CHAPTER 49
Taken From Him
Hunter
In the half an hour since Gabriela left, a sense of dread bloomed within me.
At first, I tried to ignore it and chalk it up to my attachment issues with her.
I was obsessed and so damn in love with the red-haired beauty that I hated being away from her.
We spent the entire weekend glued together, laughing, talking, making love, and simply existing next to each other like we were always meant to be.
And yet all the kisses, all the strokes, all the conversations weren’t enough.
I feared even an entire lifetime with her wouldn’t be.
I wanted eternity and beyond. I wanted to possess every smile, every laugh, every touch. I wanted to possess every facet that composed this beautiful, brilliant, star-powered woman. Even the ones she’d yet to discover about herself.
Gabriela Regina Bellafiore was my drug and I was a fiend for her.
It wasn’t a healthy mindset, but I didn’t care.
I was all about this little goddess of mine.
And because her well-being would always be my top priority, I could no longer ignore the foreboding prickling the atmosphere of my home in her absence. It perforated the air and wrapped around my throat like a noose.
As I emerged from my en suite, a fresh gauze applied over my wound, a towel around my waist, and another to dry my hair, my eyes drifted over to the digital clock on my nightstand.
It read 12:45 p.m.
Right about now, Gabriela should have reached her family’s home.
I donned my clothes in record speed, then headed downstairs. My place was less bright without Gabriela’s and Luna’s presence. A few guards lingered inside as a precaution, prepping for my mom and sister’s arrival.
They gave me silent nods of acknowledgement that I returned.
I’d left my phone on the console table. When I plucked it from the wooden catch-all bowl and unlocked it, there wasn’t a single text or call from Gabriela.
Frowning, I opened another app to check her location.
And abruptly halted when I realized that it hadn’t moved in the last forty-five minutes.
She was about a kilometer away, on the road leading to my home.
Did she and the guards encounter a car issue?
I called her. After a few rings, it went to voicemail. I called her again, pacing the hallway. Voicemail once more. I resorted to texting her.
Is everything okay, Gabby? —Hunter
Your location hasn’t moved. Did something happen? —Hunter
Please call me back. —Hunter
I need to hear your voice. —Hunter
My texts were delivered but remained unread.
There was a sinking feeling in my core.
I glanced over to my right and caught one of the guards’ attention. “Have Oscar or Craig contacted anyone regarding car issues?”
He appeared confused. “Not to my knowledge, sir, but I can ask the others.”
Fuck. “Please do straight away.”
While the rest of the guards inquired amongst themselves, I pulled up Enzo Bellafiore’s contact information and sent him a text.
Hi, Enzo. Have you heard from Gabriela? I checked her phone’s location and she hasn’t moved in over half an hour. I’m worried. —Hunter
Three dots popped up, letting me know he was typing.
Then my phone pinged.
No. She should have been here by now. I’m calling Oscar. —Enzo
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Something went wrong. I felt it in my blood, in my bones, in my fucking soul. I could either sit here and wait for the others to figure out what was going on, or I could grab my keys and head out myself to investigate.
My decision was made within thirty seconds.
“Sir, you have to stay inside!” one of the guards hollered as I fast-walked down the pathway leading to the driveway where my Jag was parked. “It’s not safe to go out!”
I ignored their calls and unlocked my driver’s door, getting in before they could stop me. The engine purred to life and I peeled out of the driveway with speed, heading to the location where Gabriela’s car was stalled.
Some of the guards got in vehicles and trailed after me, but I was faster.
The thought of Gabriela in danger overshadowed the ache in my right arm as I drove, so much so that I could pretend for a moment that I hadn’t been injured three days ago.
Panic rose in me like a tidal wave when a familiar black SUV came into view, parked on the side of the lonely road, with two doors open…
And two bodies on the ground.
No, no, no.
I threw my hazard lights on and stumbled out of the car, making sure to grab my gun from the glove compartment. My heart drummed fast and my breaths thinned as I walked with heavy feet, a figurative chain manacled around my ankles, slowing me down from viewing the train wreck.
My first and only encounter with death had been my dad.
I remembered seeing his corpse tucked in a casket, his expression peaceful. He’d still appeared full of life, like minutes from waking up after a long nap.
But nothing could have prepared me for witnessing these lifeless corpses.
There was nothing peaceful in their expressions. Their eyes were open in shock and their mouths parted, lying in a pool of their own blood.
So. Much. Blood.
I recoiled back at seeing a dead Oscar and Craig, bile rising in my throat.
“Gabriela!” I screamed for her, tossing a glance at my surroundings. The empty road and the forest lining either side of it. Frantically, I rounded the car to peer into the backseat as well.
But Gabriela was nowhere to be found.
Her purse lay open in the backseat, its contents—including her phone—scattered across the surface.
As if she’d left in a hurry.
No.
As if she’d been taken.
I felt like the walls around me were closing in.
No, no, no. She couldn’t be gone, she couldn’t be hurt, she couldn’t be…
I couldn’t finish the thought.
The very thought that Gabriela was no longer on this Earth was unfathomable to me. I refused to believe it.
Something inside of me cracked. I threw my head back on another mournful scream that boomed in the cold morning air like a desperate plea, “Gabriela!”
I needed to hear her voice. I needed to see her. I needed her in my arms. She had to be okay. There was no other possibility. Otherwise, I would hold a grudge with every god out there, every star, every inch of the universe’s tapestry for stealing her away from me.
In the midst of the chaos that was my mind, I heard a faint meow right as I was about to pull out my phone to dial Enzo.
Luna.
My head snapped to my left, watching with tormented eyes as Luna ran towards me, her gait a little slower than usual. Almost like she was limping. She came from the opposite side of the road, closer to my home and furthest from where the car was parked.
Her small cries cut me to the quick.
It struck me that she was probably headed towards my home to the best of her ability, in an attempt to alert us. And if any of the guards—or myself—had seen Luna arriving at the property, we’d have known something cataclysmically wrong had occurred.
“Luna.” I knelt just as she reached me, her distressing sounds growing in decibels as she pawed at me. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m—”
My sentence died when I realized Luna’s pawprints had blood on them. They left a red mark on my white dress shirt like a bad omen.
Trepidation rushed through my veins when I checked Luna for injuries. Physically, she appeared fine, but she released a pitiful noise when I touched her back leg, letting me know she was actually hurt.
When I tried to grab her, she ducked out of my arms with a sharp yowl and trotted across the road. Confused, I followed after her with a grim expression.
She kept circling an area across the road, beckoning me closer.
I froze upon seeing more blood smeared against the asphalt.
I stared at the sight with vengeance.
Please, please, please. Don’t tell me that’s Gabriela’s blood.
To confirm my worst suspicions, Luna meowed and directed my attention towards the side of the road, where a familiar pearl bracelet mocked me.
It belonged to Gabriela.
My fingers shook as I picked up the discarded item, clutching it in my palm fiercely as if that would keep my anger and tears at bay.
Not too far away from her bracelet, there was another item.
A fallen, slim leather wallet.
I picked it up.
When I flipped it open to reveal a flurry of credit cards and a driver’s licence…every breath, every heartbeat, every thought came to a standstill.
The photographed face of Tom Prescott stared back at me.
My haunted eyes rose to Luna. Her gaze never wavered from mine.
She tilted her head as if silently confirming my question.
At that exact moment, two more things occurred.
Bulletproof cars rushed in on the scene, filled with Remington guards.
And my phone rang, Josh’s caller ID flashing on the screen.
Numbly, I picked it up and brought it to my ear, not saying a word.
Josh did all the talking for me. “We know where she is.”