were. I hadn’t heard from him yet, but that was because I told him not to come to me until he had everything possible on both men. If they had a pet, I wanted the name of that pet, the day it was born, and if its shots were all up to date.
“What did they look like?” The second I asked that question, I could sense Luca and Phoenix tense up even though they weren’t right next to me.
“Average height. Short one with red hair. Taller one with dark blonde hair. Both built like they can handle themselves. And they drove a black Nissan sedan. I have the plate numbers I can text you,” he answered.
“What else?”
“They knocked, and she let them in,” Marco replied. “The entire visit lasted maybe fifteen, twenty minutes. They left out the front door, but I didn’t see her. She didn’t walk them out.”
Fear gripped all four black chambers of my heart. “What do you mean you didn’t see her?” I asked, my voice cold and devoid of the emotion threatening to take me under.
“As soon as they turned the corner, I drove around and made my way through a couple of backyards before I approached the back of her house. I looked inside, and she was in the kitchen make coffee or tea or something.”
“I’m on my way,” I told him. “If she leaves, call me.”
“Sure thing, Boss,” he said before hanging up.
“What’s going on?”
I looked at Nix. “Gary and Merrick just left her place,” I told him.
“I thought she wasn’t scheduled to meet with them until tomorrow,” Luca remarked.
“She wasn’t,” I confirmed. “I gotta go.”
“Do you want us to come with you?” Luca asked.
“No,” I answered. “She’s still…intimidated by us, I think. If we all show up, she might shut down.”
“Call us if you need anything,” Nix said, knowing I’d made up my mind. I nodded and walked out of the drawing room.
I made it to Cedar Creek in less than an hour.
Chapter 16
Roberta~
It didn’t matter that I knew the box wasn’t here. I started searching my house top to bottom again.
Gary and Merrick’s visit opened my eyes to just what I was doing when I made that stupid, stupid phone call and talked with Phoenix. I had convinced myself that I wasn’t involving Frankie if I was just asking her husband some questions, but she was involved now, inadvertently, through her brother.
I had promised Ciro that I was going to drive to Morgan City and tell Frankie everything, but I couldn’t do it. I needed to distance myself from them until I found that box or found a way to distance myself from Gary and Merrick. It crossed my mind to run and go back to Missouri, but something told me it wouldn’t be too difficult for Gary and Merrick to hunt me down. I needed a way out of Randy’s mess and my mind was drawing blanks.
I had every piece of clothing I owned scattered on the floor of my bedroom and every drawer pulled out, examining each piece as if there was a hidden latch or note on it somewhere.
I was losing my mind.
I was so engrossed in my madness, I hadn’t heard the front door open. I hadn’t heard the heavy footsteps that echoed across my house. I hadn’t sensed any danger as a lone figure took up the entire width of my bedroom door.
I’d been blind to everything but finding that damn box.
“What in the fuck are you doing?”
I screamed, the drawer in my hand flying through the air, as I turned towards the voice. Ciro was standing just inside my bedroom, taking in the scene before him.
I got to my feet, my heart still slamming in my ribs, but no longer dying of fright. “What are you doing here?”
“Answer me,” he demanded. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” I cried a bit hysterically. “I’m looking for that stupid box!”
He walked farther into the room, trying not to step on my clothes, but it was no use. I had shit everywhere. “I thought you already looked through the house?”
“I did,” I replied frantically. “I did. But…Ciro, I need to find that box.”
He glanced around the room but decided to set the issue of my insanity aside for the moment. “What did Gary and Merrick want, Robbie?”
My eyes widened in shock.
And then they closed in recognition of just how stupid I was.
Of course, he’d have someone watching me. The Holy Trinity has probably been watching me ever