Chapter Fifteen #2
Mia goes to clean up and sit with the baby. She decides to have a bed moved into Rayne’s room so that she can be with her at all times. Even if she is sleeping she will still be in the room. I put motion sensors on the door that will alert my phone when anyone walks in or out of the baby’s room.
I also double the number of security guards.
I usually have security only on the outside of the building and in the hall.
Now I have three private guards in total.
They were hired through a company I always use that is known to work with questionable clients.
Their loyalty to vendors has been tested in blood.
I trust them as much as my sister. So that leaves Gloria as being our leak.
I hate to do it but I will probably have to have that woman either arrested or killed.
“So what can you tell me?” I ask Griffin, one of my closest friends and a lawyer who knows how to work outside of the law. “I already called Trevor Blaine, he’s our muscle should we need it, and I think we do.”
Griffin has people who can get things done quietly, William’s team is stealthy and lethal. Working with them is going to give me the best chance of getting Scarlett back.
“Your security cameras weren’t hacked, so it was one of the staff, either your butler or one of the nurses. You’re going to need Trevor to question them.” Griffin is all seriousness that afternoon, with none of his grumpy boy charm. In fact, he is straight-up hateful.
“Mr. Craig will be easy to question and I’d be shocked after twenty years and just as many astronomical Christmas bonuses, he was in on this,” I tell him, “but Gloria likely was, so I need her found. What about the restaurant?”
“Their footage also wasn’t hacked and I’d say that the drunk and belligerent guests who happened upon a cab in Midtown Manhattan carrying a passed-out girl in a trench coat is your girl.
Footage only grabbed their backs, Scarlett is not seen on camera at all, the woman is wearing a wig; the man a hat, so we got nothing identifying on them.
We were able to pull the cab’s license plate…
” he says hesitating for a second, testing me as he sometimes likes to do when he has big revelations.
“It’s fake?”
“Bingo,” he has a little smile in his voice.
“So, where did they go? Has Trevor got enough to find her?”
“No. There’s nothing tracking the car, but the mother fucker was using CarPlay, so we have data from his phone.
It’s for the driver; they’re surfing the cloud now to find a match.
Should take a few hours, but we were able to get a ping from the driver’s app through the Wi-Fi on the restaurant’s security cameras.
It pinged Scarlett and Mia’s phones as well as the driver and the two other passengers, but we lost their signals really quickly, then lost the driver about three minutes later, however, we have enough info on the driver’s phone to trace it.
If we can find him, we can find who hired him and from there we’ll find out where he took her.
” It is a pretty solid plan; thank God Griffin knows people.
As a lawyer, his job is to present evidence. His specialty is finding it. He often has to dig pretty deep to get what he needs in order to put someone in jail or get them out. Just as I am speaking with Griffin, Carl calls through.
“Fuck, they’re calling with terms,” I tell Griffin.
“Put him on speaker—I’ll have his call traced. Mother fucker might be with her.”
“He’s so dead, Grif.” I want to kill everyone at this moment.
“Carl Rueben is a Christopher Street icon. He’s doing what he does, stacking weapons.
Fuck, CSS is so ammo’d up they could fight any country pretty decently in a war.
You can’t kill the guy, he’s protected but you don’t have to make a bioweapon of mass destruction either.
You just want to make sure they think you’ll try.
You’re brilliant, my friend, but you can fuck up at times.
” He sounds like he is shrugging his shoulders.
“I’m not going to be played,” I know what he is getting at.
The thing is, no one bends me over and lives. Carl is no exception but since Griffin is all about keeping his nose clean I agree for the sake of a possible hack into our phone call so if I do kill Carl, Griffin could say in all good consciousness he knew nothing about it.
“No, you aren’t going to let anyone play you. Get your wife back, Beck, she doesn’t deserve this.” No, she doesn’t.
After that, we hang up and I take Carl’s call.
“Where is she you fucking piece of shit?” I go for it when I should have kept myself calm, damn it.
It is my fault she is in this mess. I should have sat down with her and explained why I wanted her to stay in her room.
I also should’ve made it possible for her to go places if she wanted to because Mia did have a point; I couldn't leave her cooped up forever.
The problem was I didn't face Scarlett Cross.
I hadn't addressed her. I fucked her and for me, that was the start of something but for the most part, I thought of her as a patient.
A beautiful, funny, lovely soul who was mine because she bore me a child.
I owned Scarlett Cross, but I didn't consider her as a partner or even a person.
I was too fixated on her recovery and our child, and all the other factors that made her a thing and not a person deserving of my time and consideration.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Beckett. I’m calling to see if you’ve changed your mind about working with us?” He stays even keel.
He knows we have ears on him.
“No.” I won’t cave so easily.
I have enough on Carl to implicate him if anything happens to Scarlett and he knows it; she’ll be safe for now.
“No? Do you think that’s a good plan for the longevity of your work and livelihood?” Like a ticking time bomb, he stays his course.
“The best plan,” I tell him.
“Perhaps you should discuss it with your wife first.” Fuck him.
“Is she there with you, Carl? Can you put her on the phone?” I know we are being bugged, and they probably have a GPS on him. No way he’d give her up, but it is worth a shot.
“Oh Heavens, why would I have her?” He laughs a throaty mucus-filled laugh. “Has she run out on you already? She’s pretty and way too young.”
I have to keep myself calm, but I do that by imagining myself choking him out and his ugly eyes bulging out of his head.
“She’s also lighter than air and easy to carry… but no worries. We have plans.”
Just then a text comes through.
Griffin Cab stopped in two places. 1588 Pascotch Lane, Upstate, and 540 McClintock. I think they have her at the first and are operating from the second. I’m getting verification now. Call Trevor for men. Don’t use your team. We need ghosts for this. G.
“Well, I hope your plans include pharmaceuticals." Another wet laugh. “And I don’t need to know about the kind of kink you’re into. I want to see some digital prototypes by morning. Gotta run.” He hangs up before I can say more.
Beckett I’m coming with.