Chapter 40
Kian
The words on the screen turned fuzzy, and I rubbed my eyes behind my glasses.
Things with Sophie were good—very good, in fact—but I hadn’t made any further progress in locating Jacqueline. It made the paranoia in my chest grow and my nightmares had returned with one major exception: Elena’s dead face had been replaced with Sophie’s.
I drummed my fingers on the desk and scanned the list of passengers on every boat roaming between Greece and Albania. Again. Nothing jumped out.
My phone lit up and Amir’s name appeared on the screen. He was mad I assigned him to tail Dina and Sophie, and I suspected he probably wanted to complain.
Swiping to answer, I held the phone up to my ear and answered with a sigh. “Yes, Amir.”
“They took her.”
I heard the panic before I understood the words. I stood and immediately put him on speaker.
“What do you mean? Who?”
“Sophie.” My chest seized, my heart suddenly forgetting how to function. “Dina’s okay, but Sophie… Two men and a woman snatched her.”
“Tell me everything you know,” I barked.
Amir began to recount Dina losing them with her driving, and Sophie jumping out in front of her teacher’s street.
“When I got here,” he explained, “Dina was screaming and I started shooting. I got one, but the other two took off with Sophie.”
“Is the man you shot dead?” I snapped.
“No, just wounded,” Amir retorted.
I yanked at my tie with one hand to loosen it, panic twisting in my chest. I was supposed to protect her, and she was taken from right under my nose.
No, now was not the time to panic. I’d get her back.
“Bring him here,” I said, my voice cold. “I’m going to check surveillance footage covering that street.”
“Follow the white van,” Amir said.
I hung up and started across the room to a separate computer. I logged in, and within a few minutes, I had the location pulled up.
My gaze was locked on the screen, terrified I might miss a single clue as I watched it all unfold with a knot in my stomach. Once Sophie was thrown into the van, I hacked into CCTV footage and traced it all the way to its destination.
Jacqueline’s yacht I’d been searching for.
The metallic smell filled the dungeon as I descended the stairs, the floor sticky under my leather shoes. I welcomed the darkness that swallowed me with each step I took closer to our captive.
I needed to punish, hear the cries as he begged for his life and feel life drain out of the bastard who helped Jacqueline take Sophie.
But the priority was to get where Jacqueline’s yacht was heading.
She’d been able to keep under the radar in the Albanian and Greek waters, and I couldn’t afford to waste time roaming the seas and continuing to look for her.
I had a purpose, and that was to get my woman back. I wouldn’t lose her, and anyone who stood in my way would regret it.
The man lay crumpled on the stone floor at my feet, pools of red beneath him, and I began the interrogation.
I had no doubt he would talk. The past six hours had been hell for him and they were about to get even worse if he didn’t give me Jacqueline’s exact location and plan.
I knew Sophie was being kept on Jacqueline’s yacht, and I wanted to know everything I could about the layout of the boat, security cameras, number of guards, every-fucking-thing.
I smiled as I sat down in front of the captured man. He couldn’t move, but he jerked against his bindings anyway, trying to get away from me. A waste of time. There was no escape for this man, and the terror in his eyes told me he knew it.
Setting my knife on my thigh, I began. “There’re two ways this can go.” The man trembled. “I can torture you all night or you can take the easy way out. Answer all my questions and I’ll give you a clean death. Understand?”
He swallowed hard and a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. “Yes, sir.”
“So,” I continued, “you will tell me everything I need to know.”
“Please, sir. I can’t have that crazy woman go after my wife and child.”
Renewed fury had me slowly leaning forward, pressing my knife against his throat.
“I promise to protect your wife and child from her. But if you don’t give me the information I need, she will be the least of your worries.
I’ll go after your family myself, and I assure you, I’m a lot more dangerous than Jacqueline. ”
My prisoner shook his head, terrified, and then folded.
His words came slowly and were barely audible, but we eventually received the information on the yacht, its exact route, and the number of staff on it.
When I had what I needed, I reached for the gun tucked in my holster and aimed it between his eyes. “Your family will be safe.”
Those were the last words he heard before I pulled the trigger.
As I stood, Amir shot me a concerned look. “Are you all right?”
“Get men ready.” I dismissed his concern and strode toward the stairs. “We’re going to get Sophie back.”
And if there was a single scratch or bruise on her, I’d skin Jacqueline alive.