"Daisy," I said, the horror of only now realising the consequences of everything Harvey had divulged making my body tremble and my vision blur. I staggered from the bed, Ryan trying to keep me upright.
I barely heard him say, "You are dead to me," as he swiped the phone closed.
He held my eyes for a suspended moment, then urged, "Get Daisy. Now!"
I stumbled on the way to the door, banged into an armchair, and then the dresser. Ryan righted me every time I faltered. His hand on my arm firm, as steel glinted in the low lights of the hallway, wrapped in the palm of his other hand.
A gun.
Why had I sat and listened to that phone call? Why hadn't gone for Daisy as soon as Harvey mentioned the ledger. A piece of evidence he shouldn't have known about yet. Ryan had never told him what I possessed. But then Harvey had been the leak, he'd told ex-detective Simon Andrews that we were retrieving something from the Birdcage. Of course he'd known what it was. Hell, Ryan had even guessed that the leak had come via ASI. And of course, Nick and his men trusted Harvey Stone, as much as Ryan had trusted him, until tonight.
A cool breeze met my bare legs, froze the tears, I hadn't realised I'd shed, on my cheeks. My feet slapped on polished wooden floorboards, the sound of Ryan's harsh expletive rang out in my ears, joining the blood thundering through my veins inside my head.
A hollowness started to expand inside me, chilling icy tendrils of absolute fear.
Daisy's bed was empty.
The window off to the side was open.
My mind stalled. My breaths followed. But my heart? It bled, as I screamed, and Ryan caught my body when it fell towards the floor.
Chapter 30
And There Were No Sweeter Words
"No. No. No. She can't be gone! No."
"Marie."
"No. No. No. Not Daisy. Not my Daisy-girl."
"Marie!"
"Daisy!" I cried, trying unsuccessfully to get to my feet. Something was holding me back, or holding me up. I couldn't tell. I fought it, jerked my shoulders free, offered a shove with the palms of my hands. "Daisy!" I shouted. "Where are you?!"
"Marie! Tiger! Focus!"
My eyes flicked to Ryan's, unexpected calm brown stared back at me.
"I need you to stay with me, babe," he said, in a more level voice.
I nodded, head and neck stiff, but my eyes locked on his.
"It's only just happened," he pointed out. "You checked her less than half an hour ago."
I nodded again, the movement more fluid.
"They won't have gone far," he added. "I need to follow. Find a trail. Get her back."
Another nod, a deep breath of air sucked in which seemed to dim the ache that had set up home inside my chest.
"I'm calling Nick," Ryan murmured, hands still on both my upper arms. "Can you stand?"
"Yes," I whispered. Ryan nodded.
He pulled his cellphone out of the waistband of his trunks. He hadn't dressed. Like me, he was in the same clothes he'd worn to bed. He strode over to the window and looked outside, the phone to his ear.
"Nick. Andrews has taken Daisy," he announced into the device, and hearing the words aloud broke what fragile hold I had on my heart. A sob tore from my lips, making Ryan swing back around and look at me.
The moment his eyes found mine I could breathe. It hurt. Fuck, it still hurt though.
"We can't wait that long," Ryan was saying, as he walked towards me and then herded me from the room, back towards ours. He picked up my jeans from the floor and handed them to me, while he found his own and began to get dressed.
I slipped the denim over my frozen legs robotically. Glad for something to do with my trembling hands.
"Harvey Stone was the leak," Ryan said, a weight of sorrow and shock mixed in with those words. "His family," he added, and had to clear his throat. "Can you check on them too?"
My fingers struggled with the shoelaces on my sneakers, but I finally managed to do them up. I stood and faced Ryan, the emptiness inside consuming me, as he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder, and checked the chamber of his gun. He slid the weapon into a holster, attached to his belt. His police badge hung next to it. He lifted tired, but determined eyes to mine.
"Just get here as fast as you can and I'll let you know what I find." The phone call ended and he stood facing me across the small room, a million miles away.
"What now?" I asked, wringing my hands in front of my chest.
"I want to ask you to stay here, lock the doors and windows, and wait for my call."
I shook my head and took a step toward him, but he breached the gap and had one hand around the back of my neck, and the fingers of the other pressed into my lips, before I could open my mouth.
"But I won't," he added. "Stay close. Do as I say. And don't make a sound."