Chapter 26
JADE
I’m back at Enzo’s. He had just left with Dante and Raquel to go see Chiara at the hospital.
My renewed anger at not being allowed to join them has me in a frenzy, pacing around the acres of greenery, Agnelo’s note still crunched in my palm.
I need to figure out how I can get out of here without one of the guards stopping me.
I spot a few men at the other end of the yard, standing at attention beside the tall gate, leading outside. Maybe if I can cause some kind of disturbance in the house, it’ll make them run inside, giving me the chance to escape.
I have nothing to lose. Deciding to try, I head for the kitchen. What the hell could I do to make them all come to my rescue, and how could I dodge them before they get to me?
Think, damn it! It’s now or never.
Once Enzo returns, I’ll be stuck here. He won’t let me out of his sight.
As I face the stove, a dangerous idea comes to mind, but one that may work.
Taking out a pan, I place it on the stove.
I grab olive oil and sprinkle some onto the surface, before turning on the gas. A minute later, the pan sizzles.
There are two exits that lead out from the kitchen—the one through the large glass door closer to the men outside, which is the one I hope they use—and another off to the right, which will be my exit.
I’ll rush out of the kitchen once the fire starts, then run like hell. It’s a gamble, but escaping from the front door isn’t an option. Enzo has way more men posted there.
With no one looking, I move the pan away and spill a few drops of oil onto the stove top, the fire starting to come alive.
Before the alarm rings, I back up, slowly creeping away. As soon as I do, the alarm blares, the men all rushing toward the sound, calling for me.
My heart knocks in my rib cage as I tiptoe out the door, not a soul noticing me as I find the will to run like hell. My dress and high heels long abandoned for leggings, a large black hoodie, and the most comfortable sneakers I’ve ever owned.
I gently open the fence, my feet hitting the pavement, not seeing anyone as I dash toward the street, with only the main gate and a single man at the booth to stop me.
I don’t wait. I continue running, even as the guy stands from inside the partition.
I barely look at him as I hurriedly near the end, but when I get to the gate, it suddenly starts to shut right before me.
“No!” I scream, grabbing it. “Let me out!”
“Ma’am,” the man calls from behind, my hand locked around the bars, fingertips pressing into the cold, hard metal as my breathing ravages from within.
“Get the hell away from me and open this damn thing!” I shriek, shaking the bars, the note caught between my palm, my back to the man keeping me away from my son.
“Please, calm down. Let me call one of my bosses and we can sort this out.”
I turn, gritting my teeth, my eyes narrowed as he reaches into his pants, retrieving a cell.
But suddenly he stills, confusion branded on his features, his eyes bulging as though he’s seen a ghost. The phone falls from his grasp, tumbling onto the grass.
He backs away from me. “It’s not possible,” he barely whispers.
I whirl my head around, wondering if someone is behind me, but there’s no one here but us. “What’s wrong?” I ask. But he shakes his head like he’s in a daze, completely ignoring the question.
“It can’t be.” He takes a step forward. “I’ve been looking all this time and—”
“What the hell are you talking about?” My pulse races, a cold rush swarming up my entire body.
“You don’t recognize me, do you?” The softness in his voice breaks with emotion. This tall guy towering over me looks as though he’s about to collapse.
He must be a customer. That has to be it.
“Look.” I swallow harshly, trying to bury this eerie feeling wafting over me.
He’s seriously creeping me out. “I think I know where we met, and I don’t do that anymore.
If Enzo finds out, he’ll basically kill you, so why don’t you shut the fuck up and let me out.
I’ll keep this between us. Sound good to you? ”
He chuckles with sadness piercing through, wiping under his eye. I hadn’t realized he was crying.
My stomach churns.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but it’s nice to see you haven’t changed much.”
Goose bumps break over both arms, running up so quickly, it almost hurts. “Who are you?” I breathe.
He comes nearer, a gentle hand tentatively falling to the top of my shoulder. “It’s me, Jade.” He sighs. “It’s Elliot. God, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I can’t believe you’ve been here all this time.”
I don’t know what happens after because I fall, my knees buckling, the lights going out.
I think I faint.
“Give her some room,” someone demands as I grumble, my eyelids flickering as I start to see again, the overhead lights causing me to squint. That same man stands over me, the one who claimed he’s my—brother. I jump to a sitting position from the sofa, but as my head spins, I regret it.
“Hey, drink some water,” he says, extending a glass toward me.
Glancing up, I try to find bits of the sixteen-year-old boy within the man who looks nothing like him.
Could it be him?
“You can’t be my brother,” I say, grabbing the cup and drinking all of it, now suddenly parched. “I don’t know who you are.” I shove the glass back his way and he takes it. “This isn’t funny.”
