Kidnapping and murder weren’t nearly as easy to hide away.
Samuel was heading to a bar to meet with two of the mercs he’d hired over the dark web. They were working separately, and according to Vernon, they were considered two of the best in the business. Samuel didn’t know what they wanted to tell him, it had been so long and still, no one had any solid leads on Adrien. He’d hoped that they would have been found by now. But these guys had information and they wanted to give it straight to him, so he could decide if it went to the police or not.
Where could that bastard have gone, he thought to himself, gritting the wheel tightly.
He had his men looking everywhere he knew Adrien could have gone. Samuel owned several residences himself besides the main house on the family estate. He knew Adrien had leased spaces for himself in the city when he wanted to stay off of Samuel’s radar while getting up to his usual nonsense. Samuel couldn’t monitor all of them, or know all of the people Adrien surrounded himself with. He should have paid more attention.
Adrien had to have had someone who helped him from the outside. Someone close to him, someone with access to the money Adrien had managed to hide from him, but the police couldn’t find them, or track the people who kept sending Adrien the burner phones while he was in prison. Without the visitor logs, it was near impossible.
He had to hope one of these men would have an idea on how Adrien was able to plan all of this from prison, or where he was, or what his plans were.
He must have thought this out really thoroughly if it’s this difficult to track him down.
Samuel felt like he didn’t know his own brother. But just because it was difficult, didn’t mean it was impossible. Nothing was impossible.
He pulled his car into a parking spot close to the bar the mercs had mentioned. From appearances, it was a former military hang out. Lots of crew cuts and rough looking characters who seemed to be drowning their nightmares in alcohol.
He knew they should have arrived earlier than him, so when he walked into the bar, he started looking around for the two of them. They knew each other, so he expected to find them sitting together.
There.
He hadn't met them in person yet, but their photos were very clear in his text messages, so he knew what they looked like, which pretty much resembled every other fucker in the bar, but they’d said they’d be wearing camo jackets and black tee shirts. Samuel headed for them when, out of nowhere, he felt hands catch onto his biceps.
Immediately, he tensed. He turned around, about to attack whoever it was and shove them off him, when he saw it was a woman he’d never met before. She was dressed in a body hugging, strapless red dress that had a low neckline, showing off her ample cleavage, and a slit down the side of her leg. She was holding onto him with small, soft-looking hands and giving him a sultry smile.
A lot of men would find her attractive, but Samuel found himself wondering where she’d come from. He stared down at her in confusion.
“Hello there, handsome,” she said, pressing her chest to his arm. “Are you here alone? I could keep you company if you’d like.”
She… was hitting on him. The concept seemed too foreign to him right then. It wasn’t the first time a woman had hit on him, though he didn’t go out to places often. Aside from work purposes, the most he’d ever gone out was with Camila. And looking at this woman, he knew she was just looking for a hook up. He had to wonder if she was a hooker, but he wouldn’t ever ask.
Besides, with how tense everything in him was, this woman could have gotten hurt and perhaps all she really wanted was for him to buy her a drink and maybe take her home at the end of the night.
I am way too tense, he realized. This is taking a lot out of me.
For the first time, he wondered if what the mercs had to tell him was something he’d be able to handle.
“I’m sorry,” he said solemnly to the woman. “But do you mind releasing me? I’m afraid I’m already taken.”
“Oh,” she said with a disappointed pout. “That’s too bad.”
She didn’t try to act unreasonable, backing off once he let her know he wasn’t unattached, which left him relieved. He had known women that preferred to cling to their prey, no matter whether they were interested or not, attached or not, on occasions he went to high end bars and clubs with some of his clients.
Putting the experience behind him, he continued toward the table. The two mercs had long taken note of him already. Samuel took the third seat at the table, and almost immediately a waitress approached them. He noticed the other two had already ordered, but he waved the waitress away himself.
He didn’t mind the occasional drink, but he wanted to be as clear headed as possible until Camila and Adrien were found.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Kane,” one of the mercs said, extending a hand across to him for a shake. “I’m Chris.”
“I’m Brandon. We promise not to waste your time.” He gave Samuel a hard smile.
“It’s good to finally meet you both,” he said, taking the handshakes. “And please, call me Samuel. I assume you have some good news for me or you wouldn’t have called me out. I didn’t know the two of you were working together.”
They shared a glance between themselves.
“We weren’t so much together as we both had the same ideas and the same clues,” Chris said. “We both followed them and ended up in the same place.”
