TWENTY-NINE
M y heart sinks to my fucking feet.
As if on cue, the cavalry comes storming in. I rip the muzzle off my face and unlock the collar, throwing both to the ground in a flash. My gun is in my hand, and it doesn’t take me too long to rush up the stairs.
“Talk to me Lucas,” I growl in the earpiece. “What the fuck happened?”
“I don’t know!” he defends, but panic is evident in his tone. “I had my eyes on her, and she entered the room where the body was, but that one had no security cameras and then the door closed and boom, she was gone. The odd thing is, no one left the room.”
“Which one is it?”
“The second door on the right.”
Immediately, I find myself in front of the door. I push it open with my gun ready to shoot. I don’t think I’ve ever felt anxiety as high as I’m feeling it right now. Noelle is nowhere in sight, and all I can see is a dead body on the floor in the dried blood.
“She couldn’t have just vanished, Lucas,” I scream.
I start pushing things around. The window is locked and even if someone took her and jumped with her, they would have some severe wounds. It’s high and impossible to do without getting hurt.
“This is an old building,” he says quickly. “Look behind the shelves or under the table. There has to be a secret passage somewhere.”
I get to work. I push down every cabinet and shelf, only to come up fucking empty. I lift the desk with ease and immediately see the different pattern on the tiles. It’s right there.
But there’s no handle for me to see, so I start hitting and pushing every tile until one of them pushes upward. I step aside, and the rest slowly come undone, revealing a dark path and stairs that are too narrow for two people to fit at once.
“I found it,” I tell Lucas.
My ears are filled with gunshots from downstairs. People are screaming, and I can recognize the guns owned by my family. Both teams are here, dealing with the aftermath. I’m not focused on that; I know they will do their work properly.
Or be killed.
“Lucas, can you find anything about this passage?” I ask and slowly start going down the stairs. “Where do the stairs lead?”
“There’s nothing on them on the layouts.” He cusses. "But I think it leads into the woods. I’ll try to dig deeper.”
I told her it was a bad idea to get separated.
I told her it was a terrible fucking idea to go off on her own.
God, please, if you exist, just keep her safe until I find her.
And I will find her, even if it’s the last thing I do. Noelle Campbell is the most important person in my life, and I’ll be damned if a motherfucker like Dylan takes her away from me. No one will ever dare to lay their hands on what’s mine. Not after I make an example of this bastard.
Sorry, Noelle, but I will be the one to kill him. I’ll display his head on the front gate of my house with a clear warning. Everyone who even dares to breathe in the same direction as my girl will meet the same fate, if not worse, for daring to act so bold.
“Come on, Noelle,” I yell out. “Tell me you’re here, somewhere, please.”
My pleas don’t reach her. There’s no one down here. Wherever the motherfucker took her, they’re long gone. Ten fucking minutes is all it took for him to snatch the meaning and reason of my existence.
And it happened right under my nose.
My entire body is on fire. The last time I felt rage like this was when Noelle killed my brother. And I forgave that. I will never forgive this. Noelle is mine, in sin and in virtue. She’s bound to me by the blood of the past generations. Noelle was fucking born to belong to me.
Once I reach the end of the narrow hall, I’m met with a flight of stairs that leads up. The door isn’t closed, and I see the clear sky above my head. I’m quick to climb up, only to feel the disappointment weigh on my chest.
She’s gone.
The fucking bastard took her away from me.
“Lucas, find that motherfucker. I want to know every single property owned by the previous silencer and everything Dylan owns. Find that bastard.”
“Understood.”
By the time I return to the front of the building, Niko and Lyla have someone taking away all the girls to the hospital. Later, they will be handed to the police to find their families. Those without one will be provided with a fresh start, somewhere far from this fucked up place.
Niko is immediately on me, his fist colliding with my cheek. The salty copper fills my mouth, and I spit it out immediately, a drop or two sliding down my chin. Niko is shaking with anger, and he swings his fist again.
This time, I catch it, twist his arm, and push him away.
“You fucking imbecile,” he screams. “You were supposed to protect her! You were supposed to be with her! Is this all a fucking joke to you?”
My jaw clenches, my hands fisting at my sides. The urge to knock the life out of him is slowly winning, but Lyla comes to my side, stepping in between us. The look in her eyes is as serious as ever, and she shakes her head.
“Not now, Hudson.” She glances at Niko. “We need to find Noelle. Time is ticking.”
Niko doesn’t listen to her. He tries to pounce on me again, but I dodge it with ease. Fury is radiating off him, eyes bloodshot and ready to kill. He’s shaking, unable to hold himself back.
If he wants to fight, I’ll fight him and win.
I’m fucking angry, too.
