The Fall of East: Book 3 in the Hear No Evil Trilogy, Malone, Nana [inspiring books for teens txt] 📗

was mine. I’d never felt secure in my life, secure in my position. But with Nyla, I absolutely did. She was mine to keep, mine to hold. And I needed to finish this so that she would be safe. When all was said and done, I just needed her to be safe and happy and content.

Ben turned his attention to Drew. "All right, what do you have?"

"There were a couple of Elite members that Jameson was close to, and one of them has a house in Scotland, so I’m looking at travel logs. We’ll put out some feelers just to see if that might be a possibility. But I don't have anything else right now. East, what about you?"

I scrubbed a hand over my face. "The problem is Henry Warlow is his father, so he’s had a masterclass in how to stay hidden his whole life."

Nyla shook her head. "I don’t know about that. I don't think Warlow trained him on how to hide. And I also think he resented his father, so we might have an easier time than we think. Honestly, I think he'll go back home."

Amelia laughed. "But Interpol is still crawling all over the estate."

"Not really. Think about it. If you, say, had a hidey hole, some place to go, some place to hide on a property you'd lived on your whole life, and you know your ins and outs to that place, wouldn’t it be a big possibility that you’d go there to take refuge? Look at that estate. It's huge. He could probably hide in there for a week and we'd never find him. And it’s also possible that there might be places on the estate that aren't part of public record. What I’m saying is, he might actually be hiding on the property in plain sight."

Ben rubbed his jaw. "How likely is that?"

She shrugged. "It’s as possible as anywhere else."

He frowned. "If it's possible, then we need to go back."

"Yeah, I say we go back and sweep the place with a fine-tooth comb.”

I watched her as she spoke, and I couldn't help myself as all kinds of emotions rushed in. She was mine. All mine. And I felt like a selfish git just staring at her, wanting them all out so that I could have her to myself.

She looked up and gave me a confused smile. Her gaze slid down my body, and I coughed and then changed the angle of my stance so that it wouldn’t cause any difficult-to-explain situations. She gave me a feisty grin and turned her attention back to the others.

I sighed. "All right, let's say you're right and he's gone home. Let's have a little look at their security systems then."

Telly jumped up. "Yes, please. I've been dying to hack something. This whole running-after-criminals thing is starting to grow on me."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh Tell, you still don't think that you can beat me, do you?"

Livy rolled her eyes. "My God, you two. One day, I'm going to lock you in a room together until you start playing nice with each other."

Telly just guffawed. "Kinky. I like it. I mean, it won't be kinky for you, East, because you have more equipment than I need, but it will be kinky for me."

I snorted a laugh. "You're not serious."

"I am. It's what makes me best friend material."

I looked into her dark eyes, and I couldn't help but smile. This annoying, feisty, damn-good hacker had become part of the family. As had Amelia and Emma. It started out with just my mates. Just the people I could count on. And now, I had a whole brood to look after, which I quite liked. My thoughts about what made a good family had changed.

Lucas came out of the kitchen then. "Please, God, tell me there's somebody that we're stealing something from. I’m really dying for that right now."

We all just laughed and ignored him. Bryna rubbed his back. "Babes, they don't need a thief this time."

Lucas pouted. "But I'm bored."

Ben laughed. "Mate, not everything is about robbing someone. Besides, you lifted Warlow's prints. That was big."

"That was barely scratching the surface of what I can do."

Bridge's phone rang, and he glowered at it. When he picked it up, he answered tersely, and we all watched the tension roll into his shoulders. He murmured something into the phone and went out on the balcony as I studied him closely. Who was on the phone? And why was he looking so stressed out? If it was Mina, that would account for it.

When he returned, he met Ben's gaze and then mine. "Emma's awake. They said she’s kicking up a storm. She wants to be let out, but I told them to hold her for a few days for observation."

Ben shook his head. "You have a death wish?"

Bridge just shrugged. "If she can't keep herself safe, maybe a couple of days in the hospital will get her brain working."

He really did have a death wish. I continued my line of thought. "So, let's just say that Nyla is right and that Jameson went back to the property. Telly, see if we can break into the security. I'll see if I can find any record of the building plans for us to get an accurate view of what's in there. Because if there's a panic room that we don't know about, it could be tricky to get him out."

Telly nodded. "Yup, can do. And this time, I think we have to call Interpol in officially."

I sighed. But I knew she was right. Emma had gotten hurt. It could have been serious. Yes, we had the means to take care of her, and yes, we had the means to also keep her doctors quiet. But there were only so many incidents we could absorb. It was better if we did this the official way. And that way, Nyla and Amelia would get the accolades.

Nyla turned and looked at me. "Are you coming with us to the Jameson