Page 140 of Shattered Veil

Brennan.

Ella’s purse sits at the bottom of the Upper Hudson River.

Near Beacon, New York.

“Fuck this.” I stomp to my laptop and look it up myself, my wrists screaming in pain.

I hack into Dutchess County records and have to sit down.

Brennan

AMasonBrennan owns a house in Beacon... Right on the Hudson River.

I flip over to Brennan’s police records, and I tighten even further seeing his father’s name was Mason Brennan. Has to be the same guy.

Nowwe have the address.

I scour that house in Beacon for a Wi-Fi signal and curse, finding none. But I locate a doorbell camera across the street. After hacking into it, my heart plummets, seeing Ella dragged from a sedan and into a beat-up house three days ago.

It’s the same damn maroon Camry that picked her up in Manhattan. The driver of that car isn’t Brennan. Just another fucker I will find and kill.

Riordan drops his head close to me. “Talk to me. What’s going on?”

“Michael Brennan. Our...” I cringe, but can’t blame my brother for what turned out to be a fucking coincidence. “Your informant—”

Rior’s face contorts. “Don’t call him that.”

I spin the laptop around and show Riordan. “Brennan’s got Ella.”

“Motherfucker. He’s dead.” Riordan shrugs with no emotion. “I’mkilling him. Priscilla can watch me. How dare this motherfucker—”

“Someone’s ordering our enemies around like puppets, pretending to be us.” I’m not defending Brennan, only reassuring my brother so he doesn’t think he’s being massively betrayed.

And fly off the handle in a fit of rage that could come back to haunt us.

“Who? Who can do that?” Riordan asks.

The texts that came from my phone.

Taken care of, just the way you asked.

Ella’s calls to me were forwarded to Petra’s phone.

Snow is the only other person I know with these techno skills to ghost my phone and break my custom-built firewalls.

Petra was at that fundraiser where he could have made the connection with her when he saw her talk to me.

Fuck!

Fury flooding my veins, I pull my phone out and dial. “Petra, did you call a Wesley Brennan or a Michael Brennan for anyone?” I bark into the phone without a hello.

“Um...” Petra’s voice goes shaky.

“Tell me before I send a drone toblow up your fucking apartment.”

“Balor...” she sniffs my name. “I got a text I thought was from you with instructions.”

“Instructions? You, too?” I snap. Someone is trying to keep Ella and me apart. “You didn’t mention that a few minutes ago.”