Page 42 of Savage Little Secret

“Because I want to be with her,” I reply, hearing him immediately scoff and seeing Brendan shake his head out of the corner of my eye. “You sent her to deceive me, and it worked. But more happened while she was with me all those weeks.”

“She became your whore,” Sean says with an unsatisfactory look on his face.

“Say that again,” I tell him softly. “And you’ll leave this house missing your tongue.” When he clenches his jaw and stays quiet, I add, “I love her.”

Brendan makes a choked sound at that proclamation. We both choose to ignore him.

Sean shakes his head at me. “You really think I believe that? Do you think that I’m stupid?”

“No, I don’t think you’re stupid. I think you’re selfish, though,” I reply, watching his face start to turn red. “You know that the Ivanovs pull in a lot of money. We plan to buy property all over the city for distribution. We could share a cut.”

“And all you want in exchange for this alliance is my backing and my daughter,” Sean says.

“All I want is her,” I tell him.

Sean thinks for a moment before narrowing his eyes and shaking his head again. “This is ridiculous! You don’t get to keep my blood in your bed.”

“Things are different now. Do one good thing for your daughter and let her marry me,” I demand as I lower the gun from pointing at Brendan, fighting the urge to point it at Sean instead.

“That’s enough! Return her to me and stay the hell away from her!” Sean snaps.

My brow furrows. “Return her to you? I did. I released her earlier.”

Sean’s face tightens. “You released her? Why?”

“So that she could go home. The Bratva Council wanted me to kill her, and I refused,” I reply, an uneasy feeling spilling into my chest as he continues to look confused. “I knew I had to let her go.”

“She didn’t come home.”

I’m still trying to process his words when Sean reaches for his pocket.

I point my gun at him. “Stop!”

“I’m just getting out my goddamn phone so that I can call someone and find out where the hell she is,” Sean snaps at me.

I nod and lower the gun again. If Cara didn’t go home, then where did she go? “Maybe she’s at her apartment.”

“I’ll have my men check,” Sean replies as he taps around on his phone. He calls someone and holds the phone against his ear. “I need Cara’s apartment checked. Keep an eye out for her on the way there, then report back to me immediately.”

Hopefully, she’s still there and packing. That has to be what’s going on.

“When did you release her?” Sean asks me as he drops the phone from his ear.

“Early this morning. She took my Mercedes,” I tell him.

Sean rubs the back of his neck, his forehead creasing in thought. “If she’s not at her apartment or my house, I don’t know where she would be.”

“There aren’t any family members or friends she would go to?” I ask him. It didn’t seem like she was close to anyone in the city, but maybe I’m wrong. After all, I didn’t know much about her real life.

Sean shakes his head. “She wouldn’t go to anyone else.”

After ten minutes of tense waiting, his phone finally rings.

“Speak,” he says into the phone, no warmth, no worry. Pure command. Then he frowns and his shoulders sink. “No? And all her things are still there in the apartment? A big bag full of cash?” He eyes me curiously with an arched brow. “Did you spot a Mercedes anywhere?”

I drag my fingers through my hair, fear starting to creep up my spine. If she’s not at her apartment, and didn’t take her cash to run, then where the hell is she?

“Keep an eye out for her,” Sean demands before ending the call and turning to me. “No sign of her. It doesn’t seem like she’s been by the apartment yet.”