Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
September 2 nd
11:12 A.M.
“How is that possible?” Cade roared into the phone.
Only one thing had kept him going the last twenty-six hours, and that was that he believed in Prey. Believed in their skills and resources, believed in the men and women who worked for the world-renowned company, believed they were the best of the best, and believed that if anyone could locate his daughter and bring her home, it was them.
Now those beliefs were being smashed to smithereens.
“I’m sorry, Cade,” Olivia Oswald said on the other end of the line.
“I don’t want you to be sorry,” he snapped at Olivia, the wife of Prey’s founder and CEO, legendary former SEAL, Eagle.
Part of his brain registered that he was being harsh with the wrong people, that Olivia and the rest of the team working for Prey’s cyber division were doing their best. If he got Olivia offside then he got Eagle offside, since the man adored his wife. Getting on the wrong side of Eagle Oswald was like getting on the wrong side of the President. The man had connections everywhere and had billions of dollars at his disposal, money he wasn't afraid to use to get what he wanted.
It wasn't keeping his job Cade was worried about. He would gladly give up anything in the world if he had to. It was fear that if he alienated Olivia and thus Eagle, he was cutting off what he still thought was his best chance at getting Essie back.
“I want you to find where my daughter is,” he said into the phone, a thread of desperation in his tone. Not that there was any point in hiding it. Olivia was a mother. She and Eagle had a four-year-old daughter, Luna, and a one-year-old son, Apollo. If anyone could empathize with his feelings right now, he knew it was her.
“I'm doing everything I can, I promise you I am. I can't imagine how hard this is for you, Cade, if I'm being perfectly honest, I don’t even want to. Essie is the same age as Luna, and if someone took my daughter from me, I don’t think I'd be able to breathe.” Olivia paused and he could hear her dragging in a ragged breath. “I'm sorry. I know I let you down, but I can't find them.”
Not what he wanted to hear.
If Olivia and Raven Oswald and the rest of their team couldn’t find his daughter, who could?
The answer to that question hung heavily over him, slowly smothering him to death in the worst possible way.
“I don’t understand,” he snapped, the fear and anger inside him too big to contain. “How could you lose them? You already followed them to three other vehicles, there is no way they could have just disappeared.”
Even though she’d already been over this with him several times, Olivia’s voice was completely patient when she spoke. “They had this well planned. The first vehicle change was just around the corner from the abduction site. They didn't want to spend long in that SUV because they knew the cops would be looking for it almost immediately. They basically drove in circles around the city and changed two more times over the course of almost three hours before they went into an underground parking lot at a mall. They obviously did another vehicle change there, but it wasn't caught on camera. I’m so sorry, Cade, but my team and I can't track every single vehicle that entered and left the mall yesterday?—”
“You can and you will,” he bellowed into the phone.
“Enough,” a voice barked in his ear.
No longer was he speaking to Olivia, it seemed Eagle had taken over, and he wasn't going to stand by and let anyone talk to his wife disrespectfully.
“I’m cutting you some slack, Cade, because of what you're going through, but nobody talks to my wife like that. My wife who didn't come home last night and tuck her children into bed and kiss them goodnight because she stayed at the office working on finding your child,” Eagle said, making him feel bad. Olivia must have been aching to hold her children close, the reminder of how precarious life could be fresh in her mind. But she hadn't done that because she was determined to help Essie and Gabriella.
“It’s okay, Eagle,” he could hear Olivia’s faint voice in the background. “Give me back the phone.”
Eagle grumbled something but must have handed the phone back to his wife because her voice was louder and clearer when she spoke.
“If you’d let me finish, I was saying we can't track every single vehicle that entered and left the mall yesterday in only a few hours. I have everyone working overtime, and we will find which car they left in, and we’ll keep tracking it until we find where they took your daughter. No one is giving up on Essie or on Gabriella. I know I have no right to say this when my babies are safe at home, but the best thing you can do for your daughter right now is do your best to hold it together. I can only imagine how hard that must be, but only clear heads are going to be able to figure this out.”
Somehow, her words seemed to penetrate the blanket of fear surrounding him and he drew in a deep breath.
Olivia was right.
If he didn't hold it together, he might lose his chance at getting his daughter and Gabriella back.
No way was he going to fail either of them.
“Thank you. I know you're doing everything you can,” he told Olivia because it was true. Losing faith in Prey now would be the same as throwing out his parachute right before jumping out of a plane. There was no way to guarantee he’d land safely even if he had the parachute, but without it, all he would be facing was certain death.
Somehow, he had to find a way to hold onto hope.
No matter how impossible it seemed.
“I promise I’ll call you the second I know anything, and if I can't then Raven will, or one of the others,” Olivia vowed.
“I appreciate that.”
