Chapter 321: Sleep is Overrated

Aria didn’t let go of Damien’s hand as she dragged him out of the hotel suite and back toward the elevator.

"She has a suitcase, she was crying, and she ran," Aria muttered rapidly. "If she thinks her cover is blown or she thinks the Vipers are coming back for her, she is going straight to an airport. We need to catch her."

Damien let out a long sigh, accepting the fact that he was absolutely not going to sleep tonight.

He pulled his phone from the pocket of his sweatpants with his free hand, thumbing through his contacts as the elevator doors slid open.

"Who are you calling?" Aria asked as they stepped inside.

"The only person who can tap into the city’s traffic grid fast enough to find her," Damien replied, hitting the call button.

He put the phone on speaker. It rang three times before the line clicked open.

"Do you know what time it is?" Kai’s voice groaned through the speaker, sounding profoundly irritated. "It is three in the morning, Damien. I was having a fantastic dream about a yacht and ten beautiful women in Monaco. This better be a life-or-death emergency."

"It’s a manhunt," Damien stated flatly. "I need you to pull the license plate on Jade Evans’ grey sedan. Find out what direction she went after she left the Sinclair Tower parking garage."

There was a loud rustling sound on the other end of the line, followed by the thud of a laptop being dropped onto a mattress.

"You guys are hunting that kid-actor’s sister?" Kai grumbled, the rapid clicking of a keyboard echoing over the phone. "What did she do? Steal a towel?"

"Just run the plates, Kai."

"I’m running them, I’m running them," Kai muttered. "Okay, let’s see... picking her up on the avenue cameras... she caught the tunnel. She’s moving fast. Wow, she is blowing right past the speed limit."

"Where is she heading?" Aria leaned in toward the phone.

"JFK," Kai confirmed. "Terminal 4. She pulled into the parking garage about ten minutes ago."

"Thanks," Damien said dryly, ending the call before Kai could ask any more annoying questions.

Aria anxiously bounced on the balls of her feet as the elevator shot down to the parking garage. "Ten minutes ago? Damien, she could already be through security! If she boards a plane, we’ll lose her completely!"

"She isn’t boarding a plane," Damien said calmly.

He unlocked the Aston Martin as they stepped into the garage. He opened the passenger door for her, waited for her to slide in, and then walked around to the driver’s seat.

As he started the engine, he pulled his phone back out and dialed a new number.

"What are you doing?" Aria asked, buckling her seatbelt.

Damien held up a finger. The line clicked open.

"Hey," Damien greeted, his voice dropping into a smooth, authoritative register. "I know it’s late. I need a favor. Terminal 4 at JFK. Ground all outbound international flights for the next forty-five minutes. Gate holds, runway delays, whatever you have to do."

Aria stared at him, her jaw literally unhinging.

"I appreciate it," Damien hummed. "I’ll owe you."

He hung up, tossing the phone onto the center console, and threw the sports car into drive.

Aria blinked, completely bewildered. "Did you just... casually ground an entire international airport terminal?!"

"I have a friend on the board of the Port Authority," Damien shrugged, merging onto the empty, late-night streets. "The flights won’t take off until we get there."

Aria slumped back against the leather seat, staring at her husband in pure awe. The sheer, terrifying reality of his tax bracket never failed to blindside her.

They made it to JFK in record time.

Terminal 4 was relatively quiet at this hour, mostly populated by exhausted travelers sleeping on their luggage and a few straggling redeye flights. The bright lighting buzzed overhead as Aria and Damien jogged through the automatic sliding doors.

Aria scanned the ticketing hall.

"There," Aria whispered, pointing toward a row of automated check-in kiosks near the back wall.

Jade was standing in front of a glowing screen. She had her suitcase resting against her leg, a passport clutched tightly in her trembling hand. She was frantically tapping the kiosk screen, her shoulders hunched up to her ears, constantly glancing over her shoulder with wild, paranoid eyes.

Aria and Damien approached her quietly.

