Chapter Twenty-Six
“Igot word on the plates,” Carlos says to me as I punch the automatic gate opener for the driveway. “I meant to tell you earlier, but I didn’t have a chance.”
I’m annoyed, but I don’t show it. “What did you find?”
“They belong to a William Walker. No idea who he is. Might just be a fake name. You know how those guys do.”
I nod slowly, but internally, every alarm goes off in my head. How the fuck could such a lowlife like him find my house? I kept everything private, paying loads of fucking money to keep it that way. I need to take care of him now.
“Whoa, slow down, amigo,” Carlos laughs as I zoom up the driveway, hitting the garage door opener.
The first fucking thing I notice is the missing Mercedes.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I shout, punching the steering wheel. “Where the hell is Aaron?” The tires squeal as I come to a stop and throw the door open. I turn to Carlos. “Find the location of the Mercedes, now.”
“Yes, boss,” he says quickly, pulling out his phone.
I don’t slow down as I rip open the garage door.
“Sara!” I call through the house, my voice quaking with panic and anger. “Sara??”
“Sir?” Aaron appears from the living room.
“Where is she?” I bark at him, rushing up and grabbing ahold of his shirt. “Where did she go? Who got her?”
“Uh…” Aaron’s face fills with confusion. “She left? I don’t know. It was probably only about twenty minutes ago, maybe. Your meeting was short.”
“It was canceled,” I growl.
“She said she was going to meet you.”
Rage fills my chest, and I throw him backwards. His body slams into the wall like a rag doll. He grunts upon impact, and I rush him again, violent thoughts consuming my mind. However, I know that won’t fix the problem—and I need all the information I can get from him.
“I swear, I thought she was going to meet with you. She didn’t act as if anything was off, boss,” he whimpers. I give him one swift kick to the stomach, knowing that I’m already on a time crunch. I know where she’s headed, and I have to do everything I can to stop her.
I spin on my heels. “No one comes and no one goes until I get back,” I instruct, spitting my orders out as I leave him there on the floor, hunched over. ”And when I come back, we”ll finish this conversation… one way or another,” I lie, my calm voice hanging heavy in the air. It”s a lie because I already know there is only one way this can end for Aaron.
With an introduction to his maker.
Mistakes like this in my circles are fatal.
I push through the door with such force that the wood splinters as the knob punches a hole in the drywall.
Carlos is already in the driver’s seat of the Camaro, waiting for me. “Let’s go, boss. We should only be about thirty minutes behind her.”
I want to force him out of the driver’s seat, but at the moment, I’m seeing fucking red, and I know I’m more likely to get pulled over and arrested if I get behind the wheel. I wouldn’t care—I have contacts everywhere now—but that would delay me from getting to Sara. I don’t know what Will has up his sleeve, and I don’t know if he had something to do with her leaving.
“You think she split on her own?” Carlos offers up as he pulls out of the garage, his pace like a fucking grandma.
“I don’t know,” I say through gritted teeth. “But right now, I think you should just fucking drive.”
“I am, I am.” He holds his hands up in surrender, his expression indignant. “I was just trying to make conversation. It will pass the time much faster than if you sit there seething in your own head. We will get there not long after she does. Nothing is going to happen. If she was going to call the police, I think she would’ve by now. She could’ve pulled off anywhere and called.”
“You’re not making me feel any better,” I grunt, raking my fingers through my hair. What would’ve happened had the meeting not been canceled on my way there? It would’ve put me hours behind her. Was this some kind of fucking plan she had up her sleeve all along? Was she fucking waiting for me to leave her so she could go?
My stomach knots up as I lean back against the seat. She lied. She used me. And I don’t even care about it. I can’t hate her for it. I’ve done enough to her, and the fact I have no hard feelings will more than likely shock her.
“Do you leave your phone out at night?” Carlos’s question cuts through the thoughts I’m drowning in, and I have to admit that it’s a welcome distraction. Maybe it is better to make conversation.
I glance over to him. “I plug it into the charger on my side of the bed. Everyone does that.”
“It got a passcode?”
“No, it’s not the one I use for business.”
He eyes me warily. “You should check it, amigo. She might have communicated with someone. You might be driving right into a trap.”
