When I got back home, I was feeling desperate. My face hurt, but I needed to find more information so I could send something to Cash to get him to go away and find Helena. Antonio was out on business, or so I was informed by Rattle, so I pretended to go up to my room, but instead headed towards his office.
Antonio’s office was on the main level, at the back of the house. While the security office had a set of monitors for the property, Antonio had his own, that included cameras in our rooms. He kept the room locked, but I had a key. He’d never caught me in his space after the first time I’d found the picture of Helena, so he hadn’t thought to take it back, I was assuming. Or maybe he thought I was helpless enough that I couldn’t do any damage with anything I found.
I let myself in and then closed and locked the door behind me. I went to his desk right away, looking around for anything I could use. It was risky, but I was desperate. I could feel the noose tightening around Helena’s neck. Time was slipping away and if I didn’t send some kind of sign to Cash soon, I knew it’d be too late.
I went through the desk drawers that weren’t locked, finding a few snapshots of myself in the top drawer that I didn’t remember him taking but nothing else, aside from the usual office supplies. I’d picked up a few skills from being with a criminal along the way, so I slipped a paperclip from his drawer and then knelt in front of the locked ones and jimmied them open.
They were cleaned out, as well. I slid the last one closed and pressed my forehead to it. There was nothing. Worse, he’d moved everything. He had to know I was looking.
I just had to hope that he didn’t know why I was looking. I hurried through the rest of the office and felt my heart sinking to my feet. There was nothing. Of course, if there was something, I would’ve found it already. I’d looked so many times. Desperation could make you stupid, though.
I slipped out of his office and hurried up to his room, the room we’d shared for so many years. I ignored the bed and the memories there, and instead went around his nightstands and every other space I could think of him storing something. I searched through his suit jacket pockets in the closet and even the sock drawer. Still, there was nothing.
I was just grasping at straws. Antonio wasn’t the criminal he was because he was stupid. He’d probably never kept anything else in the house that I could find. He’d had a sweet set-up before I’d found the picture. He’d gotten rid of the kid and got to fuck the mom whenever he wanted.
Giving up, I retreated to my room and found Antonio sitting on my bed. His elbows were on his knees and his head was hanging down. I was struck for a moment by the sight of him when he looked up at me with sadness in his eyes.
“Come here.”
I bit my lip and crossed my arms over my chest. “Why?”
He sighed and stood up. He held up his hands as he walked closer to me and gently grasped my arms. Pulling me back over to the bed, he situated me between his thighs as he sat back down. “Because I want to talk to you.”
I closed my eyes and waited for the blow. He knew about Cash. It was all about to come to an abrupt end for me.
“I don’t like how things went last night. You know I don’t like going to that place with you, Clara.”
I held my breath.
“I love you. I felt like shit last night and couldn’t sleep after seeing you so upset. I’m sorry for saying that I would do anything to Helena. I wouldn’t. She’s your daughter and she’s a part of you. I couldn’t do it.”
My heart clenched as my breath froze in my lungs. Was he tricking me? I didn’t trust his words any more than I’d trust a wild bear not to attack if poked.
He looked up at me and his eyes flashed with fury. “What happened to your head?”
Shit. I reached up and felt the lump that had formed and frowned. He didn’t know about Cash, then. “I fell. I was coming out of a changing room and I tripped over some clothes I’d left on the floor. I’m sure it looks worse than it feels.”
He stood up and grabbed my arms in the same place Cash had, only his grasp was gentler. “Did someone hurt you?”
I shook my head. Fear of being caught reminded me that I needed to play nice at least some of the time for Antonio’s benefit. After the apology he’d just issued, I had to be nicer. “No, Antonio. No one hurt me. I promise. I just fell. Then I was so embarrassed, I practically ran back to the car. I was just… I think I wasn’t paying attention because I was upset about last night. I’ve never been so clumsy before. It was mortifying.”
He stared at me like he wasn’t sure he wanted to believe me, with his even eyebrows drawn down. His mouth twisted to one side before his face relaxed. “The men didn’t say anything about you getting hurt.”
Seeing a chance to get Rattle and Snake away from me, I frowned, making sure to pout out my bottom lip. “I thought they would. I was so embarrassed, but when I got in the car, I felt so lightheaded and sick. I barely made it up here.”
Angry Antonio came back and he wrapped his arms around me. “Between last night and today, you’re having a bad time. I’m sorry, Clara. I’ll take care of them. They should’ve told me right away.”
I took selfish comfort in being held for a few moments before pulling back and moving away. Across the room, I picked up the bag with my new dress in it. “I got something put together for the dinner party, but I don’t know if my face is going to look very good.”
He shook his head and crossed to me. “You’ll still go. I’ll have a makeup artist come in and help get you covered up. I told you, you’re my lucky charm. I need you at my side.”
I sucked in a breath as he cupped my face in his hands and kissed me. A streak of fear coursed through my body, but I held it in check. Things were safe for the moment. Cash hadn’t managed to sign my death warrant. Yet.
Pulling back slightly, Antonio slid his arms around my waist and smiled. “Even with a knot and bruise on your head, you’re beautiful.”
