Chapter 47
Chapter Forty-Seven
Kain
His face pale, Harry sank into his chair, looking ten years older than when I last saw him today.
“I hope Eva’s okay.” Regret pained Harry’s face.
“I was twenty minutes away, Harry.” I swallowed the lump lodged in my throat. If I had told my security to remain by her side, she’d still be here. I’d never forgive myself for the mistake. “I’ll find her. The authorities have been alerted.”
Aside from his pallor, Harry took the urgent news better than I anticipated.
Perhaps his knowledge of the dark world had prepared him for these unpredictable occurrences.
Or maybe he was holding back his emotions like me.
He didn’t need to know my plan to kill those fuckers. They weren’t getting away with this.
I buried the violent thoughts before they leaked out of me. The last thing Harry needed was to worry about me too.
“It had to be Hawthorne,” Harry sighed. “If we had kept in touch, I would’ve shared what I knew about Hawthorne with you. Maybe together we would’ve prevented Eva’s abduction.”
I understood the what-ifs that came after the fact. But blaming yourself did nothing to improve the current situation.
“It’s not your fault, nor mine. We couldn’t have expected this.
What if we’d kept in touch and discovered more about Hawthorne?
Our investigation could have alerted him, forcing him to eliminate us sooner.
” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Don’t dwell on the what-ifs, Harry.
I’m a firm believer in working with what you’ve got now. ”
His shoulders sagged, but he smiled at me. “You’re right.”
My mind wandered to Andrew. Did he know about this? I’d pay him a visit soon.
“Emilio should be home now.” Harry placed two hands on his thighs. “I’ll call him up.”
“Up?”
“He lives downstairs on the ground floor.”
Questions popped into my head. How long had Emilio lived in this apartment complex?
Harry looked at me. “Yes, I asked Emilio to monitor my girl because I lived far away. The bodyguard was his friend.”
While Harry called Emilio, I left a message with Andrew, requesting to meet tonight.
A knock sounded on the door, and Harry opened it for Emilio. He was the man who had been walking with Harry in the street, sporting the Bingo Delivery jacket. He appeared to be in his mid-fifties, with dark brown hair and green eyes.
“Kain, please meet my friend Emilio.”
“My pleasure.” Emilio offered a firm handshake.
“Likewise.” I’d have liked to know more about him, but time was of the essence. Every second mattered. “Can you help us find Eva? I believe Hawthorne has her.”
Emilio took the cup of water Harry offered him. “I don’t think he has her.”
“How do you know?” My eyebrows furrowed.
“Francisco told me.” Emilio sipped, placing his cup on the coffee table. “I knew him and his brother. During their time with the organization, they never saw Hawthorne. Assignments were given by other supervisors. He didn’t even see the chapter manager.”
“Chapter manager?” I asked, unfamiliar with the chapters within Hawthorne’s organization. It must’ve been something new that developed later.
“Francisco worked for the New England Chapter.” Emilio looked at me. “There are chapters all over the country, all managed by Hawthorne’s men.”
“And here I thought I’d destroyed the headquarters back then.” Any of these chapters could’ve taken Eva.
“You did,” Emilio said. “You injured him and a lot of his men. He went into hiding after the explosion and took his time to heal and rebuild his empire.”
“How do you know so much?” I looked at Emilio and then at Harry.
I got the feeling these wise men sitting before me knew things beyond my grasp.
“Emilio is the expert on these crime cells,” Harry said. “He showed me all the layers that make up this corrupt world.”
“There are so many crime organizations out there, Kain.” Emilio leaned back on the couch.
“You and your friends were victims of one. Victor Hawthorne’s was a small organization that grew over the years.
But he has a lot of enemies. Competitors in the field.
” He met my gaze, and I saw wisdom in his eyes—the kind that stemmed from firsthand experience.
“I was a victim of one and survived. I know of men like you who destroyed a powerful crime syndicate called The Trogyn.”
“I know them too,” I said, remembering the wild story splashing all over the news.
“Victor assumed one of his enemies caused the disaster you created back then. But then he captured someone who claimed to have seen you and your friends escape through the woods.”
That meant his enemies had been spying on him. They probably saw us and cheered when the destruction occurred.
“So when Hawthorne found out, he started killing more people in the area. He wanted us to know he was back,” I shared my thoughts.
Emilio nodded. “His empire has grown exponentially.”
“I remember seeing Francisco drive by this building when I first arrived here,” Harry said. “He discovered critical info he wanted to share with me and Emilio. Eva was with me, so I didn’t get to talk to him until later.”
That was why Eva had seen him in her neighborhood.
“What did he want to tell you?” I asked.
“He saw Senator Falcone coming out of a hotel room with a young girl. She looked distraught and scared.”
“What do you mean, scared?” A part of me wished my gut was wrong.
“The senator raped her. Francisco hid her in his laundry cart and reunited her with her parents. They were immigrants and didn’t speak English well.
Apparently, he told her parents that she was smart and deserved a full scholarship to college when she graduated.
To start the application process, she needed to take a test to get her scores. ”
“Who takes a college exam in a hotel room?” Harry slammed a fist into the chair. “Bastard.”
I didn’t know if I could take any more bad news. This revelation about the senator shook me, staining the image I had of him all these years. He had helped me attend college, but everything he told me was a lie.