“You're not in this alone, Cade. Prey is a family, and you have all of us at your back. Essie and Gabriella aren't alone either. We’re all fighting for them, and you know no one on this Earth besides yourself would fight harder for your little girl than Gabriella. She adores Essie.”
What Olivia didn't say, wouldn't under these circumstances, was that Gabriella didn't only adore Essie. For some reason, she seemed to see beneath his often-harsh exterior to the man underneath. The man he might have been if he hadn't been consumed by guilt over how he’d treated his mother in the months leading up to her death, if he hadn't lost his wife, if his world wasn't filled with darkness.
Cade had no idea why or how she did it, but Gabriella just saw him.
It was refreshing and he’d selfishly indulged in the way she made him feel when he knew he had nothing to offer her in return.
Now, because of him, she’d been kidnapped, and while he knew she would absolutely do exactly what Olivia had just said and fight as hard as she could to protect his daughter in any way she could, he wondered what exactly the cost to her would be.
Uneasiness settled inside him.
Selfish as it was, Essie was his daughter, and she was only four years old, barely anything more than a baby, he wanted Gabriella to do what she could to help his daughter. Wanted Essie to be safe and unharmed, to return to him as the same sweet, confident, caring, intelligent, sassy little girl she was.
But he didn't want Gabriella hurt.
Thinking about what she might put herself through to fulfill her role as Essie’s nanny made him nauseous.
“We’ll find them, Cade. Sooner or later, we will find the men who raped your mom, who sacrificed your dad and his team, who set up your mom and stepdad. Who hurt Cole and Susanna, and Connor and Becca. Who took Essie and Gabriella. We’ll find them, and when we do, they will face the entire weight and might of Prey Security. We’re going to make them wish they’d never been born. I’ll call when I know something,” Olivia said before disconnecting the call.
It was a long time before Cade could move, Olivia’s words echoing through his mind on a loop.
These men were going to pay.
That was something he was going to see to.
If they hurt a hair on his daughter’s head, or that of Essie’s nanny, then he was going to make sure they suffered before they died.
Taking Essie was a mistake. It wasn't going to make him back off, it was going to make him come at them harder than he ever had before.
He wasn't going to be content just making sure these men regretted ever being born, he was going to do whatever he could to make sure their souls would suffer for all eternity.
September 2 nd
12:23 P.M.
“Gabby, I have to go to the bathroom.”
The whimpered plea tugged at her heart. Essie was being so brave, doing everything she’d asked of her. She hadn't whined or complained, she’d cried a few times but had rallied every time Gabriella had suggested a new game.
But the little girl didn't belong there.
Essie should be at home, with the daddy she adored, preparing for her first day of kindergarten.
Instead, she was trapped in a windowless room, with no toys, change of clothes, bathroom, fresh air, and only what food Gabriella could pay for with …
Nope.
Not going there.
If she allowed herself to think about what had happened in the room that morning, she was going to lose it. And if she lost it then Essie would lose it, too.
The important thing was she’d walked away with as much food as she could fit in her arms. There were two loaves of bread, several apples, a jar of peanut butter, some granola bars, and a huge bottle of water they would ration out for as long as they could.
While she hadn't been able to stomach eating anything, Essie had quickly devoured the breakfast Gabriella had made, and for a while that had perked up the little girl’s energy level. They’d chased each other around the room playing tag, then practiced some steps Essie had been learning at dance and gymnastics.
Tumbling around the room, it had been so easy to forget for a moment that they weren't in the family room at home. Sometimes they’d push all the furniture out of the way so they had an open space in the center of the family room and tumble and twirl around until they were both giggling. If he was home, sometimes Cade would join in, and seeing the huge, muscled man trying to do ballet turns, and cartwheels was hilarious.
Were those times gone for good?
She was doing her best, but she didn't have the skills or the knowledge of how to get Essie out of there.
“Gabby?” Essie tugged on her hand, and she wearily pushed to her feet, giving the girl a reassuring smile.
“I’ll go knock on the door and ask,” she replied. Since it had been well over twenty-four hours since she last ate, and she hadn't slept at all the previous night, her resources were depleted, and she was feeling it today.
“I don’t want you to leave me ‘gain,” Essie said, pressing close against her leg and clinging to her in a most unlike Esther Charleston kind of way. The little girl brimmed with confidence, she was the kind of kid who went to the park and left having made friends with every child and adult there. She always put her hand up to participate in the classes she took, was always happy to play teacher’s demonstrator, and excelled at everything she did.
This clingy little girl wasn't the child she knew, and her heart broke knowing that even if she survived this ordeal, Essie would never be the same again.
“I’ll do my best to stay right by your side,” she promised, not wanting to outright lie because she knew those men were going to want more from her if she wanted to protect Essie and she didn’t want the child to see that.
