Chapter 7
Rome
The cops ask me all kinds of questions, most I don’t even know the fucking answers to.
Yes, I know she’s from Savannah Tennessee. No, I don’t know who her family is or any of her friends.
My favorite one was who I was to her. It was asked in a way that clearly said the officers thought I had something to do with this.
The fuckers dragged their feet calling in a description of the van then proceeded to tell me that most cases like this, the suspects usually abandon the kidnapping vehicle and switch it out for another a few miles away.
It takes hours for them to finish up with their questions and try to collect as much evidence as they can. Not that I think there’s much evidence to get out here on the street.
They took her purse in case any DNA transferred to it because they know it would have been the closest item to her body.
As they begin to leave, I start picking up the items that fell from her bags, checking to make sure they are clean.
The few I find that are dirty, I put in a bag to take to a dry cleaner for her. I refuse to believe what I heard one of the other officers say about most of these girls never being found.
“Let me help.” August says, bending down to gather everything up.
Under some of the clothes, I find her phone and stick it into my back pocket. I know she had some friends that were supposed to be coming down soon.
Maybe I can find their number on her phone and give them a call. They probably know more of the answers to the officers” questions.
“Thanks man. I appreciate you staying with me.” I say to August who looks at me with a pissed off expression.
“Really? I thought we were close friends? What kind of friend would I be if I left you here to deal with the cops alone after your girlfriend was kidnapped.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.” I say, standing up and grabbing all the bags.
“Look, this isn’t the fifties where a girl is only your girlfriend after you ask her to go steady.” He rolls his eyes.
After making sure we have everything, we start off down the street, back towards the bar. August made sure that Barr knew what was happening so he didn’t think I just left without telling him.
“Are you going back to your house?” August asks.
“Yeah. I’m tired and I need to check on Mocha.”
“I’ll follow you there. You shouldn’t be left alone right now.” He says.
“I’m not some withering flower.” I grunt with a raised brow.
“No, you’re not but I’m also the only family you got. At least any that’s in your life.”
He has a point so I don’t say anything as I make my way to my car, loading up Piper’s packages in the back seat.
Getting into the car, I don’t look behind me to make sure August is following. He knows where the house is. Hell, he even has a key.
It doesn’t take me long to drive to the house. August pulls in behind me as I’m taking Piper’s stuff out of the back seat.
Letting myself inside, August walks in a few seconds later. When Mocha spots him, she runs over to him with her tail wagging like crazy.
“I’ll take Mocha for a walk while you put that away.” He nods to the bags, walking to the back door with Mocha right on his heels.
Taking everything into my room, I set it all down on the bed then go into the kitchen to find something to drink.
Grabbing two beers from the fridge, I too go out the back door where August is currently playing fetch with Mocha, setting one down on the table for him.
“Brought you a beer.” I say when he walks up onto the porch, taking the seat next to me.
“Thanks. Do you think the cops will find her soon?” He asks.
“I’m not sure. My mind is all over the place. They could have taken her for all kinds of reasons. Some of them are worse than others. If left completely to the cops, she’ll just be another statistic.” I say through gritted teeth.
“So what do we do?” He asks.
“I’m not sure yet. I need to see if I can reach her friends. I think they were supposed to be headed down here some time tomorrow.”
Taking her phone from my pocket, I see the screen is cracked from where it landed on the ground. Pushing a button on the side, it lights up and I’m so fucking glad there’s no pass code to get into it.
Pulling up her texts, the first one I see is from a guy named Ben. That must be the cheating ex because she’s not read any of the messages.
Scrolling past it, I see a group chat with a few other women and guess them to be the friends she was always talking about. Opening it up, I start a text but then delete it.
“How the fuck do you text someone and tell them their friend was taken by God knows who?”
“Nah, man. You don’t text that. Just send a text saying who you are and give your number for one of them to call you. Say it’s important. Tell them it’s about their friend Piper.” August advises.
Doing exactly that, only a few minutes goes by until a number that I don’t know starts ringing my phone. Picking it up, I answer quickly.
“Who the fuck are you and what are you doing with Piper’s phone?” A voice demands before I can even say hello.
“My name is Rome. Piper and I have been sort of seeing each other since she got down here.”
“Where is she?” Another voice says and I know I’m on speaker phone.
“That’s why I’m calling.” I sigh, getting up to walk around the yard while I try to explain to these women what happened to their friend.
An hour later, I get off the phone with Piper’s friends and walk back up to the porch, taking my seat once again.
“What did they say?” August asks, handing me a fresh beer.
“They’ll be heading down first thing in the morning.” I yawn. “I just wish there was something else we could do. The longer she’s gone the longer they have to do whatever the fuck they want to her. I can’t stop myself from thinking that someone could be hurting her right this minute. Maybe even raping her.” I squeeze my beer until my knuckles turn white.
“Man, don’t be thinking like that.” He says, running his hand through his hair. “What we need is to find a group of those guys that hunt people down. Like that group we heard about in New Orleans that saves women from trafficking.”
“We don’t know that this is trafficking though.” I sit up, looking over at my friend.
“Doesn’t matter.” He shrugs. “It seems like a trafficking thing. You said it was more than one person in the van that took her.”
The picture of my father pops into my head just like it always does when anything is mentioned about trafficking. Is the family into that kind of thing?
If they are, would they be willing to at least help me get Piper back or would they laugh in my face about losing her?