Rage burned inside me. How many young girls had he hurt in his program? Why hadn’t I seen this?
Was it a lie when he said his family didn’t want me to visit Ozarrow Woods? Had he made it up? But why? What was there that he didn’t want me to see? I thought back to the visit, and the only thing that stood out to me was the note saying Hawthorne was back.
Had Hawthorne left me that note, or was it Senator Falcone trying to scare me and keep me from searching the woods?
Fuck! I’d told him so much about my past. Was he working with Hawthorne? If so, why didn’t he tell Hawthorne about me and the boys sooner? What was his agenda?
I was confused and furious.
“Francisco wanted to atone for all his sins,” Harry said. “Whenever he discovered something, he’d share it with us.”
“Hawthorne targets vulnerable young boys and girls. Most have unstable lives at home or are rebellious. Many of his followers started out as homeless kids needing a place to belong.”
“Vulnerable kids are easily broken and easily controlled,” I said as my unstable childhood flashed before me. “The same goes for adults.”
All of my friends were vulnerable back then too.
“Was Victor sick like the senator?” Harry asked an indirect question.
“From my knowledge, Victor wasn’t a pedophile,” Emilio said. “He kidnapped kids and forced them to work, making him more money. I never saw or heard anyone seeing him with kids in that way. He was a serial killer, not a pedophile. At least not that I know of.”
It was hard not to doubt my own judgment after this. Guilt shredded me. If I had known about Senator Falcone’s sick mind, I would’ve protected those kids.
Was Eva safe? Was she scared?
Godfrey’s name flashed across my phone, and I picked it up on the first ring. “Hey. You got something?”
“We have a recording of those fuckers from a business across the street. All the cameras from the drugstore weren’t active during that half-hour. Someone probably hijacked their system to turn it off while those men were there.”
“Send it my way.”
“Do you want me to send a copy to Detective McNally too?”
“Yes. If he asks you how you got it, say a friend gave it to you. That usually stops him from inquiring further.”
“Okay, I’m going to keep checking other recordings. I’ll let you know if I see something else.”
“One more thing—can you try reaching out to Andrew? He might know something. I texted him earlier but haven’t heard.”
“Will do.”
“Thanks, man.” I ended the call and met Harry’s hopeful eyes.
“What do you have?” Harry asked.
“Godfrey found a recording of the parking lot.” I opened my email, clicked the link, and placed my phone on the coffee table for all to see.
“My poor Eva,” Harry murmured with tears in his eyes.
My fingers curled into fists. The desire to kill those two guys surged like a tidal wave.
“They tricked her.” Harry wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “She probably saw me or her grandmother in that situation and rushed over to help without hesitation.”
Emilio reached for a tissue and handed it to Harry. “We’ll find her. Don’t worry.”
I shoved fear and anger aside for a moment. I had to be strong for Eva and Harry.
“They have her purse, which means they probably have her phone.” Emilio looked at me. “Maybe we can locate it.”
“They probably turned it off,” I said. “Or placed it somewhere with a jammer.”
“I know someone who can bypass that.” Emilio looked at me.
“Milo!” Harry exclaimed with hope gleaming in his eyes.
“Who’s Milo?”
“Camila’s grandson. They live with me. They’re currently in New York City, visiting the museums. I’ll call them and ask if they can return sooner.”
“I’d appreciate it,” Harry said. “Let me call and ask Camila.”
“I’ll pay for their flights,” I added.
“We’ll keep you posted.” Emilio placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Go home and rest. You need energy to battle the beast.”
“Thank you.” I stood up and turned to Harry, whose strong facade was crumbling. “You okay?”
“I will be.” He gripped my arm, offered a warm smile, and nodded. “Conserve your energy. Eva needs you. I’ll be downstairs with Emilio for a bit.”
When the two men left, I stole a moment to immerse myself in Eva’s apartment.
Though I’d been here before, I had never studied it.
She had plants everywhere, real ones and fake ones, decorating the shelves of her bookcase, and interesting pots hanging from the ceiling by the window.
I strode into the kitchen, remembering my lunch date at her house, reveling in the silence and scent that was hers.
Where are you, baby?
I made my way into her bedroom. Again, she had plants on the floor, windowsill, and one on her nightstand. Sitting down on her bed, I ran my hand over the soft pastel sheets, missing her more than she could ever know.
“I love you,” I said, glancing around her bedroom.
That admission shook my heart. I’d swap places with Eva in a heartbeat.
It all started during that first encounter at her flower shop.
Love at first sight seemed surreal, and yet it was very real to me.
I should’ve told her sooner. But I was afraid that admitting it too soon would scare her.
Love took time to develop, but here I was already knee-deep.
When I first saw her, it felt like a bolt of lightning struck me, piercing straight into my heart. Eva illuminated my life, and in doing so, chased away all the darkness. Most of all, she opened my heart so I could welcome in more things, looking at life from various perspectives.
Love was like a tattoo that bled into my body and into my soul, becoming one with me. The art and its meaning gave me inexplicable healing and comfort. No one had to understand the story my ink portrayed. It was my rite of passage.
I knew it would drive me crazy sitting around, wondering and waiting for a breakthrough. There was something I could do to honor my love for her and keep me calm.