Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Ciarán
Time is crawling again. The flight from Lake Renegade to Starlight Bay is only two-and-a-half hours. Luckily the families share an airstrip and a private plane. I texted Emilia before we took off to let her know and she said things were quiet. And that she told Frank what was going on. He said that he won’t leave her side unless I’m there.
I still have that feeling that something’s wrong. But I can’t put my finger on what it is. I spoke to Emilia, so she’s okay. And I just left my family. So they’re all okay. So why do I feel like this?
“Are you okay?” Celestino asks.
“I feel like somethings wrong. But I don’t know what it could be.”
“Maybe it’s because you know something’s going on with Emilia. And you’re not there with her.”
I sigh. “Yeah, maybe that’s it. I’ll feel better when I’m with her.”
I feel like I’m trying to convince myself. I know when I have Emilia in my arms again it’ll be okay. But until then, I don’t know what to do.
“One hour till we land,” the stewardess says to us. “Would anyone like something to eat or drink?”
We all order drinks and try to relax.
I must have dozed off because the next thing I know, we’ve landed. After we grab our stuff and get off the plane, I call Emilia. It goes to voicemail so I leave her a message and text her too.
“Hey love, we just landed and we’ll be at Pi in about thirty minutes. I love you.”
I’m a little worried that she’s not answering. But she’s working, so it happens.
When we get to Pi, the lights are on, but I don’t see anyone inside. Now I’m really starting to panic. Emilia never called me back or responded to my text. I jump out of the car before Celestino fully stops.
“Hey! Don’t go in alone! Fuck!”
I hear Carmelo yell at me as he jumps out after me. Enea says something, but I’m too far away to hear him. I burst into Pi.
“EMILIA! FRANK!” I yell.
I run into the kitchen and see Frank on the floor.
“Please be okay,” I whisper as I feel for a pulse. “Oh thank the gods. Frank, it’s Ciarán. Please wake up.”
Frank starts to moan a little. I can see a little blood under his head so I don’t want to move him. Enea is on the phone to the police.
“They’re sending officers and an ambulance,” Enea says.
Celestino is walking around the restaurant. He’s on the phone and from what I can hear, he’s talking to his da.
“Ciarán?” Frank says softly.
“I’m here. Don’t move. We don’t know how hurt you are. Do you know where Emilia is?”
“No. Someone hit me from behind. I heard her scream as I lost consciousness.”
“We need to go to her house. Maybe Kali knows something? I don’t have her number.”
“Carmelo and Celestino, you go and talk to Kali. I’ll stay here with Ciarán, we’ll talk to the police. After you talk to Kali, come back and get us,” Enea says to them.
Celestino nods as he and Carmelo leave.
“What if she’s dead?” I whisper. More to myself than to anyone in the room.
“You can’t think like that. I wish I could say I don’t know how it feels to be in this situation. But I do. My Lorenzo and Giovanna were kidnapped when they were two years old. We never gave up hope of finding them. It took us twenty-three years. But they’re back with us now. We were lucky that the person who took them, loved them. So as much as I want to kill them, I won’t.”
“I can’t lose her. I don’t know how to be without her.” I frown as I sit next to Frank.
“We will find her. You have to have faith.”
“I’m trying, Enea. I’ve never had someone like Emilia. Someone I want to protect. And I feel like I’ve failed her.”
“You haven’t failed her. Whoever took her had this planned. You have to remember that. What you need to focus on right now is how to find her.”
“The only person that comes to mind is John. But I really don’t know why he would take her. His focus has been on getting Kali back. He’s left Emilia alone.”
Enea nods as the ambulance and police arrive. We tell them everything we know, including my suspicions of John. I also make sure to tell Frank that we’ll be at the hospital as soon as we can. I know Enea is right. I need to find Emilia. No matter what.
After the police leave, we wait for Celestino and Carmelo to come back. When they do, they look worried, they have Kali with them.
“When we got there, Kali was at Emilia’s house. We saw John sitting in his car, Carmelo stayed outside to talk to him while I went up to see Kali. She said John had texted her tonight and again, she never answered him. She saw him out there and just decided to ignore him.”
“And John said that he’s been sitting out there for the last few hours. So unless he’s lying, which he fucking could be, he’s not the one who did this.”
“Do you believe him?” I ask Carmelo.
“No. I don’t. But I don’t know him and his ugly face could just put off those ‘I’m a liar’ vibes naturally.”
Celestino shakes his head and chuckles.
“I have to agree with Carmelo. I thought I knew John, but he played me for a fool. And I can’t say for sure that he was out there the whole time.”
“I think we need to check John’s house. But I don’t want to do that with only the four of us. We need the other guys. I talked to my dad and they’re leaving now instead of in the morning. And they’re driving straight through. There’s six of them so they’ll switch off. He said Salvatore Mancini and Francesco are coming too.”
“I don’t know how to thank you all. I’ve never seen so many come together for people they just met,” I say to all of them.
“This is how we work. Family is family and that means that we’ll do anything for each other. Blood or not,” Enea says.
“Thank you.”
We spend the next hour talking about people that have been around Emilia and if Kali remembers anything that could help us. Right now, the plan is to have Kali distract John so that we can get into his house. She won’t be alone with him, two of the guys will be close enough in case she needs them. We plan to do this as soon as the rest of the family gets here. I just hope it’s not too late.