I open the front door, thinking it could only be one of the guys needing something, or checking on me. No one else would get past them. Well, no one that would mean me any ill-will.
Or so I thought.
The second my eyes land on the man on the opposite side of the door, I try to slam it. He pushes it open with force, sending me stumbling back. “Don't be a silly girl, Maria.” He says as he kicks the door closed with his foot.
“How did you find me? How did you get past Lorenzo?”
“I have my ways, and the idiots outside didn't even see it coming.” He laughs.
I swallow hard, walking backward slowly. Trying with all my mite to think of a way out of here without him catching me, but what are the odds of that in my condition?
Not likely I'd wager.
“Did you kill them?”
He's coming closer. I feel my stomach turning, my baby girl kicking me. She can feel my fear. My back hits the wall, and I let out an involuntary small scream.
“Yes, they're dead,” He tells me. “And screaming won't help you right now, baby girl.”
“Daddy, please don't hurt me.” I'm not sure that he won't hurt me. He killed my mother, after all. I know it's not just a dream. I don't know how I know, I just do.
He did something to her, something terrible. Something that made the coroner believe she died of a heart attack.
“That all depends on you. Doesn't it?”
I swallow hard.
“Are you going to give me trouble? Or are you gonna come with me like the good girl you are?” I shake my head. There is no way I'm going anywhere with him!
“No?” He tuts while scratching his jaw with his thumbnail and shaking his head. “That is most unfortunate. I didn't want to have to do this.”
“Do what?” He takes something from his pocket. My eyes widen. Oh god! “No, Daddy, please!”
He presses the rag over my face and tells me, “Don't fight it, principessa.”
I wish I could fight. I really wish I could. I'm grabbing at his hand, trying to pull it from my face, but my eyes are rolling. My legs are getting weaker. I can't feel my body. I can't...
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jett
I know. I know before I've even entered the house from the mess outside that I'm too late. Both of Vidal's men are riddled with bullet holes, and there's blood everywhere. One of them is hanging half in and out of the Audi they were parked in outside of my house. The other one, Lorenzo, he's lying flat on his back right outside my front door.
I step over him and push the door open. I don't even need to look inside to know Maria isn't here. Still, I look through every room of the house. Nothing seems out of place, and there's no sign of a struggle. She must have gone willingly, which doesn't make any sense. Why would she walk past Lorenzo and not scream for help?
“Dammit!” I hiss and slam my fist against the kitchen island. Of all the things for me to notice it's the dishwasher clicking off after finishing its cycle.
Wait. The cycle is thirty minutes long. I've been here five. Maria couldn't have been gone long. I grab my cell from my jeans pocket. “He took her.”
“What? When? What the fuck happened?!”
“I don't know, Draven. Your men are dead, and Maria is gone. I need all the help I can get to find her!”
“Shit! Five minutes!” He hangs up without another word, and I'm left pacing the fuckin' floor like a madman not knowing what the fuck to do!
How the hell could this have happened? I thought she was safe here. How the hell did Joseph find out where she was if Tessa didn't tell him anything?
Fuck it! None of this makes sense!
I have to find her, no matter what it takes, because I can't lose her. I don't know who the fuck I am anymore without her.
I'm seconds away from pulling my hair out when a bloodied up henchman – and not one of mine – stumbles through the front door. Shit!
I rush to him, catching him before he falls. I lower him to the ground. It's Lorenzo. How the fuck is he still alive? “Lorenzo, talk to me.”
“I tried... to stop him.” He gasps for breath. He's bleeding from his side, I press my hand against the wound, my eyes scanning his body for more. I can't see any, but his face is ashen. “She begged me... to help... her. I swear... I tried. She was... so out... of it.”
“I know, man. I know. How did Joseph get past you?”
“Snuck up on us... Killed Leon... Shot me.” He winces in pain. I ain't never been shot, but I can imagine it hurts like a bastard. I can see he's scared shitless for his life as well. He needs help, and I'll get him that just as soon as he tells me what I want to know.
“Why did he leave you alive?”
“Said I'd bleed slowly... To death. Jett,” He grabs my bicep as tightly as he can, his body shaking and sweating in pain. “I know...” He closes his eyes and winces in pain. He opens them again and breathes deeply. “I know where he took her.”
“Where? Where, Lorenzo?” I shake him, but it's no use, he's passed out. He's not dead I can feel his pulse. I need to keep him alive. I need to get him to the hospital. I need this motherfucker awake. I need him to tell me what he knows!
My house quickly fills with people. I can't make head nor tail of it. Everyone's speaking at the same damn time, but this isn't helping Maria!
I move away from Lorenzo, letting his men deal with him. I don't even feel like I'm with it, but I know I won't lose myself, I will find Maria, I will bring her home safe. There ain't no doubt about that!
“We're gonna find her, Jett.” Tank tells me while squeezing my shoulder.
“I know. I just want to get out there and look for her. There must be some clue as to where that cunt took my wife!”
“Calm down, Jett.” Who the fuck is Hammer to tell me to calm down? “Keep your head on your shoulders, brother.”
“What the fuck would you know about it?!”
“A lot.” He folds his arms around his powerful chest. He's right he does know a lot about this kind of thing and how it feels.
Men are standing around us, making plans, without me! Maria is my wife. It's me they should be talking to, me they should be a
sking where we go from here, not Draven Vidal!
The trouble is, I don't know where we go from here. I don't know where I go from here. I can't lose the woman I love. I don't know what the fuck I would do without her. Jesus, anything could happen to her, she's heavily pregnant, God knows what this is doing to her and the baby.
I can't say her father wouldn't hurt her, he killed her mother, Tank and Hammer's mother, too, not to mention Titus.
I just hope he loves his daughter enough not to do anything that would cause her physical harm. He's a dead man anyway, but if she's unharmed, I might not tear him limb from limb!
“I've been in the same situation you're in right now.” Hammer continues. “Twice. Cindy and Willow. Both women I loved, both taken from me. I lost one and saved the other. So trust me, I know what you're going through, and believe me, you have to keep your head, don't let the fear rule you.”
“Hammer's right.”
“I know, Tank! I know. I can't lose her. I just can't.” I'll fuckin' die without that girl. She's everything to me.
Tank squeezes my shoulder. “You won't lose her, I promise.”
“Jett,” Vidal. So now he comes to speak to me? I couldn't give a fuck about his dead man outside. I couldn't care less about Lorenzo and whether or not he makes it, well, just long enough to give us the information I need to find my wife. “We need to leave.”
My ears prick, “You know something?”
“I managed to get out of Lorenzo where that fucker took Maria. We go. Now!”
I'm coming, baby. Hold on; I'm coming.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Maria
I woke up a little while ago tied to this very uncomfortable wooden chair, with my hands behind my back, and rope around my wrists and ankles. My own father did this to me.
Is he crazy?
He has to know he won't get away with this?