Dusk (Dangerous Web #1) - Aleatha Romig Page 0,4

occurring with Lorna and Araneae was related to Sterling Sparrow’s reign. No one would take the queen of Chicago without expecting a fight. If that was what they wanted, we were on our way to give it.

Mason’s ongoing words pulled me from my thoughts. “...need access. Once I have it...”

Technology was my thing. Artificial intelligence was his. Money trails were Patrick’s. As a team we were nearly unstoppable. However, at the moment, I wasn’t thinking straight. My mind wasn’t on the possible culprit or how to find them through technology and possibly the dark web. My thoughts were zeroed in on one woman. When I closed my eyes, I saw her vibrant green stare, tasted her luscious lips, and felt the warmth of her soft skin under my touch.

I remembered every word from our telephone conversation earlier this morning. I recalled the last time we were together, when we kissed goodbye before I returned to Chicago, leaving her on Mason’s ranch. I recollected our first kiss and the last time we’d made love. Every minute we’d shared was right there in my thoughts, every fucking scene, the way Lorna looked, smelled, felt, and tasted, the sound of her voice, her laughter, and her noises she made during pleasure.

“Reid,” Mason said, reaching for my arm, pulling me from my thoughts.

I yanked my arm away as I set my jaw. “What?” My gaze darkened. “You said your ranch was safe.” I stood. “My wife is missing.” I’d said the word—missing.

I fucking hated it, but I said it.

“Man, she’s my fucking sister. Do you think I would have purposely put her or” —he looked to Sparrow— “Araneae in danger? Lorna’s my sister,” he repeated.

Standing to my full height, my chest met his. “She’s my wife.”

“She was my sister first.”

Patrick stepped closer, moving his gaze from me to Mason and back before he nodded. “Now that we have all the family relationships settled, we need to concentrate on finding them.”

Neither Mason nor I blinked, both still staring at one another.

It was Patrick who spoke again. “Lorna is someone special to all of us. She’s my friend and Sparrow’s. Hell, she put up with us when...”

“When she wasn’t wanted?” I said, finishing his sentence.

“No,” Patrick said.

I turned to Sparrow, my dark eyes narrowing. “You didn’t want her in the tower. You tried to send her away, some other place where you didn’t have to see her every day.” I didn’t add the most important part, the part where Lorna reminded him of Mason and how Sparrow had screwed up. That reason no longer applied, but the memories were there and fuck if I could forget them.

Forgive and forget.

Hell, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Sparrow turned to face us. “You’re right. I wanted Lorna someplace else, someplace safe” —his volume rose— “nine fucking years ago.” He stepped closer. “In case you’ve forgotten, my wife is also missing—my pregnant wife. I’d sell what’s left of my fucking soul if I could have them all right now in a villa in the South of France or on an isle in Greece. So instead of bitching, maybe you can admit I was right.”

Mason, Sparrow, and I exchanged looks. There was so much that could be conveyed with just our eyes. While Mason had been the one to bring Lorna to our tower, he wasn’t the one who convinced her to stay. That was me.

I was the one who put and kept her in danger with that first kiss.

I lifted my hand. “You were right.” I took a step back and collapsed into one of the four secured chairs ringing the round table.

Farther back in the aft of the plane was a large media area, bedroom, multiple bathrooms, a kitchen area and a lounge the crew used. Yes, this was an airplane, but it wasn’t your standard Cessna. This one was customized, all the way to the bird-like paint job on the exterior. We weren’t arriving to Montana undercover. We were making a statement, as were the two other planes of capos. No fucking stone would be left unturned.

I peered up at my friends. “This is my fault.”

“How the fuck are you to blame?” Sparrow asked.

Reid

Sparrow’s question rang in my ears as the plane continued flying west. “How the fuck are you to blame?”

“I was the one who wanted Lorna to stay. If I would have walked away from her and let you have your way, she would be safe and happy in a quaint English village.”

“If that’s the