Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
There was a long pause, so long I almost ended the call before a familiar voice spoke. “This is Toni,” a woman said quickly. “I work with Serenity.” The world tilted.
“Where is Ren?” I demanded. “And Matteo?”
There was another pause, the kind that told me nothing in the world would ever be right again, before she could say more.
“There was an incident,” she said carefully, in that slow voice people used on angry animals. “Mattie is here with me. He’s safe, but he’s inconsolable. Serenity was…taken.”
“Taken?” I roared, turning to Luca. The word scraped against my throat, coming out of me like something feral. “Taken by who?” I didn’t remember moving, but suddenly Luca was at my side, his sharp eyes on my face as he reached for his keys and jacket. He took the phone from my hand.
“I don’t know,” Toni answered, her voice quiet and emotional.
Luca handed me the phone and opened the cabin door, motioning to the security team that surrounded the place.
“Brady pulled all the security footage from our parking lot and the surrounding buildings. You need to get here,” she said softly but urgently. “Now.”
“We’re on our way,” I told her and ended the call. My legs didn’t even feel real as I climbed into the back of the SUV. Luca took the seat beside me while two guards sat up front. The other four followed in another black SUV as we made our way down the mountain and to Ren’s office.
My hands clenched into fists, so tight my nails dug into my palms as I thought of Ren, alone and scared. I wondered, more than once, if she was regretting the day I came back into her life.
“We’ll get her back,” Luca said quietly.
“You don’t know that,” I snapped.
He exhaled, patient even now. “I do.”
I wanted to believe him. Desperately. But belief didn’t come easily when every mile ahead stretched like a lifetime. Without Ren.
“Look, we already know who’s behind this now, so we also know he plans on using her as leverage.” Luca sighed heavily, shaking his head. “Which means she’s alive.”
That helped. A little. She was alive, for now. But would she wish she were dead by the time this was all over?
“I already reached out to Thorn, and he’s tracking him through all possible measures. He’ll reach out, likely soon.” He rubbed his palms together, his gaze locked on mine. “He’ll reach out to you. It’s only a matter of time,” he said, his words filled with certainty.
I stared out the window, watching the landscape blurring as the SUV tore up the highway toward ENS. My thoughts remained on Ren, wondering how she was holding up, but in the background, I thought about the traitor. About what I would have to do.
By the time we arrived at the ENS office, my mind and body were a riot of emotions, but outside, I was calm. Inside the building, however, was chaos.
Security vehicles lined the curb, effectively blocking the path to the front door, which was shut. The blinds were drawn on the windows, and the police were nowhere in sight. That surprised me, but I was relieved for the quiet containment.
I cataloged every detail I took in, from the security guards with wireless earpieces and guns under their jackets to the quiet hum of conversation all around me. My first priority wasn’t strategy, not yet. It was Matteo.
I spotted him immediately, his face red and blotchy and his cheeks streaked with tears. He broke from Toni the second he saw me and slammed into my legs. “They took her, Papa,” he sobbed. “They took her.”
My chest cracked open as I lifted him into my arms, holding him tight while his small body shook against me. “I’ll get her back,” I promised into his hair. “I swear.”
He clung to me like he might never let go.
Toni stepped forward gently. “Mr. DeRossi, this is my husband, Brady. He’ll get you what you need, and I’ll stay with Mattie while you look at the footage.”
I hesitated, my hands holding Matteo a little too tight.
She sighed. “He already lived through it. I don’t think he needs to see it again.” Her words were soft yet firm, and oddly caring for a boy she hardly knew.
She was, of course, right. I kissed Matteo’s temple, reluctant to let him go, but after another minute, I handed him over, watching as he went to her easily.
“Come on, Mattie. No matter how bad things get, ice cream makes them the teensiest bit better, right?”
He nodded but not nearly as enthusiastically as he usually did everything. It was the only sign he was feeling too much.
I followed Brady down the short hall and into the same conference room Ren had put me in the last time I was here with her. The small room was buzzing with activity. In the corner, I spotted Damien with his big leg resting on a chair, the pant leg cut open and a thick bandage wrapped around his thigh. Blood had soaked through already.