Chapter 41
When I got the call from Amélie, I couldn’t believe it. I answered the moment I saw her name on the screen, but to my surprise, it wasn’t her—it was her friend, talking so fast I could barely understand a word.
“Arianna, calm down. Take a deep breath and tell me what’s happening.”
“They took Amy.”
“What do you mean? Who took her? Where?”
“I don’t know! She said she was going to the bathroom. She was taking too long, so when I went to check on her, all I found was her phone on the floor. I searched the whole mall and couldn’t find her.”
“Okay, I need you to stay calm and go back home. I’m going to find her.”
“Please hurry.”
“I promise I’ll bring her back, even if I have to give my life for her.”
I hang up and rush out of the office, telling my secretary to cancel all my appointments. I’m in the car when the phone rings again—unknown number.
“Where’s my wife? If you touch a single hair on her head, you’re a dead man.”
“Great security you’ve got there. I still walked right out the front door with her.”
“You bastard. I’m going to find you, Garcia, and you’ll bitterly regret messing with my family.”
“I’ll be waiting, counselor—if you can find me.”
I hang up and call Anthony, letting him know I’m on my way. I get to his place in minutes, and Austin pulls up right behind me.
“Your phone.” He holds out his hand, and I hand it over.
“What are you going to do?”
“Try to trace where he called from.”
I watch him hack into all the city’s cameras, starting with the mall where she was. We manage to identify the car and track it until they pull into a house. Austin immediately calls the station and sends a unit over.
“They’re not there, but we should check out the house anyway.”
“It would be too obvious, but they didn’t leave. Check the street below.”
At that moment, my friend’s phone rings—the officers reporting the house is clean, no one there.
“Damn it, we need to find her as fast as possible.”
“We’re going to find her, even if I have to turn this whole city upside down. The call came from the farm areas—Frascati is the closest.”
“Yeah, but it’s all vineyards out there. Nowhere to hide.”
“Further out, at the edge of town, there’s an abandoned farm. It’s been a while since I’ve been there.”
“Then let’s go.”
“You guys go. I’ll stay here and keep searching. I have some contacts—if I find out anything, I’ll call.”
We leave Anthony’s house and head for the farm. It takes us forty minutes to find it. I grab my gun and get out of the car with my security team. Austin takes the front of the house while we go around back.
We break down the door and go in, searching everywhere, but there’s nothing. She’s not there. No sign anyone’s been here. Desperation starts to set in. I need to find my wife and my son.
“Calm down, my friend. We’re going to find her.”
My phone rings—it’s Arianna, wanting to know if there’s any news. Sadly, I tell her not yet. I hang up and lean against the car, trying to think where they could be.
We search the area around the house, looking for any hidden cabin, but there’s nothing but brush. It’s already dark when we decide to head back. I don’t want to leave—I would have stayed there searching—but it wouldn’t do any good.
The drive back is tense. No messages, let alone calls. My fear is that he’ll take her out of the country—then I’d never find her again.
We spend almost two days there, locked in that room. Desperation consumes me from the inside. I can’t do anything but pace back and forth. Finally, Anthony gets a call, which he puts on speaker for everyone to hear.
“Thony, we found a cabin one town past Frascati, at the second farm on the right. Hard to get to.”
“Great. We’re on our way—wait for us at the edge of town.”
“I’m coming to get you, my love. Wait for me just a little longer—I’m almost there.” Yes, I admit I love her. After she left, after I had to watch her only from a distance, I realized I could truly love someone. She awakened that feeling in me. Now I want them with me—her and my son.
I call Arianna and tell her we finally have a location. I’m sure I’ll find her there, and soon I’ll bring her home. We continue on our way, planning our approach.
We meet Anthony’s friends. I don’t know them—actually, I’ve never seen them before—and they lead us close to the cabin entrance. We stop a few meters back so we don’t draw attention, hiding the cars in the brush, which is quite tall here.
“The cabin is about three kilometers from here. There’s an entrance underneath that they probably use to get in, so if we go that way, we’ll be spotted. We’ll cut through the woods instead.”
We grabbed some flashlights and weapons.
It was getting dark, but we followed the two men, whose names I now know: Ruan and Ramon.
