Page 13 of Power of Shadow

“I’ll say it again. Fuck off, Alex. I may date whomever I want whenever I want. It’s none of your business!”

“Tsk, tsk. You should be grateful. You never know when it might come in handy. Anyway, it’s good that you lost him. He wasn’t worthy of you, Princess.”

Talking to Alex is like trying to break through a wall with your head. Nothing gets through to him.

Rolling my eyes, I sigh. I think the time is coming when Alex will have to be lost. I owe him a lot in my life, but enough is enough. This is going too far.

“Send me those papers, Alex.”

“Okay.” He gives up. “I think you’re going to have a lot of fun with this one.”

Chapter 3

Ryker

An ice-cold stare and furrowed brows are my trademarks. Long ago, I put on an impenetrable shell which I never take off, not even for a moment. And I’m damn comfortable with it.

With that expression on my face, I leave Feather. A beefy security guard nods at me in greeting. Dressed in a black suit, wearing a wireless earpiece, he keeps his eyes on the deserted area.

Eli’s Escalade is already waiting in front of the entrance. The tinted windows don’t reveal the passengers, but I can feel my brothers’ eyes on me.

That’s where I’m headed, unbuttoning my jacket as I go. My favorite Sig Sauer is tucked into my belt. There’s a knife hidden in my sleeve and another under my pant leg. Where I’m going today, I consider carrying a weapon a necessity.

Jumping into the passenger seat, I glance at Eli and look behind me.

Theo is sitting there with his legs spread apart and his arms crossed over his chest. His eyebrows creased, just like mine.

“What’s up, Ryker?” he asks.

“Where have you been for the last two days?”

Eli laughs like a child who had expected my words. He starts the engine and smoothly drives out of the club.

“I had something to take care of. What is this, asshole? Interrogation?”

Gritting my teeth, I stare him down.

“If I wanted to interrogate you, you’d already be tied up in the basement. What’s been going on with you lately?”

He presses his lips together, also clenching his teeth until the muscle in his jaw twitches rhythmically. “Nothing. I had some shit to take care of. That’s all.”

Eli and I look at each other. I can easily tell that he would like to satisfy his suspicion and probe further. However, I shrug in resignation.

So I turn around and stare at the road ahead of us. Theo’s lying. But I have to give him space to breathe and hold onto the hope that one day, he’ll come around on his own.

“McBright called today,” I start. “Nothing’s new. He’s made no progress for months. It’s time to get rid of him.”

From the back seat, Theo mutters under his breath, “Dude, how many’s that now? The twelfth? Thirteenth detective?”

“Not my fault that the best detectives in this fucked-up country are a bunch of idiots. Paying them a shitload of money, and they still can’t track down one person,” I answer.

“We can’t track her down either,” Theo adds. “And we’re as close to the source as possible.”

“We’ll find her eventually, Ry,” Eli assures me. “Eventually, your father will make a mistake, and we’ll be there to gather information.”

Where are you, Aisling? Where the fuck are you?

We’ve searched the entire world far and wide to find her. Even money hasn’t talked, and we’ve learned nothing valuable.