I stared at his throat and tried to form the words he wanted to hear, but I couldn’t. Instead, I stayed quiet and did my best to not look like I wanted to run.
“Can I talk you into coming back to our room tonight?”
I stiffened and edged away. “I don’t feel very good, Antonio. I’m just going to stay in my bed and try to feel better.”
“Of course.”
I sat on the corner of my bed and stared at his retreating back. “Antonio?”
He looked back at me, hope in his eyes. “Yes?”
“Maybe I could go downtown with you tomorrow? It’s been a long time since I went with you and it could be nice to get out.”
He strode back across the room and gathered me in a tight embrace. With his mouth on my ear, he whispered. “I know you’re going to be searching for clues, Nancy Drew, but I’ll take you anyway I can get you. It’s a date. I’ll have someone here first thing in the morning to cover your head. Wear something sexy. You know I like to show you off to the boys.”
I bit my lip and let him leave without saying anything else. I’d been stupid for thinking I could snoop around his downtown office without him knowing what I wanted to do. Of course he knew I wanted to snoop around for clues. He was smart, which just meant I had to be even more careful.
*
Being with Antonio during his business hours meant I had to play the part of his doting girlfriend. So, I did. I did everything I could to keep him happy while his underlings and clients were around. It was a long day and I wanted nothing more than to ask Rattle and Snake to take me back home. Both men were sporting impressive broken noses and black eyes, though. I didn’t think it was wise to ask them for anything.
I tried to look around as best as I could while Antonio sat there, but he kept his eye on me. I refused to leave without getting something, though, so when Antonio was called away on an emergencyhe probably needed to go and shoot someoneI politely slipped my arms around him and pressed my lips to his cheek before whispering to him.
“Can I go home now?” I leaned back and met his eyes, letting the real fatigue I felt show in mine. “I’m exhausted, Antonio.”
He looked me over and smiled before slipping his hands down to my ass. There were three other men in the room, waiting for him, but he didn’t seem to care. His hands dug into my ass and he lifted me until my mound was pressed against his quickly hardening dick. “You gave up easier than I thought you would, sweetheart. Of course you can go home. I’ll have a car pulled around for you. I’ll see you at home later.”
I held in a grimace and nodded.
I walked out of the office with them and headed down to the ground floor. Antonio’s car was already waiting on him, so he kissed me and then climbed in with the other men. I looked over at Snake and Rattle and let out that grimace.
They looked rough. And beyond rough, they looked furious.
Just as the car pulled around, I made a big show of acting frustrated. “I forgot my purse upstairs. I have to go get it.”
Rattle shook his head. “Mr. Carver locked up. Get in the car.”
I rolled my eyes at him and turned for the door, hoping he didn’t snatch me up by the back of my hair. “Antonio’s secretary is still up there. She’ll let me in to grab it. Just stay here while I get it.”
“Look here, bit”
I spun around and drew on everything I’d ever seen Antonio do. Putting my finger in his chest, I snarled. “I don’t take orders from you. You’re just the hired help, easily replaced. I’m the girlfriend. The girlfriend who gained you those busted up faces. You want to push me?”
Snake stepped forward and scowled back at me. “You’re nothing more than”
“Oh, Antonio, it was awful. I’m so sorry I lied to you, but I didn’t fall.” I’d raised my voice and made myself sound helpless. “It was the guards. They were angry that I made them shop all day and I wasn’t hurrying like they’d told me to. They…they hit me. They touched me, Antonio.”
Their eyes went wide and Rattle clenched his jaw so hard that I was sure he was wearing his teeth down.
I smiled sweetly at them, wiping away the fake tears I’d built up. “Exactly. I’m not just anything, assholes. I’ve been snuggling evil for the past twelve years and if you think for a second that some of his darkness hasn’t rubbed off on me, you’re dead wrong. Dead being the key word there. I won’t hesitate to have your lives ended and your heads mailed home to your families. You want to push me?”
They both looked like they were ready to punch me in the throat, but I forced myself to hold the firm look on my face and then turn my back to them. I walked inside the building and to the elevator with chills running up and down my back. All of my self-preservation told me to keep my eye on them, but I had to look confident.
My stomach churned from the stress of getting away from them and from what I’d said to them. It wasn’t my first nature to talk that way to anyone, but I had to focus on saving Helena.
I hurried to Antonio’s office, knowing that his secretary had hurried downstairs to her best friend’s office as soon as he’d left. I hunched over in front of the door and slipped a couple of bobby pins out of my hair. That was the problem with a man like Antonio. He had so much security that he never prepared for the simplest of things, like a woman breaking in with a bobby pin or two. So he didn’t put in better locks.
I easily slipped into the office and hurried to his desk. Sitting in his chair, I made quick work going through his things. I moved from his desk to the file cabinets and then to the bookshelves across the room. I worked fast, but tried to be as thorough as possible. I doubted I’d get another chance to look.
In a book about guns on the middle shelf, a postcard from Panama City Beach, Florida fell out. The back, in scratchy handwriting, held a note from a man named Johnathan Cortez. I couldn’t read most of the handwriting, but I could make out one thing. My daughter’s name. There wasn’t a return address, but I had a name.