10. Rowan
10
ROWAN
"You're sure this is something we really want to do today?" I asked.
Trev was in the driver's seat of an SUV we had grabbed from Andro’s garage. Whether it belonged to him or Andro, I wasn’t sure. I should learn more about my alpha. Eventually, I would have to think about getting my vehicle over to Andro's home.
Also Trev and I really needed to discuss where the two of us would be living. If he was going to continue on the security detail, it would make sense for us to be close by—maybe in the mansion itself. Or maybe we should have our own space, somewhere close by. Jeremiah and Felik lived a few miles away, they seemed to like it. They still visited the mansion regularly and even stayed there on occasion.
It was difficult for me to focus and think about the future when I was stuck on the past. We still had no idea who Russo had been working with. Would we truly be able to move on and plan for the future until he was taken care of? Hence the reason we were on our way to Cord Menetti’s house.
"Did you have a different idea for what you wanted to do today?”
“Stay inside the house, locked in our room?"
The corner of Trev’s lips curled into a smile. "We did that yesterday. You missed a class."
I rolled my eyes. "I did not miss a class. I missed an optional study group session. I don’t need to attend a study group. I know all the things I need to know."
"Sure you do."
"Hey!” I slapped him playfully on the shoulder. “I’ve been studying very hard since I got back to school."
"I know you have, omega. I am just teasing."
We had officially closed out my dorm. There was no need for me to stay there anymore, and I certainly wasn't attached to the space. I refused to return to a twin bed when we could sleep in the plush, king-size bed at the mansion.
"Cord might have information that can help us track down who Russo was working with when you were kidnapped. We need to talk with him."
My jaw tensed. I didn’t really want to talk about it, but I knew I had to. Trev had a right to know—sort of—what I had gone through. He hadn’t pushed me to talk about it, in fact we seemed to actively avoid it.
"If you say you want to go back to the house and lock ourselves in our room, we can do that," Trev said after a long moment.
"No, let’s get this over with. We need to. I’m just being a brat. Once we find out who’s behind it, we can be done with it, right? I won’t need a security detail?"
Trev’s forearm flexed as he gripped the steering wheel tighter. "I’ll talk with Andro about that. You might get the same level of detail the other omegas in the family get."
"What? No, that’s silly, isn’t it?" Then again, what did I know about this whole business? I still wasn’t 100% sure what I was going to be doing with my life upon graduation. Did it really matter if I had security following me around?
“If it were up to me, you would have security detail. We’ll discuss it with Andro.”
I resisted the urge to groan. There were only so many things I could complain about in a day. I’d have to save this argument for a different day.
"Why do we think Cord can help?" I asked instead.
"We’re at a dead end, so we’re trying everything. His brother had connections that we don’t. It’s possible he’s heard something."
I hated to hear that they didn’t have a direction for this investigation. There could be more omegas out there that had been taken from their families. I shuddered at the thought.
Trev reached over and grasped my hand. “We’ll find him, Rowan. I know we will.”
We pulled up to a large home that was at least three stories tall, with four massive columns that towered over the ornate double doors. Lush green hedges surrounded the circle drive.
"Goodness. Is this where Felik grew up?"
"Yep. I think Felik and Jeremiah still have a room here. They stay here with the twins every so often so that Cord can see them."
"Are we officially like the combined Ferrini-Minetti family?"
Trev snorted. "No, but we do have a very strong alliance now that there’s a marriage between them."
"That’s cool." It seemed crazy to me, but whatever worked. I didn’t know a lot about the whole business, but I did know that strong alliances were important.
The door opened before we could even ring the bell, and a butler let us in. "Mr. Menetti will see you in the parlor."
Sometimes I really couldn’t get over all the high-end nonsense that came with having money.
Cord was already in the parlor when we arrived. He handed a glass of something—probably scotch—to Trev.
"Trev, congratulations."
"Thank you."
He turned to me. "You must be Rowan. It’s nice to meet you." Cord towered over me, much like the other alphas I interacted with. His dark wavy hair curled around the color of his shirt. He didn’t have the same clean-cut, boss look that Andro did, but that didn’t make him any less scary. His piercing green eyes had a danger to them that had me ready to answer any question he had.
I nodded. "You as well. Thanks for your help with this."
"Anything for Trev."
I raised a brow. "You mean Andro?"
