Chapter 33
CHAPTER 33
CREED
I don’t remember the drive to the hospital. Only the blur of streetlights streaking past, the engine growling as Jenson pushes the car past the speed limit. My grip on my gun is tight, my leg bouncing with barely restrained rage. Mackenzie sits in the back seat, stiff as a damn board, her phone clutched in her hand like she’s waiting for it to ring with an answer we don’t have yet.
Gabriella is gone.
Who knows what state her adoptive father is in.
The second we step into the hospital, the sterile air burns my throat. The overhead fluorescent lights do nothing to soften the sharp edges of reality. We find Mia sitting in the waiting room, her arms wrapped around herself, rocking slightly. Her dark hair is a tangled mess, her face streaked with mascara, eyes swollen from crying. The second she sees us, she jerks to her feet.
“They took her! They—they shot Michael, and they just took her!” Her voice cracks.
I place a hand on her shoulder. “Mia, can you tell me anything about the men who took her?”
She shakes her head frantically. “I don’t know! I don’t—” A sob cuts through her words. “They—there were two of them. Maybe three. They wore masks. One of them hit Michael when he tried to stop them. They hit the driver too, then I—I heard the gunshot, Creed. I heard it, and then they were gone.”
My chest is a live wire of rage, sparking and deadly.
Jenson steps forward, his voice calm but firm. “Did they say anything?”
Mia swallows, squeezing her eyes shut like she’s trying to pull the memory from the depths of her panic. “One of them… one of them said something before they left.” She looks at me, and there’s terror in her eyes. “He said, ‘Tell Torres we’ll be in touch.’”
Everything inside me goes ice cold.
This isn’t random.
This is a message.
A warning.
A fucking challenge.
Mackenzie’s phone rings, shattering the moment. I see the way her body stiffens as she looks at the screen.
She meets my eyes, and for the first time tonight, real fear flickers in hers.
She answers, pressing the phone to her ear.
And the moment she does, her face drains of all color.
My blood turns to fire. “Who is it?” I demand.
Mackenzie doesn’t answer. Doesn’t move. Then, slowly, she turns to me, and puts the phone on speaker. “It’s her .”
“Hello, husband.”
My entire body locks up. That voice. I haven’t heard it in twelve years, but it still sends bile to my throat. “Amelia.”
She hums, soft and poisonous. "Did you miss me?”
Mackenzie hands me the phone, tensing beside me. My vision narrows, my grip on the phone tight enough to crack the plastic. “Where is she? Where’s my daughter?” I grind out, my voice low and dangerous.
“Safe,” Amelia answers, the amusement in her tone making my stomach churn. “For now.”
I clench my teeth. “If you hurt her—”
“Relax, Creed.” She sighs like I’m exhausting her. “I wouldn’t hurt my granddaughter.”
A surge of fury burns through me. “You are nothing to her!”
She laughs, light and mocking. “I failed with Mackenzie, so maybe I’ll do better with Gabriella.”
I don’t respond. I can’t. My hands are shaking, rage and fear mixing into something lethal.
“I must say, I didn’t expect it to be this easy,” Amelia continues. “You’ve gotten sloppy, Mackenzie. Let your kid fall into the hands of a loser and now look. It’s disappointing, really.”
“Mother! If you so much as –” Mackenzie says, then stops herself. “What do you want?”
There’s a beat of silence, then— “Come home, Mackenzie. Come home and let’s talk about this in person.”
Mackenzie’s eyes snap to mine, and Jenson looks as if he’s ready to smash a fist into the dry walling. “You’re out of your fucking mind,” Mackenzie says.
“Am I?” Amelia purrs. “You and I both know what happens if you refuse. Gabriella is innocent, but the men I work with. They don’t care about innocence. Not when her daddy stole from them.”
My jaw tightens so hard it aches. “If you touch one hair on her head—”
“I won’t,” she cuts in smoothly. “But I can’t say the same for them. So, what’s it going to be? Will you come talk about this civilly? Or should I start sending you pieces of your daughter?”
The line goes dead.
The silence that follows is deafening.
I lower the phone slowly, my breathing ragged.
Mackenzie is watching me, her knuckles white as she fists her hands. And then she screams, a deafening sound that has everyone in our vicinity looking at us. But I don’t give a shit, she has every fucking right. I pull her into my arms. “I’m going to kill her, little demon. Don’t you fucking worry about that.”