude asked.

"Someone turned off her phone. Nadine must've found it. We were getting close, so she has to be around here somewhere."

I scanned the area as frustration filled me. It was not going to end here. We had to find her. I stopped the car, my eyes narrowing. "I know this area." But why did I recognize it?

Ezra sat a little straighter. "You're right. It looks familiar."

We glanced over the seat and looked at Jude.

He stepped out of the car, slowly turning in a circle, then jumped back in. "The Murphy place. We were going to buy it, but he changed his mind about selling, even though no one lives on the property. The house is falling down, and the only thing left is a rickety old barn. That has to be where Nadine took Rissa. There's nothing else in the area."

It only took Jude a few minutes on his phone to find the address. I started the car, and we took off. If I remembered right, when we walked the property, there were quite a few cedar and oak trees near the barn. We should be able to get close enough without alerting anyone. We would have to be careful. If Nadine suspected we were closing in on them, she wouldn't hesitate to kill Rissa.

We were about half a mile away when we parked and got out. We approached the barn from all sides. I began to wonder if we'd chosen the right place. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

There was another explanation. Nadine could've already left…

Right after she killed Rissa.