You Are Mine Little Sister (by Syra Tucker) novel Chapter 170

VOID

Another dead end.

I kicked the table hard enough for files and cords to spill to the floor.

Katya carded her fingers through her hair, a sigh slipping out.

"I'm sorry, boss. But we'll keep looking. All hands are on deck, I promise."

Now that statement was pissing me off. "All hands have been on deck for a week. Should I fetch the whole harbor now?"

I fought to keep my calm. I rolled a cigarette to my mouth but my lungs filled with smoke, not calm.

We've checked the airports. Nothing. The train stations, failure too. Most of the cameras in the train station hadn't been working—stupid dumb people. But we checked the few we could and there was still no sign of her. We even checked their passenger lists.

I've had my hands on every surveillance piece I could. I've done every fucking thing I could. Why was it so hard to find her?

"Someone somewhere must be lying." I leaned against the wall, taking drags from my stick.

"That's possible. Only problem is we don't know who. Everyone claims they haven't seen her. And I believe anyone would remember her kind of eyes."

Damn it. This wasn't going anywhere.

I turned away from the wall. "I need her, Katya. What the fuck do I have to do to find her?"

The sound of footsteps interrupted us. Moments later, the door to my office opened with Miles muscling a wounded woman in.

Katya drew back her chair and stood, a thrill inking her coffee eyes into something espresso-dark and hell-sweet.

"That one is mine."

She closed the distance, wrenched the woman from Miles, and hit her hard enough to spill her backward.

She'd wanted to go get the lady herself along with Miles and Eric, but I had to keep her here to assist me with the search. However, she did beg to handle her when she was brought in.

"Evie," she called her name as she dragged her up by the collars of her shirt. "The bitch who tried to kill her and made her lose her memories instead.

The Evie girl already had a broken nose, and when she tried to speak it was pathetic.

"I didn't mean to—"

Katya silenced her with a heavy punch to the ribs. She waited for her to breathe first then punched her again.

"Oh, God..."

Katya laughed. "I haven't even started with you and you already begging for God. You know, it's a good thing you weren't at the Parlor when we attacked it. Otherwise you might've been dead and we wouldn't have known how special you are."

"Please..."

Katya drove an elbow into her, dumped her to the floor, and stamped her with those heavy boots until we were sure she couldn't get up on her own.

I got to know who she was from Blayne. According to him, he'd sent her away after she nearly killed Rali. Heat rushed through my bloodstream at the thought that Rali would've been dead. It made me want to do unspeakable things to the bitch right in front of me. But I'd promised Katya this one. Justice had many hands; today, they were hers.

"You and I—" she pulled her from the floor. "—We're going to have a lot of fun. I hope you came with your party dress." She looked at Eric who had shown up at the door. "Did you bring any for her?"

"Nah. The girl seemed dirty. Didn't know the kind of stuff I'd have found in her closet; didn't want to find out."

Katya rolled her eyes. "Your dick has been in worse places, Eric. You should've checked. Anyway, I guess I'd have to make do with what I have."

She fisted her hand in the girl's hair. "Right, bitch?"

When she didn't answer, she punched her hard. "I said right, bitch?"

"Yes," She keened under her breath, brittle and scared.

While Katya took her away, my phone rang where I'd left it.

I reached for it and found Veronica calling. I'd told her everything and gave her my contact in case Rali remembered home.

"Void," her voice lacked its usual warmth.

"Anything new?"

"Not directly on Rali. But... Vlyrissa Thorne. I just got a call from my dad telling me she came over to the house."

The cigarette stopped short of my lips. "Why?"

"He... He said she asked about the little girl they'd adopted. That is Rali."

My brain paused. When it kicked back in, it ran hot.

I kicked the door shut with my heel, my gun still pointed at her.

"I've been expecting you," she sniffled, her nose pink.

I thumbed the slide and felt the gun settle into kill-weight. The urge to make her bleed was overwhelming, but something didn't feel right. She wasn't fighting this. She chose this unsafe location knowing it'd be easy getting her here.

She wanted this to happen.

She backed toward the window and stopped, her hands still lifted, her wrists trembling, her chin high. The longer I didn't shoot, the wetter her eyes got.

"What're you waiting for, Torturer? Take the shot. Make me pay!"

I skimmed the room. Her box sat sealed on the floor. The cloth on her must've been the same ones she wore to the family house. It was more like she checked in here and had just been waiting... for me.

I cocked my head, clicked my tongue. "What're you playing at?"

A couple of tears lost their grip and went looking for her chin.

I almost laughed. "Do you think I'd let you go if you played the pity card?"

"I don't," she whispered. "I don't even think anything, Torturer. I just want you to finish it."

"Finish what?"

"Me! You've been looking for me before all of this happened. I'm here. You're staring at me. Why are you holding back!?"

Now I was getting pissed. She was hiding something.

Heat slipped off my temper and found the trigger. I spread my shoulder blades against the wall, kept her framed in the sight. "Why were you at the house? You've been sniffing after Rali for twenty years? Have you been so desperate to finish what you started when she was a child?"

"What?" All light vanished from her face. "You...You think I want to hurt Rali?"

This was turning into theater.

"You tell me. You pushed her off a cliff and had her parents murdered. Doesn't sound like an aunt with good intentions."

Her mouth fell open. Shock hit first, something like betrayal climbed in after it and set up camp behind her eyes.

"Rali is my child!"