Finding Gwen

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ihad no idea why I let Gwen convince me to meet Jason. The entire time I was gone, the only thing I could focus on was her. Jason understood, but still gave me a raised eyebrow every time I pulled out my phone to check her phone location. We didn’t even last an hour before he told me to get lost. A few weeks constantly in Gwen’s gravitational pull, and I was a goner. If this doesn’t convince me just how badly I needed her in my life forever, I didn’t know what else would.

I pulled into the driveway, deciding to make sure Gwen’s phone location was still showing them at the store, when I noticed something weird. It hadn’t updated the location in over ten minutes. As I stared at the screen, trying to get it to refresh, an emergency alert sounded–the one that meant the panic button on Gwen’s bracelet had been pressed.

Immediately, I tried calling her, but it was straight to voicemail. Without thinking, I threw my truck into reverse, pulling up the live location from the bracelet tracker as I backed onto the road. Rage clouded my vision, driving on autopilot as I followed the blinking dot as it moved.

If something happens to her or Oliver…

No, I wasn’t going to think about that. This was probably all a big misunderstanding. Gwen accidentally hit the button while getting things loaded into the car. She was fine. Oliver was fine.

The dot stopped, and I double checked the street address. The location was showing an apartment building, one known for housing drug dealers and the clientele they sold, too. I pushed on the gas, needing to get there faster. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t good.

I spotted Gwen’s car parked in front of a building, the tracker showing they were inside. Jumping out of my truck and grabbing my gun, I ran to the closest door and found myself kicking it down, all reason being thrown out the window. Nothing mattered more than Gwen and Oliver being safe.

“Daddy!” Tiny arms wrapped around my legs and I bent down, slipping my gun into its holster and scooping up Oliver. Tears ran down his cheeks and his little body shook against mine as I squeezed him tightly against me. “Ms. Gen said you find me and you did.”

“Always, figlio mio.” I kissed the top of his head, not loosening my grip even a fraction. He wrapped his arms around my neck, burying his face into my neck. I surveyed the small apartment. It was absolutely trashed, takeout bags and dirty clothes littering the floor. “Oliver, where is Ms. Gwen? Who’s here with you?”

He shook his head and as I started to ask again, a figure stumbled out of a door toward the back of the room and I barely recognized Kimberly. She was holding onto the wall as she walked, her body swaying fully from side to side with each step.

“Who the fuck are you?” she slurred as if she was drunk. My suspicions were confirmed when the smell of vodka burnt my nose. I had a death grip on Oliver, one hand protectively on his head to keep him from seeing his mother. She reached out as if to grab him, but I turned my body, forcing her to stop. “Give me my son.”

“Where is Gwen?” I asked, my voice calmer than I actually was. Her eyes lit up with recognition, the corner of her lips curling up into a smile that had me seeing red.

“Anthony. You came. Now we can be a family again.” She was out of her mind.

“Where is she, Kimberly?”

“You don’t need her, baby.” She tried to touch me, but I shrugged her off. Her smile disappeared as her eyes narrowed and she wavered on her feet, grabbing onto the wall for support to keep from falling. “What do I need to do to make you forget about that little fucking whore? That bitch shouldn’t be sleeping with other people’s husbands.”

“We are no longer married and haven’t been for years. I’m only asking one more time, where is Gwen?” I growled as images of my knife sticking out of the side of her neck and the life draining from her eyes flashed through my mind. My arms shook as I gripped onto Oliver tighter, focusing on my son to keep from losing whatever small amount of light that Gwen had planted in my heart.

“He took her. Good riddance,” she spat out, her back now against the wall as the grin had returned to her face. He? Was my ex-wife in partnership with the asshole that had attacked Gwen? Kimberly slid down the wall, crumpling onto the floor. I couldn’t bring myself to care whether she was okay or not.

I stormed out of the apartment, Oliver clutching onto me. Buckling him into the car, I draped a blanket over him while reassuring him that everything would be okay. I barely believed it myself, but Oliver didn’t need to know that. He had calmed down, relaxing into his seat with his eyes drifting shut as I closed the door. Pulling out my phone, I called in for an ambulance, then shot Jason a text telling him to meet me at the house.