They’re brothers who always help both Austin and Anthony.
After what felt like forever, we finally arrived, and I saw a simple wooden cabin.
Since we were at the back, there was no door—just a window with several boards nailed over it, making it impossible to open.
“Amélie is in there.” I pointed to the window, and everyone looked at me.
“We’ll try to get her out this way. The rest of you go around front.”
“Garcia is mine. I’m getting my wife out of here, and then I’m settling the score with him.”
While they headed to the front, I pressed my ear against the window to see if I could hear anything. She was talking to our son—it hit me hard, and I blamed myself for not finding her sooner.
“Amy, are you there? I came to get you, my love,” I called out, and she realized it was me.
“Owen, finally! Please, get me out of here.”
“I’m going to get you out. Stay calm.”
We started removing the boards covering the window, and as soon as we finished, it swung open on its own—she must have tried to escape through there.
When I saw her, filthy, tears in her eyes, hands on her belly, my heart broke.
I jumped into the room and helped her climb out when someone opened the door.
It was one of Garcia’s henchmen, but I just shot him right between the eyes, and he dropped hard to the floor.
“Take care of her. I’ll be right back.” I pointed at my security guards, and they understood perfectly—if anything happened to her, they were screwed.
I left the room, scanning everything. The rest of my crew had already gotten inside—they’d subdued some, killed others. I looked around for the bastard who did this to my wife, and there he was. Garcia, kneeling on the floor, smiling at me. I walked up to him, grabbed him by the collar, and said:
“I told you I’d find you, and you’re going to pay for what you did to my wife and my son, you bastard.”
I started punching his face, and the more blood I saw, the more I wanted to hit him, until my friends pulled me away.
“You’re going to kill him if you keep this up.”
“That’s exactly what I want—he messed with my family.”
“Don’t get your hands dirty. It’s not worth it. You’ve done what you wanted—now leave the rest to us. Take your wife and get her to the hospital.”
I trusted Austin completely. I only left because I saw Garcia passed out, and my wife needed me. I went out the door and walked around the house. When I got there, I saw Marcus holding Amy in his arms. I glared at him, and he understood, handing her over to me.
She looked at me—she seemed exhausted. I carried her to the car, set her in the seat, and walked around to sit beside her.
“Are you feeling anything?”
“Just some back pain, and I’m thirsty.”
I grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to her. She drank it all. I reached for another, but she shook her head. I called Arianna and told her I was taking Amy to the hospital and wanted her doctor there when I arrived.
“Is there anything I can do to help with the pain?”
She looked at me and started crying. I pulled her onto my lap, stroking her back with one hand and her face with the other.
“I thought you’d never find me.”
“I would’ve turned the world upside down to find you. Now stay calm—we’re almost at the hospital. Soon we’ll know if everything’s okay with you and our baby.”
She curled up tighter in my lap and went quiet. We arrived at the hospital, and I rushed out with her in my arms, calling for nurses. In the corner, I spotted her grandmother, her father, her friend, and Jhonatan. But she wouldn’t let go of my hand, so I followed her inside.
When we entered, a doctor was waiting for us. I asked if he was her obstetrician. He nodded, so I let him examine her.
“How is she, doctor?”
“Blood pressure’s a bit high from the stress. The baby’s fine. We’ll admit her and try to get the pressure under control. If we can’t, we’ll have to deliver the baby.”
“But is it safe to deliver now?”
“She’s already past eight months. Of course, it would be better to wait until closer to nine, but if things continue like this, we can’t afford to wait.”
“All right. I want the best room for her, and I’m staying with her.”
As soon as she was in the room, everyone came in to see her. I’d asked Arianna to bring clothes for her since she needed a bath. I stood in a corner, watching her with her family, when her father looked at me and walked over.
“Thank you for saving my daughter and my grandson.”
“You don’t need to thank me. I was just doing what I had to do. Mr. James, I want to ask for your forgiveness.”
“That’s in the past, doctor. I’m grateful you cleared my name. Now I can start my life over.”
Hearing that brought me enormous peace, because he hadn’t done anything wrong, and now he could move forward with his life, the way it should be.