Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Oliver
Ishouldn’t be texting Alesso or Lucas but I can’t help myself.
I feel a connection to both of them, and even though they don’t often respond back, or I sometimes get cursed out by Alesso, it makes me feel closer to them.
That’s insane, right?
Alesso is in Italy due to my antics, but that simply means that he responds that I have the wrong number in Italian. It’s really fucking hot. Even though I gave them both my real number, I text them from burner numbers because it’s fun.
Half the time, Alesso doesn’t know it’s me.
I think I enjoy being a pain in their asses a little too much.
It’s been two weeks since Lucas has read any of my messages, and I’ve gone from irritated to angry to worried. The man is obsessively on his phone, and he seems to dislike any notifications on his devices.
I’ve hacked into them, which is how I know. His emails are taken care of and sorted, texts are responded to (I’m the only one he ignores), and his small imprint on social media is handled.
So, where the fuck is he?
The location on his phone is enabled, so I begin there.
Lips pursed, I find that it’s at a police station, and I shake my head.
Hacking into the camera, I find that I’m gazing at the big forehead of a male who is decidedly not Lucas.
However, he's wearing a drab suit and I can see his badge from this angle. He also happens to be looking through Lucas’ phone.
The next thing I engage is the speakers so I can listen to his words as his lips move.
None of this can be good, especially if Lucas is missing or has been arrested for being a bad little alpha. Except, Lucas isn’t a criminal, not really.
He’s disgustingly good, despite his walk on the wild side at Slick Dreams and my guess that he could easily kill someone if they gave him a reason to.
“There’s nothing here that would explain a kidnapping,” he grunts. “There are a few messages from an unknown number but…”
With a few keystrokes, I delete my messages. They can’t be traced anywhere, it’ll simply be a red herring for him. I’m doing this officer a favor so he can look in other places than mysterious texts.
“It’s right…” the officer appears surprised as he scrolls through the texts. “Damnit, did they get deleted? Someone take this and look for me. My eyes are crossing from how long I’ve been going through this. His guard is on our asses to find him.”
“This case is very high profile,” someone else grumbles, taking the phone from the other officer. “Who just gets taken from a sandwich shop? It’s simply bizarre. Bad luck that his guard left him too.”
Well that’s sloppy. If I were his guard, I would have tagged Lucas’ ass with a tracker.
I listen for a while longer before I slip out of Lucas’ phone and begin to search for his name on police reports. Notes at this police department have to be logged into a computer at the end of the day, which makes my job easier as I follow what happened to Lucas.
The last three lines of one of the reports makes my eyes roll:
We have very few leads. The owner of the sandwich shop states that the person who sat next to Mr. Reid before he left was a female with red hair, wearing all black.
She may be in her mid twenties and is very beautiful according to Angus Digs.
Mr. Reid seemed to leave against his own will, and his body was very stiff.
He made eye contact with the shop owner in a way that suggests he was asking for help.
Mr. Digs states that he had a bad feeling as Mr. Reid left without his sandwich when he’d said that he was starving when placing the order.
The owner immediately called Mr. Reid’s guard to warn him that something was wrong.
We are currently investigating the guard as a suspect, but only because we are at a loss.
Maybe they're working together?
“Not very likely,” I mutter, moving on to any and all video cameras that could have captured Lucas as this mysterious girl kidnapped him. My guess is that she had to have some kind of weapon because he’s a big guy.
I’ve seen him fight and he’s not too bad. He had to have been coerced, right?
How the fuck did this happen?
The sub shop had one video camera in the back alley, but it’s pointed in the wrong direction. It caught the van as it drove away, but that doesn’t help me either. Frowning, I search further out until I find a bank video camera that shows the alleyway.
“I see you,” I grunt, brow raising as I see the pretty girl with slight curves that looks like I could bench press her without breaking a sweat.
She’s talking to Lucas, but I can only see her lips moving.
“Fuck, it’s too far for me to read your lips.
I wonder if they’re as pouty as I think they are. ”
Shaking my head at that ridiculous thought, I watch their very short altercation, and the way that she fights with his dead weight to get him into the van.
Picking up the phone, I call Alesso as I watch the video again.
“You’re starting to piss me off, cretino,” he curses as my lips twitch in amusement.
