Billionaire's Perfect Revenge [18+]

FIFTY TWO

"I know I've been giving you crap recently, but really, are you sure about this?" Jade asked as we sat in my home office, going through some leads regarding Richard Milton that had recently popped up.

It had already been two weeks since they discharged mom from the hospital, and we brought her home. Nathan and Nadine had been constantly chewing my ear off about Zara and why she wasn't part of the small gathering we had to welcome mom home. Mom had asked about her, too. I told them she had some personal things to take care of. The truth was, I hadn't seen her since that night when I handed her those papers to put an end to our contract. I still had no answer from her. She just left without a word.

Or a goodbye.

Was I sure about letting Zara go?

Absolutely not.

But it was the right thing to do. Even if every cell in my body was kicking my ass to go back to her and shred those papers away, I couldn't persuade my legs to move. Other than mom and Nathan, I had only allowed two more people to become my weakness. Emily and Nadine. Emily was gone and I couldn't stand in front of my brother's happiness—not even in my dreams—so I had to widen the circle of my care and let Nadine be a part of our small family. Zara had become my weakness, more than I would like to admit, but letting her go was the right decision. Granted, nothing of this would have happened if I hadn't forced my desires on her, but she had become something to me before I even realized that she did.

"I don't think that's any of your business, Jade. Can we focus here?" lifting an eyebrow, I asked, dropping my gaze back to the map that was sprawled on my desk and pointed at a red-marked location. "He always picks a spot near universities or other academic institutions."

Jade gave me an unreadable look before letting out a heavy sigh, leaning forward and studying the spots I had already marked. "Young girls have always been the targets." Then she sat straighter and tossed a file across the desk. "They found three of them in one of those shut industries. The autopsy report came in yesterday. The age group is different this time. Between 25 and 35."

"I'm not even gonna ask how you got your hands on these." I picked up the file with a small smirk and skimmed through it. Jade was right. He had changed his usual targets. But why? Was he trying to trip us off? What game was he playing this time?

"This is ridiculous," I slammed the file on the table. "We are back to ground zero. That list of missing girls is useless."

"I know. And the police department knows that, too. They are trying to build a new list as soon as possible."

"Bullshit! We've got to find him before he gets to the last target. Under no circumstances should he get away this time."

"He won't," Jade said with such surety, I wondered what was going on in her head. She flicked her hair instead, leaning back in the chair and crossing her legs. "I made some contacts and a name constantly popped up."