Chapter 42 – Alejandro
Chapter
Forty-Two
ALEJANDRO
Twenty-one hours. That is how long it’s been since Alana and Lucia were taken, and I am still no closer to finding out who took them.
I’ve watched the CCTV over and over again, looking for clues.
Four armed men rammed into their car, shot all three of my men, and pulled the girls out.
Both fought like crazy, too, until they were knocked unconscious.
Hugo is still in critical care in the hospital.
I pray that he wakes up. Not only because I’ve already lost two good men in Hank and George, or the fact that he is a good and loyal man, but because he might have some more information on who was responsible.
He might have picked up on something that didn’t come across on the video.
The hit was meticulously planned and executed.
We’re most definitely dealing with professionals here.
Not only that, but someone who knew about Lucia’s doctor’s appointment.
That means I can trust no-one.
That security footage was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to watch.
Seeing them hurt not being able to do a damn thing about it felt like someone was reaching inside my chest and tearing out my heart.
I have to keep my mind constantly occupied, because as soon as it isn’t, all I can think about is what they might be going through.
The thought that someone has their hands on them makes me physically sick.
The only way to manage my anger is to hurt people, and that is exactly what I plan to do until I have some answers.
I walk into the middle of the warehouse where Joey Ortega is being held. He thought this was all over, and the look on his face is pathetic. I take off my suit jacket and hand it to Jax who stands waiting for me.
“Has this piece of shit told us anything?” I snarl.
“Nothing, at all, amigo. Alana, your father. He still swears it was nothing to do with him.”
I thought I’d got all the answers I needed from this sack of shit. Since our first meeting, plenty more people have found themselves in the position he’s in now. None of them have been any use. Now, the stakes are even higher. Now Alana and Lucia’s lives are at risk.
I pick up the power drill from the table beside me. “Well, we’ll see how much longer he can hold out on me for.”
Joey looks up at me. He is naked and tied to the chair. One of his eyes is swollen closed, and a trickle of blood runs down the length of his face.
“Please, Alejandro, I have already told you everything, I promise. I know nothing about any of this. Please,” he wails. I feel nothing as I listen to him beg for his life. All I can think about is what Alana and Lucia might be suffering through with each second that passes.
“Do you really think I give a single shit about you crying and pissing yourself, cabrón? Someone has taken my fucking wife!” I roar, the sound reverberating around the empty warehouse.
One hour later, I am walking out of the warehouse covered in Joey Ortega’s blood. Jax walks quietly beside me, glancing at me with concern.
“Don’t look at me like that, amigo,” I warn him.
He holds his hands up in surrender.
“I can fucking see the cogs turning in your brain,” I hiss. “You’re judging me.”
“No. I’m not. I just haven’t seen you like that for a long time, that’s all,” he replies.
I haven’t been that man for a long time, that’s why. I just tortured Joey Ortega to death, and I took perverse comfort in hearing his screams filling the air. I knew deep down that Joey knew nothing, but I kept on anyway.
I will not weep for his passing. Joey Ortega was scum, running girls he abused, using his own product, and beating his wife. The world is better off without him.
“I don’t know what else to do, Jax. Why haven’t the kidnappers made contact yet? It doesn’t make sense. There should have been contact by now. A ransom demand or something!”
My frustration boils through me. The frustration that was only temporarily slaked by what I did to Joey Ortega.
“I know, amigo. It doesn’t make sense. So what do we do now? You’ve worked your way through every enemy we have left. You have killed more people in the past twenty-four hours than the Spanish flu.”
I frown at him. “They all deserved it,” I snap. Even if they didn’t take Alana, they are our enemies for a reason.
“I don’t doubt it. But what now?”
“We haven’t spoken to all of our enemies,” I remind him. “Have someone prepare the jet. We’re going to New York.”
Jax nods. He slips off to make a phone call as I climb into the waiting car. I will leave no stone unturned, and the person I’m about to visit will regret the day he was born if I find out he had anything to do with this.