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I took a breath. “Okay.”
“When we spoke with Theo Rossellini,” Wade began, “he said he has no idea who was giving him the names of the omegas and arranging for them to be taken while they were out. He had no interaction with that person, and communication came only over text from a computer that our best people couldn’t trace, or burner phones. Theo couldn’t give us a name if he tried.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “The Feds are pissed because you ruined their RICO case against Matteo, but here in Chicago, we’ve been after Theo for the kidnapping and selling of omegas. We screwed up the Feds’ case following the breadcrumbs you left, and we’re not sorry about that, but they’re watching all of us now, so you need to lie low.”
“But you’re telling me there’s a missing piece I need to find.”
“No.” Graeme’s voice was low and hard. “You’re done playing Batman just as Special Agent Putnam said. You are side-lined, permanently.”
“But I—”
“Absolutely not,” Graeme declared. “I will move you into my mansion and have you watched as I do my children if you push me.”
Avery chuckled. “You don’t want that.”
His children were three and five, one boy, one girl, both alphas. The same surrogate had carried both and was now, I was certain, living her best life wherever in the world she wanted to be, her entire future paid for. I knew Avery had taken a leave of absence for both births and was still working part-time until both were of school age. The fact that he was allowed to do partial hours at work was testament to his exemplary record of closing cases, as well as how skilled his partner was.
“And how do you plan to find this person?” I asked, feeling a chill in my bones that told me I was not at all ready to do anything remotely physical myself.
“We’ll find them.” Wade raised one brow like he was daring me to say something stupid. “We’re pretty good at it.”
“And though we truly appreciate all you’ve done,” Avery told me, “you nearly died during your run-in with Theo. You were shot three times, and you lost more blood than I thought a lupine could. The entire staff here at the hospital says it’s a miracle you’re still with us.”
That part I could not argue with.
“I have no idea how you lived through that,” Gigi remarked, her voice shaking.
I didn’t either, as I had been absolutely sure I was dead. The third shot in the chest was the one that had blown through my body and made standing impossible. Being thrown into the back of the SUV, my blood pumping out of me, how cold I was, how I’d lost the ability to even move or see, had been truly terrifying.
“I know,” Wade announced to the room.
“You do?” Graeme sounded surprised, which was interesting. That meant Wade hadn’t shared what he knew before this moment. “How?”
“Yes, how?” Gigi asked him.
“Oh, I know this.” Avery smiled at his partner. “From the 911 call.”
“That’s right,” Wade confirmed before turning back to me. “I spoke to everyone you interacted with that night, from the EMTs to the doctors who treated you.”
“Tell me,” I pressed him.
“Do you know Sasha Norwood?”
“Who?” Gigi sounded confused.
“I know him because the night Linny and I were kidnapped, he came in and talked to us before that happened. Since then, he’s helped me out occasionally with forgeries and some other things. I’ve always found him to be smart, funny, sarcastic, and a bit of a wiseass, which, if I’m being honest, I like most of all.”
“Why haven’t I met him?” Avery wanted to know.
“You’re not always with me these days, but Linden adores him, as he’s had to assist him with letters of provenance for jewelry and other things. He says the same thing as me—if sunshine and sweetness could be packaged in a person, that’d be Sasha, or Aleksander, which is his given name.”
“The Norwoods are old, old money, now diversified,” Gigi told Wade. “Originally railroads and steel and lumber. My goodness, he’s helped you? Really?”
Wade nodded.
“Why on earth would he ever have to work?”