My mind was spinning and I couldn’t think straight as I drove. How was I going to find Gwen? Every cell in my body was yearning to burn down this town to find her and bring her home safely. If that fucker had his hands on her, I would happily cut off each of his fingers and lay them in his lap. He would receive the slowest of deaths for touching what didn’t belong to him.

Parking in the driveway, I realized I had been running on autopilot. It wasn’t until I had stepped out of my truck did I realize there was a woman I didn’t know sitting on one of the porch chairs. Making sure Oliver was asleep, I made my way around the truck, a hand hovering on my gun that was still attached to my hip.

“Can I help you?” I called out, grabbing the attention of the mystery lady. She stood up quickly, seemingly startled by my approach. As I got closer, I noticed a suitcase sitting at her feet that I hadn’t before.

“Oh, thank goodness. I’ve been trying to get a hold of Gwen for hours. I wanted to surprise her and took an earlier flight, but apparently my plan has backfired.” The woman in front of me talked faster than I could process, but the voice was familiar.

“You’re Ivy.” It came out as a statement, but she replied, anyway, with a quick nod of her head. Her phone pinged in her hand and my heart skipped a beat as she looked at it, furiously typing away at it. Maybe Gwen had found a phone and was reaching out. It would make sense that she had her best friend’s phone number memorized.

“It’s not her,” Ivy said, not looking up from her phone. The last bit of hope I had disappeared with her words. Anger boiled over. I buckled, my hands on my knees as every muscle in my body tightened at once.

A guttural scream pierced my ears, and it took me too long to realize it was coming from me. I needed to punch something, to release this anger so I could focus on what was important, but it was eating me alive. Oscurità mia was taking control ,and I was going to let it.

“Tony,” Jason’s voice sounded from somewhere far away. I looked up, seeing him step off his Harley and jog toward me, my mind spiraling. He put his hands on my shoulders and the motion grounded me.

“He has her…” It was all I could get out. His eyes had darkened. Jason cared for Gwen, not in the same way I did, but as a friend.

“Matt took her?” Ivy asked, interrupting our silent conversation. His name had me standing up straight, looking past Jason to Ivy. She was standing with her arms wrapped around her body as if trying to offer herself some comfort. Her eyes were burning a hole in the back of Jason’s head.

“We didn’t say that,” I muttered.

“I’m sorry, I just assumed,” Ivy whispered, finally looking away from Jason. “He sent some threatening texts after the day he showed up here. Gwen had tried serving him with a restraining order, but they hadn’t been able to find him. He’s a fucking narcissist bastard and I wouldn’t put it past him to do something stupid.”

“What?” Fuck, how had I not known about this?

“I tried to convince Gwen to tell you, but she refused.” My chest tightened at her words.

Why would she have kept it from me?My fists clenched at my sides as the storm raged inside me, the desire to punch something growing every second.

“Tony,” Jason interrupted.

“What, Jason?” I yelled, my focus going to his phone in his hand.

“Look at this.” He held it out for me, a black and white security video playing on the screen. A man was stepping out of his car, opening the trunk and rustling around inside of it. Before long, he flung a body over his shoulder, their hands bound behind their back as they hung upside down. As he turned around, anger burned through my veins when I saw her face.

My eyes shot up to Jason’s. Reading my mind, he nods his head, letting me know this was live. We found her. Now, I just needed to get to her.

Oliver.

I turned on my heel, nearly running directly into Ivy, who, it seemed, had been standing behind me. “My son, Oliver, he’s asleep in my truck.”

“I’ve got him,” she nodded. “Go get our girl back.”

I turned back to Jason, who was digging the key to his motorcycle out of his pocket. He tossed it to me as I ran past him. The bike roared to life under me. Jason yelled out over the rumble, “I’ll call for backup and meet you out there.” I sped away, not caring about stop signs or red lights if I could help it. The only thing going through my mind was getting to Gwen before that asshole had the chance to put his hands on her.

I’m coming, luce mia. Hold on.