Chapter 3
Seven days isn’t a terribly long time. Usually, a week flies by with the hustle of the clubs and everything else that goes on with Vengeance. Since Jade’s been on the outside, it’s been one thing after another. There’s never a dull moment with her.
Maybe that’s why every moment with her gone feels as if it’s taking an eternity. One week slowly becomes two, and with each day, I feel myself slipping.
I’ve gone years with her in the rings. I never liked it, but it was bearable. I knew she would call if she needed me, knew she could handle herself and that she always found her way back to where she belonged.
This isn’t like that.
Nobody knows where she is, and she hasn’t reached out. Initially, I told myself she might not be reaching out on purpose, using this to her advantage. But every day that passed made that seem less likely. She wouldn’t have let it go this long unless she didn’t have another choice.
My worry turns to desperation; the idea that she can’t reach out is eating away at me. I don’t think there’s much Jade can’t handle, so what could be stopping her? Add that to the fact that Charlotte and Dom are also still missing, and I feel like I’ve stepped into my own personal hell.
A knock at the door pulls my attention, and I realize I’ve been staring at nothing for fuck knows how long, lost in thought.
Jake pushes the door open with a solemn look on his face.
A few weeks ago, it would have been strange for him to have searched me out.
I typically took business to him since he was our guy on the streets, but these last few weeks, he’s become more prominent in the club.
It started with taking down his father, but even then, he was only here when he had to be.
He’s always stuck to his thing, his parties, and safe houses.
I don’t know what happened with him and Jade, but it was enough to make him care about her disappearance. In the beginning, I thought they might take each other out. They hardly got along better than Spencer and her, but somewhere between that dinner and her disappearance, something shifted.
He wasn’t faring much better than the rest of us, no matter how much he tried to pretend it was all business as usual.
“Boss.”
He gives me a nod, closes the door behind him, and comes to collapse into the chair opposite my desk.
I watch him as he rakes a hand through his hair, messing up his usually well-kept appearance with a sigh that’s all too relatable. Even before he opens his mouth, I know he’s got nothing worth talking about.
If he did, he wouldn’t look so defeated.
“What’s the damage today?” I ask, spotting blood on his sleeve. He’s clearly been down under the shed with Zander again today.
The two of them are a good match. Jake knows just about every shady fucker in the city.
Rumors go wild on the streets, and he hears all of it due to the nature of his position.
All it takes is a hint of a possibility that something could help us get answers on any of our missing people, and Zander’s ready to go to bat.
Zander has always had a few screws loose and been just a little over the top.
It’s never been an issue, though. He uses it to his advantage.
Over the years, as the three of them moved up the ranks, he took over the job of interrogator from me.
He enjoys it a bit more than I ever did.
I was good at it because I needed to be, but Zander craves it.
I can only hope we find something before he gets out of hand. Right now, we’ve had enough leads to keep him on track. If this keeps up, and we keep running into dead ends, it’s only a matter of time before he takes matters into his own hands.
Fuck, I don’t even want to imagine the damage he would do loose on the streets like he is right now.
“Soon, this isn’t going to be enough. I’ve never seen him like this before.”
Pushing out of the chair, he paces the length of my desk.
“He’s playing with them. Once he realizes they have nothing to give him, it becomes a game. He’s not sleeping, and I can’t tell you the last time I was in, and he wasn’t down there.”
He continues pacing, lost in thought, but he’s not telling me anything I don’t already know.
I’m well aware of just how close to the edge Zander is.
Rick and I have been keeping pretty tight tabs on him through the lower-ranking members over the last few days.
We know better than to approach him about this ourselves.
Not to mention, we don’t have the time or patience to deal with him, and the best thing we can do for him is find her.
“Did you hear me?” he snaps, stopping in front of my desk. He braces his hands on it as he leans toward me.
I know we’re all on edge, but I won’t let anything else slip from my grasp.
I might want to run to the ends of the earth to find her, but I know I need to keep things going here. I’ll be damned if she comes home to find our hard work falling apart at the seams. If Vengeance is going to go down, someone better be ready to fucking kill me, too.
