Page 48 of Savage Little Secret

“There you are,” Sean says, his piercing eyes tracking my every move as I head closer. “I was just about to have your doorman call you.”

Leo tenses his jaw, but he doesn’t say anything.

I motion for Sean to follow me inside before briefly flashing a look at Leo. I’m still suspicious of Sean, so he needs to be on high alert.

We take the elevator up in silence. When Sean heads into my penthouse, he shrugs off his black jacket, draping it over his arm as he follows me to the kitchen. “Where have you been?”

I pour us both a glass of vodka, ignoring the way his lip turns up. He can drink what I offer or not at all. “I found my car that Cara took.”

Sean’s sturdy expression shifts. “Where?”

“Flipped over on the side of the highway outside of town,” I say before downing half of my vodka, letting it sear its way down my throat.

Sean’s eyes widen. “Well? What do you think happened? Was there…any sign of her there?”

I shake my head as I set my glass down on the kitchen island, the liquor burning my chest. “The back of the car was smashed. Someone slammed into her. They wrecked her on purpose. There were tire marks leading away from the scene.”

“Someone went after her,” Sean murmurs as he lowers his eyes to his drink. He finally takes a long sip before looking back up at me.

“And they found her,” I say, my throat tightening so much that it’s hard to get the words out.

A few tense, quiet moments pass as we stand there in my kitchen, dread and uncertainty weighing me down. I don’t even know if Sean really cares about Cara. I don’t even know for certain that he isn’t involved in all of this.

But unless I have proof he’s lying to me, I’ll take all the help that I can get.

“When I find whoever did this to her, they’ll lose their hands before their life,” I grit out, then finish off my vodka and reach for the bottle again.

“Well, we need to figure out who it was first,” Sean replies after a sharp exhale, frustration plaguing his words. “I’d bet money it was the Russians.”

I scoff at him as I pour more vodka into my glass. “Of course, you’re going to assume it’s us. How can I be so sure that you’re not pulling some strings? You were willing to sacrifice her for your plan to fuck me and my family over!”

“I wanted her to try to prove herself, yeah, but I didn’t expect this to happen!!” Sean hisses at me.

“It wasn’t my family or my men. I’ve already checked them all out,” I assure him as I push the bottle away from me. I’ve drained enough of it over the past week.

“Well, it wasn’t any of mine either. They listen to what they’re told, and I didn’t order any of this shit to happen,” Sean tells me.

“Who do you think is behind this, then? If you had to make one solid, unbiased, guess,” I question him.

“The Bratva Council,” Sean replies with hesitation. He then shrugs. “Or the Albanians. They’ve been interested in my territory for a while now, and what better time to make a big move than when the Russians are fighting among each other and with the Irish, as far as they know.”

I grind my teeth as I stare at him, uneasiness and frustration battling it out within me. His guesses are decent ones, and they’re both possible.

The Albanians are not yet an enemy of ours, but they’re not on good terms with the Irish. Now would be a good time for them to advance on their territory and ours, when we’re weak. They could’ve found out about Cara being Sean’s daughter or my…whatever she is to me through their connections and taken her.

The Bratva Council is unfortunately also another good guess. They hate my connection with Cara, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they decided to take matters into their own hands and kill her so that she isn’t a problem any longer.

“You think it could be one of them too, yeah?” Sean says as he narrows his eyes in interest.

“I can’t rule anyone out a hundred percent,” I tell him as I cross my arms over my chest. “We should check both out.”

“Well, I’m certainly not going within ten miles of the Bratva Council. I’ll find out more about the Albanians and what they’re up to,” Sean replies before finishing off his drink with a slight grimace and sliding the empty glass over to me. “Can you handle the Council?”

I don’t want to deal with the Council either, but I suppose it makes more sense for me to face them than him. They won’t be happy to see me, but I need to make sure that they’re not behind this.

They’ll pay for it if they are.

I don’t give a shit how important and powerful they are to the other families.