But I can’t let it show. I can’t focus on it now. It will cloud my judgment, and the main priority is getting Noelle home safely. The anger can be kept away until I meet Dylan again and then I’ll unleash years’ worth of rage upon the bastard.
“You can either calm down or continue your fit, but the latter won’t help Noelle,” I spit out, venom on my tongue. The mere thought of what the motherfucker must be putting her through makes my entire body go into a massive fit of rage. “I’m not going to wait for your little tantrum to be over with.”
“You sick fuck,” he spits. "It’s all your fault.”
“I know!” I yell out. “I know it’s my fucking fault, alright? And you can fucking kill me, but save it for after Noelle is safe.”
That seems to do the trick.
The anger still lingers in his eyes, but he stops shaking. His eyes close, and he takes a deep breath before nodding his head.
“If you don’t find her in the next two days, I will kill you.”
“Be my fucking guest.”
On the way to the underground bunker, I pick up Mika. Usually, he throws a fit, especially so late in the night. But given that I showed up unannounced and that I didn’t even ask if he wanted to join, he didn’t say anything.
He and Lucas barely introduce themselves, but Mika is definitely impressed with the set up. The two begin their work immediately, searching furiously.
Lucas is on data collection duty, trying to find out every little corner of Dylan’s life. He was unaware of his involvement, and now he’s even more pissed. That anger is only pushing him to work faster and harder, making me keep my mouth shut.
Mika is focusing on any CCTV he can find that is near the forest. He’s searching through every vehicle, and every single one that he flags as suspicious is sent to Lucas to find the owner. Thus far, Lucas was able to find four different properties that Dylan frequents but aren’t in his name.
Two are penthouses near Noelle.
The motherfucker was stalking her. The closest penthouse to hers was a four-minute walk. How the fuck did I not notice it sooner? No. Why the fuck didn’t I get rid of him while I had the chance?
It still bothers me that someone snuck into my home, which is as protected as Fort Knox, and set him free. Despite having multiple cameras, they were all disconnected when he was released.
“Lucas, Mika,” I growl, getting impatient. It’s been four hours since we got here and neither of them has found a single fucking thing. “Hurry up.”
“We’re doing our best,” Mika says, though his voice isn’t as loud. “We’ll find her soon. Does her family know?”
I glance behind me to Niko, who is still shooting daggers at me. Lyla is trying to keep him calm, but he’s barely paying any attention to her. He’s constantly staring at me, then switching to the many monitors.
“I haven’t told Ray yet,” Niko responds. “If she’s not found by morning, I’ll have to tell him. He’ll notice it himself, if he hasn’t by now.”
“It’s four in the morning.”
“And she was supposed to send him back the report by one. He’ll wait for the morning, so he doesn’t upset Kalina.”
Lyla approaches us and leans against Lucas’ chair. Her eyes squint as she stares, then she points her finger. “Wait, what’s that?”
Immediately, Lucas enhances the image. It’s maybe an hour away from the forest, around an hour after Noelle was taken. It’s an ice cream truck; however, it doesn’t have any license plates.
“Who the hell drives an ice cream truck this late?”
“And why the fuck doesn’t it have the license plates?”
“Track him,” I say through gritted teeth. “Follow it and see where it goes.”
The next thirty minutes is spent with both Lucas and Mika creating the history of the path the truck took. It’s not clearly shown where it first appeared, but I can see that it went on the highway. It didn’t stop by any gas stations or even sway off the road.
Instead, the trail goes cold when the CCTV disappears.
“Motherfucker,” I hiss.
“Calm down.” Lyla strokes my forearm. “It’s a start.”
“It’s not fucking good enough!”
Lyla speaks carefully. “Then let’s just use the teams from tonight and go to all the locations at once.”
“That’s risky,” Niko says, finally speaking with reason. “Most likely, it’s all being monitored. One wrong move, and they’ll transfer her somewhere no one can find her.”
“Then what do you suggest? To wait? With the two of you on the verge of insanity?”
“I say lure him out,” Niko says. “Burn his company to the ground. Force him out of his hiding spot.”
“Can we do that without getting caught?”
“We want to get caught. There’s a high chance they will take us to the same place as Noelle. We’ll just be prepared for it this time.”
“Lyla, get me some gasoline.”
It’s not the smartest idea, but it’s all we have at the moment. A stupid idea can at least be useful in some ways. If nothing, it will distract him long enough for us to find her somehow.
Hold on, Noelle.
I’ve failed you once. I’ll never do it again. I vow with everything that I am—everything that you made me—that I will find you and bring you back safely into my arms. I’ll never let you do anything like this again, and you’ll never be in danger.
Just wait for me, please.
Don’t lose yourself to the anger and the pain.
I’ll carry all of your burdens, all of your pain. It will be mine to shoulder so that you never have to experience something like this ever again.