Page 102 of Lord of Ruin

“Looking at the surveillance tapes again.” As I walked by the family room, I heard crying. My aunt was still upset, my uncle trying to console her. Leander jerked up as soon as he noticed me.

“What can I do to help?” he asked.

“Check the hospital on your brother’s condition. Make sure he has everything he needs.” I would spend anything to make certain Christos lived. The scene of the attack had been brutal and I still couldn’t figure out how it had all gone down.

Brogan walked out from my uncle’s small office, leaning against the hallway wall. “She was definitely drugged. That’s how they were able to keep her mostly quiet and take her away. If Christos hadn’t shown up, no one would have known anything had happened other than she’d disappeared.”

I rubbed my eyes, nodding several times. “We need to check the tapes again. I want to know everything there is to know about Madden, his soldiers, his family, and anyone who’s come in contact with him. And I want the police who cracked the case with the oil riggers on the goddamn phone.” That was an order no one better ignore.

As soon as I walked into the office, I heard a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it,” Constantine said. “I called a buddy of mine, an expert in tracking.”

Exhaling, I glanced at Phoenix before heading further into the room. Sabatino moved from the chair in front of the monitor, studying me intently.

“I might have found something, although I’m not positive,” he said.

“What?” I slipped into the chair, my patience waning. Yes, I was thankful for their help and their expertise, but it was beginning to look like the Death Squad was more powerful in every way.

“I’m no expert, but there’s something odd about Madden’s face,” Sabatino said as he leaned over my shoulder, punching in the picture from his house clearly identifying him.

The moment he pointed toward the screen, I realized what he was saying. “Prosthetics. My God. That’s why Frankie and Whitie were used.”

“That’s what I thought,” Brogan hissed.

“Oh, my God. He’s here. He took her.” My heart started to race. At that moment I heard a loud voice from behind me.

“Stavros. We have something.” Constantine took long strides into the room, handing me an open envelope.

“What is this?”

“You tell me,” he said, his face pinched.

As soon as I dumped the contents, a paper fluttered to the floor, which Phoenix grabbed while I stared at the bracelet that I’d given her on the last fateful day in the United States. A lock of hair fluttered out and I issued a roar. The bastard had touched her. He’d touched her. He was going to die. “Where the fuck did this come from?” My entire body was shaking.

“Does it belong to Jenna?” he asked.

“Where the fuck did this come from?” I repeated, jerking up and pushing my way through the men until I was a couple of inches from Constantine, ready to spit fire.

“A courier delivered it.”

I didn’t hesitate, flying into the kitchen and out the door, racing down the stairs and grabbing the guy who was about ready to climb into his delivery vehicle. “Where is she?” I yelled, almost at the top of my lungs.

He rattled off shit in Greek, half of which I didn’t understand given my level of anger. I started shaking him, the waning sunlight allowing me to see the horror in his eyes.

“Where?” When he didn’t answer me, I issued three brutal jabs to his face, ready to slam him into the driver’s door when hands grabbed me from behind, a number of voices trying to calm me down.

“Hey. Hey!” came screams from behind me.

“He’s not to blame,” Phoenix insisted. “Jesus. He’s a fucking courier.”

“Yeah, well, he has to know something. Someone paid to have it delivered.”

My uncle pushed through the crowd as the young man acted like he was going to fight back.

I fisted both hands, daring him to come toward me. Phoenix pushed me back, preventing me from moving anywhere.

“You need to calm the fuck down. This isn’t helping. That bracelet was sent for a reason.”