Chapter 34

Ava hummed. “When is it not?” The little girl in her arms cooed, waking up from her nap with a whine. “Oh, sorry,” Ava apologized. “I think someone’s a little hungry. We’ll gossip when I get back.”

She excused herself, leaving the office to find a private spot to feed her baby. Meanwhile, I sat there in stunned amazement.

Ava and Theo were married? If I closed my eyes, I could imagine Jesse and me in their shoes. A house in the suburbs. A couple of kids running around. None of this life and death business with an angry cartel hunting me down.

But the more I allowed my mind to wander, the more doubt crept in. Was that something I even wanted? I was far too young to think about settling down. I had goals. Dreams. Things I wanted to accomplish by thirty. There was no doubt that I was attracted to Jesse, but that didn’t equate to a future together.

I meant what I said to Ava. What Jesse and I had was new. Complicated. We were walking down the same path, but there was no telling if or when we’d hit a fork in the road. Why couldn’t we just enjoy the present? If Molly were

here, she’d never let up about the fact that— Molly.

She was still missing. What the hell was I doing here? Why was I sitting around in this lavish office when the cartel had her holed up somewhere dark and dingy? If she was even still alive.

I needed to do something. Anything. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to her and I did nothing to stop it. If that detective at the police station needed proof, I’d get him proof. This was the first time I’d been allowed out of the penthouse, and I wasn’t going to throw the opportunity away.

I cautiously watched Jesse. He was engrossed in whatever Devin and Theo were talking about. Something about security perimeters and bodyguard rotations and payroll, yada yada yada. The subject of their conversation was irrelevant. All that mattered was that Jesse was distracted and I was alone. This was likely my one and only chance to slip away.

The second Jesse’s back was turned, I made my escape. I’d ask for his forgiveness later.

My heart was pounding. My palms were sweaty and cold. It was a weird feeling, being out and about without Jesse directly behind me to keep me out of harm’s way. The one good thing about all of this, though, was that no one seemed to be following me. I was in the clear for now, so I needed to move quickly.

I hopped onto the bus and rode it all the way to Blue Cloud Financial. It was the middle of the day, so the front lobby was busy with workers eager to get to the cafeteria for lunch. I slipped by easily, blending in with the crowd. I was technically a familiar face here. Nobody would suspect anything as long as I kept moving and didn’t draw any attention to myself.

I held my breath as I took the elevator up to my floor, like it would somehow help me disappear. When the doors opened, I stepped out and made my way swiftly to my cubicle.

It had been cleared out.

None of my things were there. The pictures of Molly and me that I’d pinned to my cubicle wall were gone. The drawers were empty of all my pens and pencils. Any paper documents that I’d been holding onto for filing were also gone, likely shredded for security purposes. When I attempted to log into my computer, it gave me an error message. My credentials had been wiped from the system.

Not good.

Did this mean the encrypted files for the Azuras Association —or whatever they called themselves— were gone, too?

“Shit,” I hissed to myself.

I peered over the cubicle wall toward Arty’s office. His lights were off. Out to lunch maybe? I turned in —what used to be— my office chair. Marta was away, too. Much to my relief, she’d accidentally forgotten to lock her desktop.

I wheeled over and searched through her top drawer, pulling an old USB stick from her desk organizer and plugging it into the computer tower. I searched for the files with shaky fingers, dreading how slow the loading bar filled. The computer eventually dinged, alerting me that it had found what I was looking for.

The encrypted files were now hidden in a folder within a folder within a folder. Someone was desperately trying to make sure that, while they couldn’t destroy these records for the sake of their own bookkeeping, nobody could accidentally stumble upon them again like I did.

I downloaded everything I could. Once it was done, I snatched the USB and tucked it safely into my back pocket. I needed to get the hell out of there.

I half-jogged, half-walked back to the elevator, keeping my head down and eyes to the floor. No time for small talk. No time to stop. I had to get as far away from this building as I could before—

The elevator doors slid open.

On the other side stood five tall, boorish men with matching snake tattoos with red eyes wrapped around their throats.