“Would you kiss my dick with that mouth?” I ask. “I tried to be nice, but you refused that option.”
“Oliver…?” he asks. “Why the cloak and daggers? I’m in fucking Italy because of you! Have you been calling and texting me this entire time?”
“I have. It may have saved your life,” I say dismissively. “Or I could just be dramatic. Who’s to know?”
“Why are you talking in circles? Having my number doesn’t give you the invitation to abuse it, Oliver.”
“It is fun though,” I murmur. “Talking to me can have its downsides and I enjoy fucking with you. I think it’s adorable when you’re paranoid.”
“Are you done flirting with me?” he grumbles.
“Maybe,” I drawl. “Lucas was kidnapped. Is that direct enough for you?”
“Way to bury the lead,” he breathes. “What the fuck, Oliver? What happened?”
“A tiny forest nymph that likes black leather whisked him away,” I murmur.
“She must be like five foot eight. I’m surprised she was able to get his heavy body into the vehicle she drove away.
It looks like she’s had him for about two weeks.
The police are involved, and his bodyguard is concerned.
Frankly, so am I, which is why I’m calling.
Lucas isn’t the type to get kidnapped, because his life is pretty boring.
I don’t know if this could be related to the work he does or not. ”
My fingers start to twitch, and I decide to download the video and wipe it from the security camera. If the police officers aren’t competent enough to check that camera, then they don’t deserve the video. It’s as simple as that.
Next, I begin to see if I can get into the servers at Reid Pharmaceuticals. The security is fierce with a minefield of alarm bells at every possible entrance. What the fuck are they hiding?
I’m not trying to alert anyone of my presence, so I back out with a frown. Damn, what are they hiding in that fortress? Not even most banks or the FBI is this locked down.
I’ll loop back around because while this could be about a ransom, no one has mentioned one. Why else would you kidnap a CEO if not for money?
“I’m still here, Oliver,” a very growly alpha says.
“I want to pat your head,” I tease him. “I think your head would pop off as you exploded. Are all Italians this agitated?”
“You’d be surprised,” he grumbles.
“Come back to America,” I tell him. “I’m going to see if I can find out who this girl is.”
“Is there somewhere specific that I’m flying into?”
“Indianapolis specific enough? Book a room at the Ironworks Hotel, and I’ll come find you,” I say.
Lips pursed, I add finding a nice rental to my list. I despise hotels. There’s too many cameras for my taste, and too many damn people.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Alesso promises. “For the record, this is insane.”
“Do you think that I want to feel compelled to message either of you?” I ask. “I would rather not. I have to though, and I found out Lucas was missing because he hadn’t looked at my messages.”
“Does he ignore you? I think he may be smarter than I am,” Alesso complains. “I let you bait me.”
“Ha, please continue to stroke my ego. Maybe try going a little lower,” I groan, teasing.
“When was the last time you got laid?” Alesso asks. “I feel as if you need professional help.”
“Are you telling me to find a lady of the night?” I ask, snorting. “It didn’t work very well for any of us the last time we went to a sex club. I feel like that’s—”
Alesso curses up a blue streak before hanging up, making me chuckle. Oh, this is going to be fun.
Pulling up the video, I zoom in on Lucas’ kidnapper’s face. Her high cheekbones look sharp enough to cut glass, her hair pulled up in a braid. She reminds me of a warrior like this. Taking a screenshot of the video, I put it into a recognition program to figure out who she is.
This will pull from various places to get a bead on her identity. Unfortunately, if she has fake identification, it’ll also pull that. Since it’ll take some time, I put the laptop to the side so I can get packed. Standing, I move to my bedroom to gather clothing, weapons, and other necessities.
I’m living just outside of Ashford, Washington at the moment.
The house I’m living in is under an assumed name, and I rarely go into town unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Even then, I appear different each time, pretending to be a tourist. No one pays enough attention to care, and I can live anywhere as long as I have a secure internet connection.
I don’t have any pets, no close connections, and there’s no one to miss me if I die tomorrow.
I enjoy creating havoc for others, and as I decide to take a job or not, I weigh how much chaos it’ll cause.
I also enjoy balancing the scales of life, even if I inevitably fuck with people before getting them the information.