Already they knew her weakness, knew she could be manipulated, and she had no doubt they would exploit that weakness.
“’Kay,” Essie mumbled, clutching at her hand as she walked over to the door and knocked.
When no one immediately answered, she knocked again, louder this time, and called out. “Hello? We need to use the bathroom.”
Since they’d been allowed to go every other time she’d asked, she suspected mainly because one of the men seemed totally turned off by bodily fluids and didn't want them stinking the room up, she had no doubt they’d be allowed this time.
But this time would they want a payment?
How far were they going to go?
Last time they’d made her suck off every single one of them before allowing her access to the food. More than once she’d thought she was going to pass out when they refused to let her take a breath, shoving into her much more roughly than she’d ever had a man treat her. They’d made her swallow everything, and honestly, she wasn't sure she’d ever be able to get the taste out of her mouth no matter how long she lived.
Just as she was about to knock a third time, she heard someone on the other side of the door unlocking it.
“So, you need to use the facilities, huh?” the man who had opened the door said as he lounged against it. “How much are you willing to pay for the privilege?”
“Please, she’s only four, she needs to go,” Gabriella begged. She would pay whatever price they asked because Essie came first, but she didn't want the little girl to see.
“Nothing in life is free, darling,” the man drawled, reaching out to grasp her breast and squeezing painfully tight.
Biting her lip was the only way to keep her moan of pain in, and she was eternally grateful for the fact that she’d gone shopping for this one-piece suit when Essie took up swimming. Normally, she’d wear a bikini to the pool, but knowing she was going to be in the water with a toddler, with a bunch of other toddlers and their parents, she’d decided a sensible one-piece was much more appropriate. While it was still skintight, and showed off everything, at least the pale-yellow material was more modest than one of her bikinis would have been.
“I have to go real bad, Gabby,” Essie cried.
Lifting pleading eyes to the man she asked. “Please, let me take her, then … then you can do whatever you want.”
Offering her body like this felt more like offering up her soul on a platter to the devil. But what choice did she have? Let Essie starve? Let these men lay their filthy, disgusting hands on a little girl?
Leaning in so she could feel his breath, which reeked of cigarette smoke, against her cheeks, he whispered, “So long as you're prepared to pay double, for yourself and the kid.”
Giving him a nod of acceptance, she gripped Essie’s hand, edged around the man, taking care not to touch him, and hurried for the bathroom. The sound of his laugh crawled over her skin like a million fire ants, and she wondered for the millionth time how she was supposed to do this.
Where are you Cade?
Why haven’t you found us?
Please, we need you.
Essie needs you, and … I need you, too.
In the bathroom, she hurried the little girl through doing her business, then had Essie look the other way while she did her own. Once they had both washed their hands she guided the child back into the hall.
Where, of course, the man was waiting for her.
“Essie, go back in the room for me, sweetie,” she said, releasing her hold on the little girl’s hand and nudging her toward the door.
“But you promised you wouldn't leave me,” Essie said with a pout.
Don’t be stubborn now, cuddle bug .
Getting the child out of the room was her top priority, so Gabriella used the tone she usually only reserved for when Essie was in trouble, and she meant business. “Now, Esther. Why don’t you make us some lunch like a big girl,” she suggested, softening her tone for that last suggestion.
Eyes lighting up a bit, any hint of being treated like a big girl was always a winner with Essie, and she nodded. “I can make it all by myself?”
“Yep, you sure can,” Gabriella quickly agreed.
“’Kay, but don’t be long,” Essie said as she entered the room.
As soon as the little girl was out of sight, a hand circled her neck and she was shoved up against the wall hard enough that her head snapped back, slamming into it. Stars danced before her eyes for a moment, but she quickly willed them away.
Expecting things to take a sexual turn, Gabriella was caught off-guard when instead a fist rammed into her stomach, shoving all the air out of her lungs.
Choking and spluttering, barely able to breathe, she would have been helpless even without the hand locked around her neck, holding her in place but not cutting off her air supply. Another blow caught her in the ribs, then in the shoulder. One to her face had her seeing stars all over again.
When instinct had her trying to fight off her much bigger attacker, the hand around her neck moved to instead clamp around both of her wrists, pinning them above her head and leaving her stretched out and vulnerable before this man.
“The plan was just to take the kid, but I'm glad we took you, too.” He sneered as his free hand moved to one of her breasts, tugging away the material of her swimsuit to bare it. Then he leaned down and clamped his teeth around it, cutting through her flesh with a vicious bite.
She didn't want to scare Essie, didn't want to give this man the satisfaction, but Gabriella couldn’t help letting out a scream as reality set in.
She wasn't walking out of this alive.