With a head tilt, he tells the others to go, and they leave us alone in the den. He sits beside me, letting out a hard sigh. “Who else would prank you the way I used to?” He lets out a chuckle. “Like put shaving cream and cinnamon all over your mouth? Remember how we told Mom that day you—”
My body breaks with a tremor, blinking through the large tears welling. He was always coming up with weird and unexpected ways to prank me. “Oh my God,” I cry. “It really is you.”
I slap a hand over my mouth, staring at him with fresh eyes, both of us gripped with so many emotions, it’s too difficult to contain them.
“Elliot?” My chin quivers. “Elliot.” I throw my arms around my brother, hugging him so tight, I’m probably killing him.
His arms wrap around me even tighter. “It’s me, sis. I’m here.”
I silently cry in his arms for a while, and I think he cries in mine. He lost me too. It must’ve been hard. He said he looked for me, but how did he end up here?
It’s a conversation we have to have, but not now. Not when I still have to get to Robby. Maybe he can help. Gently pushing away from him, I look on the ground for that piece of paper.
“Elliot, I have a million questions. So many that it’ll take us days to talk, and I’m sure you have them too, but I have to find someone before he’s killed. You have to let me out of here.”
“Do you mean Robby?”
I jerk back. “How did you kno—”
But as he fishes in his pocket, lifting a hand, I find the note dangling from his fingers.
“Who is Robby, Jade? What are you involved in? Are Enzo and his brothers hurting you? Because I don’t give a shit that I work for them, I’ll kill each one if they did something to you.”
My eyes grow.
Whoa. What happened to my sweet, pain-in-the-ass little brother?
“No. I love Enzo.” I clasp my hand over his, releasing an audible exhale. “I guess I have to tell you, but be prepared. You’re going to hate this story.”
He steels his jaw, nodding once. I tell him everything, skipping the parts filled with the specifics of what those men did to me, but I recite the important parts, about the Bianchis, how Agnelo raped me, how I met Enzo.
When I’m done, he looks enraged. He’s scary like this, even while I know he’d never cause me any harm.
“I’m going to fucking kill everyone who’s still alive. Whether they personally laid a damn finger on you or not, they’re fucking dead.”
“I know you’re upset, but I have to go to that address. I have to get my son.”
“Jade, they’re going to kill you as soon as you step foot there. You’ll never get Robby.”
An unbearable pain lodges into the back of my throat. “I can’t sit here and do nothing.”
“That’s not what I said. But you’re not going anywhere. We are.”
“What?”
There’s determination on his face as he retrieves a phone from his pocket.
“Who are you calling?”
“Enzo. He’s with Dante. I’m telling them what’s going on so we can go and get Robby, then kill those fucks once and for all.”
I grab his wrist. “What if that doesn’t work? What if they see you guys and kill my son?”
“They won’t.” A flick of a smile etches his mouth. “I’m going to get my nephew back, so I can tell him all about how I would torture his mom when we were kids.” Tears swim past my eyes.
“I’m not losing you again.” His brows tighten. “Trust me, okay?”
My shoulders drop. “Okay.”
I don’t have a choice now. Maybe Elliot is right. Agnelo wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me dead after killing my boy.
He dials a number. “Sir, listen, Jade was planning on running and—”
He pauses, listening to Enzo, whose voice I hear, but not what he’s saying.
“It’s a long story. I don’t have time to explain. But she got a note from Agnelo saying they’ll kill Robby if she doesn’t—
“What?” His gaze focuses on me intently. “Okay. No problem.”
“What is it?” I ask in alarm as he climbs to his feet.
“Talk to him as you follow me out to the Jeep.” He hands me the cell.
I quickly place the phone to my ear. “Enzo?”
“Baby? I got him. I’ve got Robby. We found him.”
I stop, my inhale locked in my lungs. The shock, it hits me right in the heart. I could barely hold the phone or walk, almost collapsing to the ground.
“He’s in the hospital. I just got here a minute ago,” Enzo continues. “I was about to call you when Elliot called me. He’ll take you to him.”
“Hospital? Wha-what’d they do to him?”
Elliot hooks an arm through mine, leading me to a car that’s already waiting. The doors open and he helps me inside.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with him yet,” Enzo says as the engine spurs to life. We roll out of the driveway and onto the street. “The woman I found him with said he’d been sick. His pulse had stopped for a few seconds, but—”
“Oh my God!” I gasp, the tears rolling down my cheeks, a weighty ache settling over my chest.
“He’ll be okay, baby. He’s with the doctors. You gotta believe he’ll come out of this.”
But I can’t.
Hope isn’t something I’m used to.