Kidnapped by the Billionaire(23)

And now that the man was dead, she couldn't get ahold of Violet, his daughter and her best friend.

She was worried, terribly worried, and no amount of pretending otherwise  was going to work. Before all the crap had gone down with Fitzgerald,  Violet had sent a text telling Honor she wanted to see her. Honor hadn't  replied immediately, too caught up with the discovery that it was  Fitzgerald who'd been behind many of the awful things that had happened  to her friends. But after he'd subsequently been shot and the truth  about him being Gabriel's father had come out, she immediately picked up  her cell and tried to call her friend.

Except Violet hadn't answered. She hadn't texted either.

Which made Honor worried, because there had been something urgent in the  first text Violet had sent. I need to tell you something.

And now she'd seemingly disappeared.

At first Honor had wondered if it was shock at Violet's father's  murder-security expert Zac Rutherford's clean-up crew had removed all  evidence of the real cause of Fitzgerald's death, courtesy of Eva and  point-blank range, planting evidence that would lead police to the  assumption of a professional hit. But as the hours had ticked by and  there was no contact from Violet, Honor had begun to wonder if something  more sinister had happened.

Fitzgerald had a lot of enemies and now that he was gone, there were  probably many people who'd want to take advantage of that. People who  might find his daughter fair game. His unsuspecting daughter.         

     



 

Honor had tried getting in contact with Hilary Fitzgerald, Evelyn's  wife, but the woman was refusing all calls and Honor wasn't able to get  any information about Violet from her secretary who'd obviously been  tasked with fielding all the attention.

Going around to Violet's Upper West Side apartment had drawn a blank  too. There had been no answer to her knocks, the apartment remaining  silent.

It was then that Honor had become officially worried and gone to Gabriel.

They really didn't need another problem, because although Fitzgerald was  now dead, the remains of his empire were still very much alive and  someone would want to know who'd taken it out. Someone would want  payback. Then there was the fact that the man's drug and human  trafficking businesses seriously needed taking down, and if anyone could  do that, it was the Nine Circles. Eva King, CEO of Void Angel, one of  the country's biggest tech companies, and tech head extraordinaire, had  already begun putting together evidence for an anonymous tip-off to the  CIA and Interpol, since getting the authorities involved was the next  step.

Yet Gabriel had been insistent that tracking down Violet was a priority.  Not that any of the others had protested. Violet was now his  half-sister, and that made her one of theirs.

His hands tightened on Honor's waist. "We'll find her," he said with his characteristic certainty. "Don't worry, baby."

She rested her palms on his chest, loving the hard warmth beneath the  dark blue cotton of his T-shirt. "Thank you. I know there's not a lot of  time, what with-"

"Hey," he interrupted gently but firmly. "Violet's your friend and she's  my fucking half sister. You really think I'd just let her disappear?"

Honor sighed. "No, of course not. We've just got a lot of other things  to think about. And  …  well, I don't even know if she is missing."

"She's not answering your calls or your texts, and she's not at her  apartment. That's enough for me to start getting worried, especially  after what happened to Fitzgerald."

Honor stared at the material of his shirt. "She's not involved in any of what went on with her father, Gabe. I know she's not."

A gentle finger caught her beneath her chin, tilting her head up so she  met his dark brown eyes. "I know she's not. Believe me. But that  shithead's got lots of enemies around, and now that he's gone, she's a  sitting duck."

Anxiety twisted inside Honor's chest. "What if she's dead already? What if someone got rid of her?"

Gabriel's thumb and forefinger gripped her chin a little harder. "Hey,  we don't know what's happened and wild guesses won't help. She's a  valuable hostage. Which means if she's been taken, someone's gonna want  to keep her alive."

He wasn't wrong. She just had to keep hold of that hope. "Okay, you're  right." Honor let out a shaky breath. "It's just going to come as a huge  shock to her. God, she'll be so scared."

One corner of Gabriel's mouth turned up a little. "I don't know her like  you do, but if she's related to me in any way, she's not gonna be  scared. She's gonna be pissed."

