Page 55 of Savage Little Secret

“With us,” the voice replies. “For now.”

I slam my fist against the desk next to the phone. “If you hurt her, I swear I’ll rip every single one of you to shreds!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Relax, Dmitri. Let me get to the point of this call. We’re willing to hand her back over to you alive. In a trade,” the voice tells me, amusement still lingering in his voice.

I clench my teeth. They’re playing with me. “Give me proof! Put her on the phone right now,” I demand.

“No,” he says simply.

“Fuck you. She’s not a goddamn bargaining chip! Let me speak to her!”

Another low laugh. “You don’t make demands of us.”

The call suddenly ends, making my eyes widen in panic. “Fuck!”

I snatch my phone off the desk and call the number back as quickly as I can, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. An automated recording comes out.

“Fuck!”

“Got any smart tech guys? Maybe they can trace the call,” Andrei suggests as I tighten my grip on my phone and consider throwing it through the window.

“You’re right,” I say, scrambling to gather myself. I’m so pissed off that I can barely think straight! Who does that bastard think he is? “Karly!”

She appears in the door almost immediately, her hand pressed to her stomach as she catches her breath. “Yes, sir?”

“Call Dex and have him report here immediately. It’s an emergency,” I tell her.

Karly nods and hurries out of my office at the same speed as before, her heels tapping against the floor.

Andrei turns back to me. “Your tech guy?”

“He has a background in it,” I reply before looking back down at my phone, the man’s words circulating in my mind. “She’s alive. I think he was telling the truth about that.”

Andrei stands from his seat and leans closer, drawing my eyes to his. “She is. And we’ll find her before anything happens to her.”

“Who the fuck are these people?” I say, my voice coming out like a whisper. “And trade what for her? Why didn’t he just say?”

“They want to fuck with you,” Andrei replies as his face hardens. “We’re dealing with people who think they’re smart. You know what happens to people who think too highly of their intelligence?”

“What?”

“They screw up and get outsmarted,” Andrei tells me. “They’ll do the same, and we’ll be ready.”

I can only hope that he’s right.

“I couldn’t trace the call.”

I drop my head in defeat as Dex walks back into my office with my phone in his hand. “You couldn’t get anything?”

Dex shakes his head and hands my phone back to me. “It’s tricky uncovering a private number. Even trickier to trace it. It would be easier to trace it if we were prepared for it.”

I toss my phone onto my desk with a clatter, my hand moving up to pinch the bridge of my nose. “Well, let’s hope this guy calls again.”

Dex nods and quietly leaves my office.

“Damn it.” I sigh as I drop down into my chair, torn between feeling hopeless and angry.

I’m glad that Cara is alive, but I’ve been in this world long enough to know that there are some situations so bad that death feels like relief. What if they’re hurting her? What if she’s suffering right this second?