“What are you thinking so hard about over there? You’re growling.” August asks.
“I wasn’t growling.”
“You were growling, man. That tells me that whatever you were thinking about pissed you off.”
“I was thinking about my father’s family.” I finally say.
“Why would you be thinking about them?” He asks, confused.
“There’s things about them that I’ve not told you.” I sigh and he sits up, giving me his full attention.
“Like what?”
“Have you ever heard the name Tony Marcus from New Orleans?” I ask.
“Fuck, who hasn’t. They’re supposedly part of some big Mafia family back in Italy but they say Tony broke off from the main branch, going his own way. The authorities have been trying to take him down on drug charges for years but can never quite get the evidence on him. Why exactly are we talking about the Marcus family?”
“Because Tony is my uncle. My biological father was his brother.”
August looks at me with wide eyes saying nothing as he sits back in his chair, drinking his own beer. I listen to the crickets in the silence between us. I know he’ll have more questions so I wait him out.
“Do you think they might help you?” His question surprises me.
“I knew you’d have questions but I didn’t think it would be that one.” I chuckle.
“I do have questions. Quite a lot of them but that can wait. What’s important right now is figuring out what to do about getting your girl back because I think you are right about the cops. They’re not going to be much help.”
“I don’t know if they’d help. I’ve never talked to any of them before. Hell, they don’t even know that I exist.” I slam my beer down.
“Then maybe it’s time that they do. If they can possibly help, you need to call them. Tell them who you are and that your girl was taken.”
“There’s a huge possibility they’d laugh in my ear until they hang the phone up. That or try to kill me.”
“Kill you? Why the fuck would they do that?” He demands.
“That’s the scenerio my mother was always afraid of. That my father would kill me.”
“But he’s dead. You can’t know for sure how the rest of them would feel about you.”
We drop off into silence yet again. August gets up, going to the fridge for more beer, handing me one as he takes his seat again.
Thinking about it, even if there’s a possibility that they come to kill me, I’m more than willing to take that chance if it might mean getting help to get Piper back.
Not caring what time it is, I grab my phone and pull the number up that I’ve called before but never had the guts to talk to whoever answered.
“Who are you calling?” August asks.
“Who do you think?” I say, raising the phone to my ear as it begins to ring.
“Hello?” A woman answers sleepily.
“Um, yes ma’am. I’m looking for Tony Marcus. I know it’s late but it’s important.” I say in a rush.
“Hold on a minute.” I hear someone talking softly in the background but I can’t make out what they are saying.
Several long minutes later, I hear a gruff voice.
“This is Tony Marcus.” He says and my heart beats faster in my chest.
“Um. You don’t know me but...” I begin.
“We know exactly who you are, Rome Baratta Marcus.” He says.
“My last name is not Baratta Marcus.” Is all I can say through the surprise that he knows my name.
“It’s a shame that it’s not. It always should have been.” He sighs. “I’m going to take a wild guess that something bad has happened since you are actually talking to us and it’s after midnight.”
“Yes. Someone very important to me was kidnapped earlier tonight. Cops think it could be traffickers.”
“And you’re hoping we can help?” He says.
“That’s why I called. I don’t know what else to do.”
“Try to not worry too much. We’ll be on our way in under an hour.” He says as he barks orders to someone in the room with him to get the car ready.
“We?” I ask.
“Your Aunt and I. I’m sure once I reach your brothers, they’ll be there as soon as possible.”
“My brothers?”
“Yes. Alessandro and Giovanni. Don’t tell me that your mom didn’t at least tell you about them?” He demands.
“She did but she also told me that the Marcus family would want me dead.”
“Ah, well I can’t lie. I’m absolutely sure if my brother had known you were out there in the world he probably would have had you killed. The stupid fucker but the rest of us would have welcomed you with open arms. It’s actually a good thing your mom raised you away from the family though.”
“Why’s that?” I ask.
“Because you grew up without the influence and all the bullshit that comes along from being a Marcus. We’ll be there soon, son. The car is waiting for us.”
“But I’ve not given you my address.”
“You really think I don’t already know it? I knew all there was to know about you a few days after the first time you called and hung up on my wife. As soon as I saw a picture of you and who your mom was, I knew you were a Marcus.”
“But, you never reached out to me.”
“It didn’t seem like you wanted us to.”
His answer leaves me stunned. They knew about me and didn’t want to bother me until I was ready. Those aren’t the type of people I figured them to be.
“I’ll see you soon.” I say, finally getting off the phone with him.
I sit there staring at my phone in bewilderment until August interrupts my thoughts.
“Well?” He demands.
“They’re coming here.” I answer, looking over at him.
“See? Not everyone in the same family will be exactly the same. Everything will work out.”
While Tony, who’s now Uncle Tony I guess, is okay with me doesn’t mean that my brothers will be. They had the influence of our father unlike I did. For all I know, they could hate that I even exist.
“Let’s hope you are right.” I answer August, finishing up my beer.
I briefly think about taking a nap but know that I won’t sleep with everything that’s happened. Besides, it doesn’t take but a couple hours to get here from New Orleans.
Getting up from my chair, I head towards the back door.
“Where are you going?” August asks.
“To put on a pot of coffee. It’ll be morning soon, might as well get some caffeine in me. Want any?”
“Absolutely.” He says, rising up to follow me inside.
Mocha runs in behind us before we shut the door. This is turning into the longest night of my life.