Honor thought about it for a moment. Violet was laid-back, a perpetual  student, always giving the impression that she was flitting through life  and never settling. But there had been moments when Honor had wondered  if that was the real Violet. Whether there was something more behind the  dreads and the silvery jewelry and hippie clothes. At college Violet  had hung out with the arty, alternative crowd, and Honor had heard the  stories of their wild parties and even wilder sexual exploits. Her  friend gave off the impression of a free spirit who did what she wanted  and didn't care what anyone thought of her. Yet she'd been very caring  about other people. Certainly she'd always been very supportive of  Honor.

Sometimes though, Honor got the feeling that all of it was an act, a  mask Violet hid behind. That her concern for other people was merely a  way of distracting from her own issues, a method to keep everyone at a  distance. Honor had never pushed it with her friend, since at the time  she'd been running from things herself. But now she wondered about it.

Maybe Gabriel was right. Maybe Violet was stronger than Honor thought.

At that moment, there was a buzz from Gabriel's security system, heralding Eva's arrival no doubt.

Sure enough, a minute or two later, a small woman in black jeans, an  Iron Maiden T-shirt, black leather jacket, and steel-toed Doc Marten  boots stalked in. Her silver hair was in a long ponytail down her back  and she carried a small laptop with her.         

     



 

There was something different about her today that had Honor frowning. Then she realized. Eva didn't have Zac with her.

"Hey." Eva greeted Honor shortly as she headed toward Gabriel's heavy wooden dining table. "You're going to want to see this."

Typical Eva. She wasn't very demonstrative and didn't mess around with  small talk, but once she gave her loyalty, it was to the death.

"Eva," Honor began as she followed the other woman over to the table, "I can't thank you enough for-"

"It's okay," Eva interrupted, putting the laptop down on the table. "Violet needs to be found, that's all there is to it."

Gabriel, who'd gone to open the door, now emerged from the hallway, his  phone in his hand. "How did you get over here, Eva? Zac just called to  ask whether you got here safely."

Eva gave a snort as she pulled out a chair and sat down, reaching out to  push a button on the computer. "Asshole. I already texted him to tell  him I was here." Despite her obvious annoyance, there was a thread of  something that Honor thought was probably affection in her voice.

The past couple of weeks had changed things for all of them, and while  some of those things hadn't been good, some of them were. Like Zac and  Eva finally getting together.

Honor had been surprised to learn they hadn't been an item before,  considering the way Zac stood guard over her like Cerberus before the  gates of Hell. But given Eva's traumatic background, it wasn't any  wonder.

"He said you came by yourself. On the subway." Gabriel's disbelief was  palpable. Before a couple of days ago, Eva never went anywhere by  herself.

Now, the small silver-haired woman only lifted a shoulder "What can I say? I'm a badass motherfucker."

"You can say that again." Gabriel came to stand behind her chair. "What made you want to go and attempt something like that?"

"Zac likes the subway. I wanted to see it from his point of view."

"Cute. But Zac wasn't happy about it."

"Zac can stick it up his butt." Eva sounded completely unconcerned. "Do you want to see this lead or not?"

"Yes, we most certainly do," Honor said crisply, giving Gabriel a quelling look. "What have you got?"

Gabriel gave her a wolfish grin, but stepped back, giving her some room to see the screen from behind Eva's chair.

The other woman's fingers moved quickly over the keyboard. "Okay, so I  ran that facial recognition software I've been playing with through a  couple of databases. And it came up with a hit." She pressed a button  and a picture abruptly came up on the screen.

It looked like it was a still from a security camera, given the angle. A shot of a subway car full of people.

Eva's fingers moved on the track pad, and the picture zoomed in on a  woman sitting with her hands folded in her lap. The magnification made  everything a little blurry, but there was no mistaking the long  dreadlocks hanging down the woman's back. Or the little stud in her  nose. The finely drawn lines of her pretty face.