Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Oliver
“The police lost the van,” I growl, my blood boiling. My ears are ringing from how high my pressure is and how hard my heart is pounding.
Alesso has the police scanner on, and we are listening while I follow the van on video cameras around the city.
Isolde’s kidnappers were passing cars at an alarming speed to get away from the police cars.
Now, I’m doing my due duty of changing every intersection light to red that I can, cursing as they blow through each one.
The van finally turns down a road and I attempt to find them but can’t.
“This isn’t happening right now,” I rasp, checking the different camera angles. “The van disappeared, Alesso.”
“Vehicles don’t disappear,” he says, his voice cracking with strain. “Did it duck into a parking garage or an alley? They would be stupid not to change vehicles soon.”
I take the images of the faces of the men who kidnapped my girl and feed them into a program to find them.
“I’m working on it. Get me the number you have for the Kelly’s, please,” I say.
One inherent problem with my program is that if the men significantly change their facial features, they won’t be picked up. I need to fucking do something before I lose my damn mind.
“Yes,” Alesso says tightly, pulling up the number. Both our phones ding, and he blinks down at his. “Grant, Lucas, and the bambina are on their way home as well.”
“Good, good,” I grunt. “It means the police aren’t holding them for questioning. I found a report that one of her kidnappers was killed on scene.”
“She didn’t leave without a fight,” Alesso says. “Isolde will keep fighting for us.”
She shouldn’t have to.
Taking his phone, I enter the number into my phone since he somehow pissed off the brothers. I’m the last person to throw stones. I’ve managed to piss off a lot of people in Minneapolis.
“We all had a bad feeling about this outing,” I mutter. “I think that—”
“Hello?” a deep voice answers. “Why do you have this number?”
Glancing at the contact, I see that it’s Duncan’s number.
“Hi, this is Oliver,” I say, knowing I haven’t given more information than this to them. “This may be odd, but we met at Slick Dreams. My pack needs a favor.”
“Back up. Pack? Since when do you have a pack?” Duncan asks.
“I understand I’m calling out of the blue and I apologize for that,” I reply. “Lucas, Alesso, and I are now a pack. There are four of us, but you don’t know the fourth guy. Our omega was just kidnapped and I lost the vehicle while tracking it.”
“Fuck,” Duncan grunts. “I’m so sorry, man. We know well how that goes. How were you tracking it?”
“I hacked into the video cameras in the city,” I state.
“Let me put you on speaker, Oliver. Quinn and Callum are better versed in that.”
“What’s going on?” a female voice asks. It’s deep and raspy in a way that’s haunting.
Alesso and I glance at each other with wide eyes. Last we knew, she was mute. So much has changed for the better for them it appears. There’s no one else this could be other than that omega from Slick Dreams.
“Is this who I think it is?” I ask. “I don’t know if you remember Alesso or I. We didn’t meet during the best of circumstances.”
“They were at your heat at Slick Dreams,” Duncan says softly.
“I remember,” Linus chimes in.
“I do too,” Callum says. “Alesso burned a bridge with us. Why would we help?”
“Don’t be an asshole,” Christian says. “It was the only way I could find you. Besides, I gave him my boon. Help them out.”
“I am sorry for creating any issues,” Alesso says repentantly. “I have a special place for scent matches and love. I—”
“Ugh, I can't even pretend to be upset with you,” Callum groans.
“Their omega is missing,” Duncan says. “Put your dick away, Callum. Do you have any idea who may have taken her?”
Alesso’s phone rings and I answer it when I see it’s Lucas. Putting it on speaker, I begin speaking.
“Lucas, I’m on the phone with the Kelly brothers and their pack. Do you have any idea who took Isolde?” I ask, getting right to the point.
The longer she’s gone, the harder it’ll be to find her.
“The police agree that these guys have to work as some sort of head hunters,” Lucas says, not missing a beat.
“The guy Isolde killed didn’t have any identification, and his phone was devoid of any calls, phone numbers, or texts.
This was a smash and grab job, Oli. I believe they worked for a woman named Ophelia. ”
“Why do you think that?” Quinn asks. “She’s an auction madam and in Minnesota.”