Cord shook his head. "I’d do this for Ando as well, but Trev took a bullet for my brother’s mate. We’re indebted to him for Jeremiah’s life."
I had to smile at that. I knew Trev didn’t think of his actions as heroic, but I sure did—and it seemed that everyone else agreed as well.
“Please take a seat.”
Cord settled in a maroon wingback chair while Trev and I sat down on the matching velvet sofa. In front of us on the coffee table was a charcuterie board with pancetta and brie, with an assortment of crackers. It seemed our host was putting on a welcoming front.
"I don’t want to pry too much, and I know if I were you, I wouldn’t want a bunch of people asking me a ton of questions. I know what you went through was dramatic and scary. I’m not asking you to relive it, but if you could walk me through what happened as much as you can, there might be details that mean something to me that might not mean anything to anyone else."
I nodded even as I wrung my hands in my lap. My throat was suddenly dry. "What makes you the expert?" I wasn’t trying to be rude, I was genuinely curious.
Cord shrugged. "I was my brother’s right-hand man for a long time, and he tried to make a lot of connections with a lot of different people. Vince was always trying to build his alliances or at least make it look like he was. He was quick to stab people in the back, so he made more enemies than allies. I attended a lot of those meetings, and I have a knack for remembering details."
I took a deep breath. Trev rubbed my back. Both of them remained still while I tried to gather my words. I started slowly, telling them about how I was taken from campus. I was walking from Bestley Hall to the library when two men grabbed me. It had happened so fast, clearly not their first kidnapping. I hadn’t even had a chance to shout.
Since my father hadn’t been expecting me home until late that day, no one had noticed my absence.
“The house I was at was big. Several floors. At least three, since I know I was taken up stairs to the room they put me in, and I could hear people walking on the floor above me. The window was boarded up, so I couldn’t see outside or escape. I was mostly left alone. It felt like…months. I know it was only a few weeks, but time just crawled. I couldn’t count the days because there was no sun.”
Trev tensed as I spoke, though I could tell he was trying to remain calm. I leaned into him to remind him that I was there. I was whole. I had survived.
“You don’t remember much about your guards? Or anyone else?”
“Not really. I gave the descriptions I could to Andro. He even had one of those sketch artists come in, but I couldn’t remember much.”
“Were you able to count the days by how often you were fed? Did they have the same people give you your meals?”
“I’m not sure. They had one of those drawer slots built into the wall where they could open it and slide a tray in and close it. I couldn’t open it from my side.”
Cord’s brow shot up. “So they had a house designed around holding captives?”
“Essentially. There was an attached bathroom I was allowed to use. I didn’t see hardly anyone. Didn’t hear any voices at all. Just the shuffle step of the person above me.”
“Shuffle step?”
I shrugged one shoulder “Yeah. He paced a lot, but it was like he dragged one foot, so it was a shuffle.”
“Totally dragged the foot?” Cord was leaning forward now, his eyes narrowed.
“Yeah. One step was normal, the other was like his foot was dragged, and there was a click of a cane or something.”
“Did he walk real slow?”
I stilled. “Yeah. How did you know?”
Cord grimaced. “Brutal Brutus.”
Trev clenched his fist and stopped rubbing my back. “You think so? Isn’t he in Europe or Brazil? I haven’t heard of him being around here.”
“Who is Brutal Brutus?” I asked.
“He comes from a family based out of Germany. At least they were. Rumor has it the police finally had a strong enough case against them, and they went underground or they were thrown in jail. Vince tried to partner with them, but they were up to their eyeballs in legal trouble. We had one call with them,” Cord said.
“You think he could be here, either hiding or trying to establish himself in the States?” Trev asked. “How do we know he wasn’t just a captive like Rowan?”
“He could leave his room.” My gaze bounced between them. It felt like we were on to something. It wasn’t a lost cause. “He would pace a lot, but sometimes he would shuffle across the room and then I’d hear a door creak. Then he wouldn’t be back for a while. He could definitely leave.”
“It's a long shot,” Cord said.
“It’s a lead. That’s more than we had when we arrived.” I needed this to mean something. I couldn’t keep living like this, always looking over my shoulder. That must have been written on my face, because Cord nodded.
“All right. I can make some inquiries. Quietly. If he’s in the States and he’s stayed hidden this long, then he probably wants to stay that way.”
“Thank you,” Trev said. “If you need anything, just let us know.”
I held his hand. Finally, we might be on our way to finding peace.