Chapter 27 Mateo
MATEO
Ilook down at my phone, willing it to give me the answers. Zoe’s mobile keeps ringing out, and so does the home phone. Don’t panic. She might be in the pool with Gracie and that’s probably why she hasn’t heard the phone. I decide to call Tomas and see if he has heard from her this morning.
“Hey,” he answers the phone.
“Have you heard from Zoe this morning?”
“No, why? Is she not answering her phone?”
I’m silent for a moment. “I have a bad feeling, Tomas. Something’s not right. She would have called us by now—she checks in as soon as she is awake.”
“Carino, don’t panic, I’m sure there is an explanation.” Tomas tries to soothe my anxiety. “I’ll give security a call, okay?”
Of course, security, good idea. Tomas hangs up, and I patiently wait. The minutes go by ever so slowly. Finally, the phone rings.
“Tell me she’s okay?”
“There’s no answer.”
My blood turns cold. “We need to go, Tomas. Something’s wrong, I can feel it.” Grabbing my stuff, I whisper, “Family emergency,” to my agent and he nods, letting me go.
Tomas is still on the line. “I know. I’ll get the jet organized.”
“If something has happened to her, Tomas …” I let the words hang between us.
“I know, carino, I know.” Then he hangs up.
I throw my arm out to hail a taxi and head to the airport as quickly as I can. Zoe, we’re coming for you.
I keep calling Zoe all the way to the airport, but there’s still no answer.
When I finally make it to the private airport, I see Tomas pacing back and forth, running his hand through his hair. Then I see his face, and it’s pale as a ghost.
Shit!
I rush to him, and he wraps his arms around me, forgetting we are in public. His whole body sags against mine.
“What’s happened?”
Tomas is silent. He won’t look at me as he stays wrapped in my arms.
“Look at me.”
Finally, he lifts his head and his eyes are glassy.
“No, No.” I push him away. “No,” I keep saying repeatedly. “Not our Zoe, not our Zoe!” I cry.
Tomas tries to comfort me, but I push him away again.
I can’t, I just can’t deal with his touch in this moment.
His red-rimmed green eyes stare at me, then he turns away, my rejection stinging. He climbs the stairs of our jet.
With leaden legs, I follow him and take my seat, the silence between us growing with each moment.
“We will find her. I promise we will fucking find her.” Tomas’s voice breaks with emotion even though his face looks like stone.
He doesn’t deserve me turning in on myself at this moment, we are a partnership, and we need to handle this together.
I climb over the chair and squeeze into the seat with him, wrapping my arms around him. “I know you will find her.” I let his strength soothe me.
He pulls a blanket over us as I sink further into his embrace.
“Enrique is going to be here soon, he’s coming back with us,” Tomas tells me softly.
I nod, my body slowly deflating.
The hostess hands me a crystal tumbler. I throw back the amber liquid, and it warms my throat, instantly calming me.
“Thanks for holding the plane,” Enrique says as he rushes on board.
When I see him my blood boils. I jump up out of my chair and grab him, pushing him up against the wall.
“Mateo!” Tomas yells at me.
“You fucking lost them. You told us he was in Russia. You fucking lost them!” I scream in his face, shaking him.
“I know, I fucking know!” Enrique answers. I can see on his face that he is just as shocked as us.
Tomas pulls me away from his cousin. “What the hell are you doing?”
I throw my hands up and shuffle back to my seat, asking the hostess to bring me a bottle of whatever she has.
I can’t stop thinking about Zoe. What are they doing to her?
Is she still alive? Is Gracie okay? Fuck, I must call her parents and tell them that we lost their daughters.
I let out another roar, frustrated as I kick the seat in front of me repeatedly. I want to rip this plane apart.
“Carino, stop, please stop.” Tomas grabs me, but I’m too strong for him to have any effect.
“What if we are too late?” I sob.
I can see it in Tomas’s eyes—he is thinking the same thing.
“We pulled your surveillance footage. They were taken from your home this morning around two a.m., and they were both alive,” Enrique says.
“But that was ten hours ago, ten fucking hours.” I punch the seat.
“Calm down, you can’t help her like this.” Tomas rubs my hand in his. “I don’t care how much it costs, we are going to get them back, and we are going to destroy Nikolai Petrov, mark my words.”
Before the car gets to our home, Enrique warns us the scene is confronting. We go through the police blockade and the car stops just inside our gate. We both jump out—no one could ever prepare us for what we see. All along the white pebbles of our driveway are pools of red blood.
“They killed every single security guard,” Enrique informs us.
Blood is everywhere, but thankfully, the bodies have been removed.
I don’t think I would be able to cope with seeing those men’s faces.
Why kill all these men? What about their families?
My heart breaks at the weight of the situation, realizing we are not the only ones who lost people we love today.
We make it inside and I rush toward our room, hoping this is all a horrible dream and that Zoe is lying there waiting for us.
Pushing the door to our bedroom open, I’m met by police taking photos and collecting evidence. The sheets on our bed have been ripped off, and the nightstand is tipped over.
“They fought their attackers,” Enrique informs us. “They drew blood in the main hall. We’re sending it away to be tested.”
I nod at Enrique’s information, but it’s all white noise at the moment.
“You won’t be able to come back here. We are almost done in the bedroom collecting evidence then you can pack and check into a hotel.”
I frown. I don’t want to move to a hotel—Zoe won’t be able to find us if she escapes.
“It’s for the best, Mateo,” Tomas advises.
I nod and let him lead me toward our walk-in closet. My eyes are drawn to all of Zoe’s colorful clothes. I touch the delicate fabric of a dress and it pierces my soul. Where the hell are you?
We move into Tomas’s office and pull up FaceTime then dial Zoe’s parents. We wait and wait for the connection to click through.
“Hello, my beautiful boys. How are you?” Zoe’s mum, Elizabeth, answers.
I burst out crying, I can’t hold it in.
“Honey, what’s the matter?” I can hear the concern in her voice.
But I can’t get the words out.
“Nikolai found Zoe,” Tomas says.
“No, no, not my baby, no.” Elizabeth bursts into tears and the sound rips my heart out.
“They have Gracie as well.”
Elizabeth wails down the line, and her husband rushes in, and when we repeat the news, he stumbles as if someone has sucker punched him.
“What do you need?” He sounds like Tomas, all authoritative and menacing.
“I’m organizing a jet to bring you here. Nothing, and I mean nothing is going to stop us from getting her back. I don’t care how much it costs. I have money, I have lots of it, and we will get her back.”
Then we call her sisters and tell them the news.
Sophie, who works in the Middle East, tells us that she knows people and by people she means men who are off-the-grid.
They go in and rescue people from situations that seem unsolvable.
Sophie is a no-nonsense woman. Tomas organizes a first-class ticket for her to come here so we can all be together.
Hours later, Enrique runs into the office. He’s panting. “We have a location. We got a hit on the van from a partial plate; it was seen at a private airport. We found the flight logs. They are headed to Morocco—Casablanca, to be specific.”
Fuck, she’s in Africa.
How the hell are we going to find her there?