She wouldn’t do that to me.
But yet, I’m still propelled to check my phone. I dig through the deleted call log which tells me nothing. Next, I make my way to the text threads, searching through the messages. I go to the recently deleted folder, and my stomach drops.
“Fuck,” I mutter, shaking my head. “She’s so fucking gullible. She texted one of her foster sisters last night.”
Carlos nods. “What’s it say?”
“Not much, other than that she promises that she’ll make it back to them. The texts seem like a panic from the other side…” Something doesn’t sit right as I go over them. Is it just a teenage girl freaking out because her missing sister is back? Or is more than that? “I don’t like this.”
“Like I said, it could be a trap.”
“If it was Will, who broke into the courtyard, that means that he knew she was here,” I think aloud, running through the options. “Do you think he was planning to take her back? Or was he coming for me?”
Carlos shrugs. “I don’t have an answer for you. I don’t think you’ll know until we get there, and even then, it’s a toss-up. It could just be a coincidence that he’s hanging around here. We both know that he owes money again to Grenado, and we both know that he hates you.”
“He ruined my life,” I say, but then stop myself. “Actually, that’s not true. It’s because of him that I have my life the way I do. Maybe I owe him a debt of thanks.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Carlos chuckles. “In fact, I would say that the fucker deserves to die a horrible, miserable death for what he did to you, but I do agree that he brought you to this place. It’s a nice way to rub it in his face though.”
“I don’t care to do that.”
Carlos nods, merging onto the interstate and stomping the gas. “I didn’t think you did. You’re not that kind of man.”
“No, I’m not.” But I am the kind of man who’s not going to let Sara go, no matter what she wants. She will be mine.
I relax back into the seat, knowing that I have more than enough time to prepare myself for whatever I might encounter. I don’t think that Will plans to kill Sara right off the bat, but I don’t know what else he might do.
“How far behind her are we now?”
“Uh, looks like we’re maintaining about twenty minutes, boss,” Carlos answers. “She is moving fast, and I am trying to catch up, but going over one-ten is probably not a good idea. If we get pulled over, it will kill too much time.”
I nod, unable to argue with him. “Just keep it steady. She might lose confidence before she gets there. It could easily happen. We might even catch her driving by a few times. Then, we can go into the house together.” It feels like a pipe dream, but I say it anyway, thinking that maybe if I speak it out loud, it’ll come to fruition.
“I hope you’re right,” Carlos mutters under his breath.
I stare ahead at the road, trying to count the miles in between Sara and us. Why is she doing this? Why didn’t she believe me when I said that I would take her to see her family? In truth, I was planning to—after I had taken care of Will. Maybe then we could’ve all gotten along and been a happy family together.
But maybe I was na?ve for thinking that.
“You just have to take some deep breaths.” Carlos thumps me on the arm. “You look as if you might pass out. I doubt she’s going to walk through the door and be gunned down right then and there.”
“Don’t even put that picture in my mind.”
“Well, I mean, I don’t know. I’m just trying to calm you down.”
I glare at him. “That’s not the way to do it.”
He strikes a lopsided grin. “Well, I’m not gonna jack you off to calm you down.”
“I’d cut your fucking arm off.”
“I know,” he bursts into laughter. “That’s what I’m saying.”
I shake my head at him, and for the first time in my life, I find myself appreciating someone other than Sara. Maybe I could have friends rather than just coworkers. Maybe I could be somewhat normal.
Maybe, just maybe.
Staring out the window, I watch the mile markers pass. My gun is tucked neatly in my waistband where it always is. It has a silencer. I’ll use it if I have to, though cleaning up the mess will be complicated. I’ll have to ask for reinforcements. I’ll have to beat people into silence.
But I can do it if that’s what I have to do. I’ll do anything for Sara. I’ll kill anyone for her. It doesn’t matter. I’ll burn the whole fucking world down for her. I’d go to hell and back and over again.
She can hate me if that’s what she needs to do. She can spend her whole fucking life running from me, but that won’t stop me from doing what I’m doing right now. Someday, I’m going to save her, and she’s going to look at me and see her knight in shining armor again.