18. Mateo

Chapter 18

Mateo

M ateo wiped his hands before answering the phone.

“I need you to check her tracker. Or give me access like I told you to do days ago.” Kazi’s voice was more grating than usual.

“What did you do?” Mateo spit the words into the phone, casting a glance at his current project.

“She seemed to get into an altercation with the man she was on a date with and then her friend, Izzy, called me, but I think they set me up. Yara’s missing.”

Mateo cursed under his breath, he pulled his knife free from the leg it currently resided in.

Muffled screaming filled the space.

“What are you doing?” Unease filtered through Kazi’s worried tone.

“Handling the trash as promised. He was more than happy to meet at Yara’s apartment.”

Mateo, against his wishes, hadn’t been staying with Kazi and Yara for the last week, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t find a way into their home.

It was almost too easy.

Imagine his surprise when he found it wasn’t a two bedroom.

That they shared a bedroom.

It had sent him into a murderous rage, and he needed to let off some steam .

A particularly loud noise startled him out of his thoughts. “Shut up! The neighbors will get worried!” Mateo chastised the blubbering man.

The trash—Liam—was tied down onto the singular bed, spread eagle. They had already had quite some fun in the last hour, and the man was most likely just on the edge of passing out, but Mateo was about over it.

The noise did not lessen.

“I warned you.” He struck his hand out, slicing a clean line across his neck.

Kazi was making annoying noises in his ear. Maybe they were words, but Mateo didn’t have the energy to listen.

Mateo stood up to his full height, stretching as he went. He secured his knife back onto his person. “Yes, yes I hear you Kazi. But the fact of the matter is I don’t care. You shouldn’t have kept your living arrangements from me. And now you’ve lost our girl.” Mateo hated that Kazi was stuck with her, but he could tell how much she needed him. Mateo could accept the bug if only for her sake.

He glanced down, Liam’s blood was still flowing freely.

“It looks like you might have lost your apartment, too. Well, at least the bed.” Mateo watched as crimson seeped into the mattress. “Call a clean-up crew. I’ll find her with the tracker.”

“I told you to leave in her birth control implant. Why did you replace it with the tracker?” Kazi muttered out.

“Because she might notice a new piece of plastic in her arm.” Mateo tried to keep the sarcasm out of his tone.

He was worried Yara had gone missing, but the tracker would lead him back to her. And if anyone hurt her between now and then?

He cast his attention to the dead body below him.

Well, he could always take care of it.