Reaching out, I grip the front of his pressed button-down shirt, yanking him halfway across the desk until our noses damn near touch.
“I think you’ve forgotten who you’re talking to.”
His throat bobs as he swallows thickly, no doubt uncomfortable.
“Do I need to remind you?” I ask him.
He hesitates, but the steel in his eyes doesn’t leave even as he shakes his head.
Jake isn’t the spoiled little fuck I always thought he was. Don’t get me wrong, he’s spoiled, but he’s got more spine than I gave him credit for. I’ve seen men twice his age and status crumble at less.
I release him with a shove. He stumbles but quickly rights himself, rubbing his hands down his shirt as if he can simply press the wrinkles out.
“Good. Now sit the fuck down and listen.”
His nostrils flare, but he does as I demand regardless, and I thank the universe. I don’t have the time or energy to waste on him, and I really don’t want to have to. I like Jake well enough, and I know Jade does, too. I’d rather not have to make an example of him if I can help it.
“Right now, I need you to keep doing exactly what you’re doing. Get him anyone we think might know something. Follow every lead.”
He opens his mouth, and I know he wants to argue, but I don’t have time for that right now. I hold my hand up to silence him, and he snaps his mouth shut with a scowl that I ignore.
“I have someone coming in who has reach much farther than our own. Hopefully, he can help us find something. Maybe he’s heard or seen something.”
I hadn’t wanted to call on Elio, but I’m out of options. He’s already in town, and we have to meet about the club. It can’t possibly hurt.
Jake and I watch each other, and I can almost see the sea of questions ready to burst from his lips. He doesn’t voice them, not that it matters. I won’t answer them anyway. Our dealings with Elio are deliberately kept under wraps.
Elio is old money. His ties to the Italian mafia aren’t something we need to broadcast in our daily business. No matter how big Vengeance might be, gangs and the mafia are not on the same level, and we deal with enough already. The last thing I want to add to our plate is mafia affairs.
Finally, he caves, looking down at his shoes. “I’ll do what I can, but I can’t make any promises. I doubt I can stop him if he gets much worse.”
“I don’t expect you to stop him. Just try to buy us some time. We have all our manpower on this. Something has to give eventually.”
“Sure thing, boss,” he says, standing and heading for the door without another word, slamming it closed behind him.
Fuck.
The second the door closes, I collapse back into my chair.
Nothing is going as planned, and even with Randall handled, I get the feeling something else is happening. Something that will make his bullshit seem like a walk in the park.
If only I knew what the hell it was.
Atom pops his head in the door, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sitting here waiting for this most of the day.
“Elio’s here, boss,” he says with a slight wobble to his words before disappearing again.
Poor kid can’t even look at me. I don’t blame him.
A lot of the newer guys only ever see me because they fucked up.
With Dom’s disappearance and the guys all off doing their own things, I’ve had to shift some places here to keep everything running.
Atom might be quiet, but in his almost two years with us, he’s done pretty well.
Keeps his head down, does what he’s supposed to, and is good at blending in.
I’ve taken him on a few runs with Dom and me for shipments.
Kid’s got a pretty good eye and sense of danger, something I need in Dom’s absence.
Elio pushes the door open not a minute later, and for the first time since I’ve known him, I can’t say I’m happy to see him.
Usually, our meetings are light enough even when talking business, but today I’m going to have to ask him for more than that.
I’m almost positive he’ll be willing to help.
He knows how important Jade is to me, especially after our last meeting.
But what if he can’t?
If someone like Elio can’t find someone, who do you turn to?
I push the thought from my mind. I haven’t even spoken to him about it yet. Fearing worst-case scenarios won’t help me now. More importantly, it won’t help Jade. There is always another way; we’ve lived by that for years now. I refuse to let old fears rule me.
“Brothera,” he says, reaching over the desk to clasp my hand. I stand to do the same, biting back the words that sit heavy on my tongue in an attempt not to blurt them all out at once.
“I believe I was promised a meeting with dematore di bestie. So how is it that only your ugly culo is here to greet me?”