“Isolde has a history with Ophelia. It’s pretty fucking dark from what she’s told me,” Lucas says. “She’s been Ophelia’s whipping girl in the past, and managed to get out.”
“Why do I know that name?” Duncan asks. “It sounds really fucking familiar.”
“The Senior Mafia families have used a hitman by that name in the past,” Christian mutters. “The name is too unique to be anyone else.”
“Isolde isn’t an angel, and she only takes jobs that align with her values,” I growl, feeling protective. “None of us should judge her for finding a way to punish people who hurt others.”
“No one is saying that,” Linus says in a small voice. “The world isn’t safe for omegas. Quinn and I know that better than anyone else.”
“That’s where I know her name from,” Duncan says. “We’ve all spilled blood for various reasons. No one is judging her for any of it. I was trying to place her. Why would Ophelia go to so much trouble to get her back?”
“That bitch is petty,” Quinn mutters. “None of that matters. If she’s going to this much trouble, she isn’t planning to sell her.”
“I don’t believe she will,” I say. “Ophelia has a history of medically inducing Isolde’s heat over and over again to attempt to break her.”
I want them to feel the full weight of what that means. It doesn’t matter that Lucas gave her a chance to bypass that with his concoction. The truth of the matter is that we don’t know if it’ll work.
“She could go mad,” Quinn whispers. “That’s unacceptable.”
“We’ll help you,” Callum says.
“I can hunt down the address to Ophelia’s auction house, but we may need some extra support if they don’t take her there,” I explain. “We also have a baby girl. One of us will need to stay behind which limits our numbers.”
“She has a baby,” Quinn says. I can hear tears in her voice, and I swallow back my own.
“Leila is two months old,” Alesso adds. If we have to be manipulative, then we will.
Isolde means everything to us.
“That’s just cruel,” Callum groans. “She’s too hormonal for this.”
“What’s cruel is that we’ve been talking for this long about this before you agreed to help,” Quinn sniffs.
“Looks like you’re sleeping on the couch,” Linus says. “Either way, I’d throw whatever weight I have behind Christian and his boon if you refused, and then tell Kane you made Quinn cry.”
“Kane?” I ask.
“He’s part of Pack Dresmond,” Duncan sighs. “They’ve been bored. They’ll probably be willing to help too. Where are you right now?”
“I’m headed home from work, which is where they grabbed her,” Lucas says. “It’s a nine hour drive to Minneapolis. We’ll probably fly if we’re certain that’s where they’re taking her.”
“Okay. Hang tight. I’ll do some research as well. I may have a contact that can sniff around Jefferson City Auction under the guise of looking for an omega,” Duncan says. “She’s very good at pulling info out of the dark web.”
My eyes narrow, wondering who she is. I’m typically the one who parcels out information.
“Thanks guys,” I say. Any help, even if it’s muscle when we find her, is appreciated. “I’m going to get back to it.”
Saying goodbye, I keep a browser open so that I can continue to run my image recognition program, and then log into the dark web.
“Lucas, I’m going to do some really shady shit for the next few hours,” I say conversationally since his call is still connected. “I need to see if they plan to sell her or not.”
“Keep your location jammed and do what you need to,” Lucas says easily. “I don’t like that these assholes have disappeared. The police commissioner just called Grant to apologize that they lost the van.”
“If I was handling this job, I would have changed vehicles,” Alesso admits. “As soon as they got rid of the cops on their asses, I’d ditch the van.”
“You’ll have to tell me what else you’d do with how paranoid your mind is,” I mutter.
“I’ll see you at home, guys,” Lucas says. “I am crossing my fingers and toes that the forced heat suppressant works.”
“And I’m crossing everything possible that we find her before that shit wears off,” I say, hanging up.
“I’m going to make you a smoothie so you actually eat something,” Alesso grunts, standing. “If you can get into Ophelia’s accounts, see what deposits she’s received. Following the money can bring answers that we need.”
With that last remark, he walks away.
Thank God that I’m surrounded by such brilliant minds.
Digging into my research, I take a sip of water and begin looking for any open contracts on Isolde. I can’t simply go all in on the theory that it’s Ophelia without looking at other possibilities.