"Jade," Aria called out softly.

Jade gasped, flinching. She spun around, her passport nearly slipping from her fingers.

When she saw Aria and Damien standing there, the terror on her blotchy, tear-stained face was heartbreaking. But almost instantly, her expression changed.

Jade took a breath. She forcefully shoved the panic down, pasting a bright, overly enthusiastic, fake smile onto her face.

"Aria! Mr. Sinclair!" Jade squeaked, her voice pitching up into a bubbly, cheerful tone that clashed horribly with her red, swollen eyes. "Oh my gosh, what are you guys doing here? Did you guys decide to take a last-minute vacation too? I’m just... I’m heading to London! For a quick family thing!"

Aria didn’t smile back. Her chest ached looking at her.

"Jade, stop," Aria said gently, stepping closer.

"Stop what?" Jade laughed nervously, her hands shaking as she tried to subtly block the kiosk screen with her body. "I’m just checking in for my flight! It’s so crazy running into you guys here, though! What a small world!"

"Drop the act," Aria told her, her voice soft but entirely firm. "We went to your hotel room. We know about the Orpheus Syndicate."

Jade froze.

The bright, bubbly smile shattered.

The passport slipped from her numb fingers, hitting the floor with a soft smack. Her knees buckled. She slumped back against the plastic casing of the kiosk, burying her face in her hands as a loud sob ripped out of her throat.

"I’m sorry," Jade wept, her shoulders shaking violently. "I’m so sorry, Aria! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen! We were just supposed to watch you! We weren’t supposed to get involved!"

Aria didn’t feel an ounce of anger. She stepped forward, wrapping her arms around Jade and pulling her into a tight, comforting hug.

"It’s okay," Aria soothed, rubbing Jade’s back. "I’m not mad at you. I promise." ℴ

Jade cried harder, clutching the fabric of Aria’s t-shirt like a lifeline. Damien stood a few feet back, his hands shoved into his sweatpants pockets, silently keeping watch over the terminal to ensure no one approached them.

"They found us," Jade choked out, pulling back slightly to look at Aria with wide, devastated eyes. "The Vipers. They stormed the hotel room."

"I know," Aria said gently.

Jade squeezed her eyes shut, a fresh wave of guilty tears spilling down her cheeks.

"It was my fault," Jade sobbed, wiping her face with the sleeve of her hoodie. "The Orpheus family sent me to scout one of the Vipers’ safe houses in the city. I wasn’t supposed to take anything. But..."

Jade swallowed hard, her voice trembling.

"But I saw this necklace sitting on a dresser," she confessed miserably. "It was beautiful. It was a silver snake with ruby eyes. I stole it. I brought it back to the hotel room and hid it in my bathroom drawer."

"I didn’t know," Jade wept, burying her face in her hands again. "I didn’t know there was a tracker inside it. I led them right to us."

The pieces snapped together in Aria’s brain.

"Where is Leo?" Damien asked, his voice calm, cutting through the heavy emotion.

Jade looked at him, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath.

"He saved me," Jade cried. "Leo knew we couldn’t both get out. He threw me toward the door with my bag and he... he fought them. He told me to run. He let them take him so I could escape."

Jade looked back at Aria, her eyes pleading. "If the Vipers realize he’s an Orpheus agent, they’ll kill him. They’ll kill him just to send a message."

Aria’s jaw locked.

She bent down and picked Jade’s passport off the floor. She handed it back to the crying woman.

"You aren’t running away, Jade," Aria stated firmly.

Jade sniffled, looking terrified. "But I have to! If I don’t report back to France, the Orpheus family will think I defected! They’ll put a hit out on me!"

"Then we go to France," Aria decided, her emerald eyes flashing with conviction.

She turned to Damien.

Damien didn’t argue. He was well aware that he would lose.

"We are going to Paris," Aria told Jade, grabbing the handle of her suitcase. "You are going to take us to your boss, and then, we are going to get Leo back."