Shaking my head when I don’t see any, I begin looking for anyone who is looking for an omega with her features that wants to buy her.
If Ophelia went after her for a buyer looking for my girl’s features and the payout was high enough, this person may have put out a request and acceptable form of compensation.
Over and over, I continue to hit dead ends.
Next, I open up any posts that may have been posted by Jefferson City Auction for any upcoming events. While I’m finding that they primarily focus on auctions, it doesn’t hurt to look.
Blowing out a breath, I find that I’m striking out again. A straw appears in front of my mouth, and I dutifully take a sip before releasing it. The glass disappears again, and I continue my search.
“If I won’t step on your toes, I’ll start looking into the financial aspect,” Alesso says quietly.
“I’m being a bear,” I wince, glancing at him.
“With good reason,” he reassures me. “I’m just losing my mind doing nothing.”
“Go ahead,” I say, nodding. “Show me what you got. I’ll keep looking for chatter on a pretty, new red-haired omega.”
“Fuck this world,” Alesso grumbles. “I hate it here.”
You and me both, baby. Without Isolde, it can go to hell in a handbag and I’ll hold the match.
Isolde
My head hurts as I slit open my eyes. I don’t want anyone else to know that I’m awake yet. There may be benefits to still being unconscious, and I need to lean into that if there are.
My ears are clogged, and the air feels filtered if that makes sense.
Continuing to breathe evenly, I find I’m laying on the ground and my wrists are tied to my ankles so that my body is contorted into a U-shape.
I can see chairs in front of me that remind me of airplanes, and I realize I’m in the air.
Fuck.
When someone makes a realization like this, it’s natural for the body to inhale sharply. I deny myself that reaction because it would be loud and I can see men’s feet in front of me as well.
Outside of short periods of consciousness when I was in the back of a van, and later a trunk of a sedan, I’ve been in a cocoon of darkness.
My skin feels too tight as I force myself to stay calm. At this time, there’s nothing I can do except receive more pain if they believe I’m awake.
I can vaguely feel my alphas through the bond, but it’s almost as if there’s static in the connection. Distance can affect the way the bond feels from what I’ve heard.
Something changes in the air and I close my eyes as someone approaches me. I’m sensitive to the displacement of airflow when I’m on edge and seconds later I feel a foot nudge me.
“Little whore, are you awake yet?” The beta who tased me until I passed out asks.
“Don’t fucking kick her, Larry,” the other beta groans. “There’s already blood crusted all over her from when you dragged her across the ground.”
“She got blood on me,” Larry snarls, kicking me anyway. I let my body jolt from the impact as it would naturally and whine. “This is a lot of work for such an ugly omega.”
That’s a new one. I’ve never been called that before. At least, and not had someone mean it. If anything, I get annoyed at the curious looks I get.
Unique doesn’t mean ugly. I often wish that I was more normal. Then I wouldn’t have so many issues in my life.
“I don’t ask questions and neither should you. If the boss wants her, then we deliver the package with as few dents as possible,” the other man says. “Get away from her, I think she’s waking up.”
I want to scream as I continue the slow, even breathing. I’ve heard that it’s really difficult to fake sleeping, and when I feel the prick of a needle sliding into the skin of my neck, my eyes begin to tear up in frustration.
“Sleep,” the beta growls under his breath. “We aren’t at our destination yet. Shit is going to get really bad for you, Little Omega. May as well sleep until we’re there.”
The darkness moves over my mind like sludge, scary and uncomfortable as it fills every crevice. I could tell the beta that I definitely didn’t think it would be a picnic, but my tongue feels thick as well. Coughing, I begin to seize as I have an intense reaction to whatever he just gave me.
My eyes snap open unseeing as my bindings are cut off and I feel the cool fingers of another man.
“Are you trying to fucking kill her?” he asks.
Everything hurts as my body snaps and jerks, and I drift into unconsciousness yet again. I’m unsure if I want to live or die at this point.
Maybe my alphas would be better without me. They’re strong, they’d survive my death. My bites haven’t even healed completely yet, and Oliver and I haven’t bonded.
The thought of it fucking burns. My screams follow me into the darkness even as I continue to convulse.