Brandon reached inside his pocket and pulled out a brown envelope. “We found your brother’s car, a Mercedes. It was dumped up in Poughkeepsie, though tracking it all the way there wasn’t easy. It wasn’t in the list of cars you gave us, but it’s registered under his name.”
Samuel took the envelope and opened it. Inside were pictures, and he looked over them quickly. He saw a car that he didn’t recognize, and several locations that he didn’t know, either. He fingered one of the shots that showed blood on the driver’s seat, about shoulder height, he thought.
Morganna did get him with that shot. He frowned. What could Adrien have been doing all the way up there? Did he seek out a doctor to fix his wound?
“Can you tell me what else you found there?” he said, looking up at them. “People he met, places he went, like a hospital or clinic? Any possibility that could lead to where he went?”
“There wasn’t much else to be found there,” Chris said. “No hospital or clinic records. Finding the car in itself was a bit of a hassle. But he didn’t stay there long and finding people he talked to wasn’t exactly easy. But once we were working together, we did find some things.”
“Around that area, not long after your brother showed up, an old black Ford sedan was stolen from the same lot he parked the Mercedes in. It was dark, no witnesses. He left as soon as he parked the car, but it’s possible he went back to pick up the other car, because no one was around when it was taken. The guy in charge of looking after the lot must have thought the owner probably picked it, because he didn’t make a report to the police, not until the owner showed up for the Ford a day later.”
“The police haven’t picked up the clue yet,” Chris said. “But we asked around some more and tracked down the movement of the Ford as soon as it left the lot. There was a camera that showed it pulling out, there’s no clear picture of the driver, it was too dark, but just in case it was your brother, it looked like he was heading Upstate, and it appeared he was alone in the vehicle, though someone could have been laying in the backseat. Hard to say for sure.”
“Upstate?” Samuel repeated, frowning.
Going back to the pictures, he saw they even had some shots of the missing Ford, it must have been taken from the cameras in the area because the image wasn’t as clear. What he didn’t understand, was what Adrien would have been thinking, and where he was going.
Right then, Samuel was regretting the need to make this situation private. It just wouldn’t be wise to publicize that they were looking for a criminal with his face, though. Even if he attached that it was Adrien Ka
ne and not Samuel Kane, it would have caused an uproar. Of course, it wasn’t just solely because of reputation that he wasn’t doing everything possible to have Adrien’s face plastered all over. Even if his own face got saddled with words like kidnapper, murderer, convict, he could deal with it.
Showing his face, though, would only make people act unreasonably. He wouldn’t even be able to go out like this, so the police were being discreet in their search so as not to create an uproar that would be worse for the investigation.
“We thought we’d better come to you with this information,” Brandon said. “So you can decide whether to hand it over to the police or ask your own people to go after him. I will warn you that this means there’ll be a lot of ground to cover if your brother is to be found, because it won’t be easy to tell how far he’s gone.”
“Thank you for this,” Samuel said, knowing he would have to leave this to the cops because of their superior manpower. His guys still weren’t prepared for this kind of thing, no matter how much training they had. “Here’s the ten grand for each of you.” Samuel gave them each envelopes. “Come up with anything else and there is a bonus to go with that.” He nodded toward the envelope. “Thanks for your help. You can’t know how much this—” he stopped for a moment, and then said. “Just, thank you.”
“We completely understand, sir.”
“We’ll be in touch if we hear anything else.”
With a nod, Samuel got up and left them there, pulling out a few bills and leaving it on the table to pay for their drinks.
A lead.
He had a lead.
Samuel felt like it was a miracle. It gave them a lot of ground to cover, but it was the first lead that had been found in this case, and at least they would know where to start looking. The police could handle how they did the search, but Samuel already planned to be involved in it.
He drove home like a mad man, several times going against traffic rules, but he didn’t care right then. No sirens blared after him, so he ignored it. He arrived home in record time and jumped out of the car. He didn’t bother closing the door behind him, even leaving the keys in the ignition. Michael would find it and drive it over to the garage.
Inside, he found Morganna and Brianna keeping each other company. Morganna was good with Brianna, even better than Camila was, and it had surprised him when she managed to get through to Brianna when even he couldn’t, but he could only be grateful for her presence. At least now he could say he had something for her.
“There’s news,” he said as soon as he entered, causing the two of them to look up at him.
“What? You’ve found something?” Morganna said, sounding surprised, with excitement growing on her face.
“Two of the mer… er, men I hired found something. They have a general idea where Adrien was after he took Camila, and the direction he was heading.”
“Well, where is he?” she said impatiently, jumping up.
Brianna hesitated on the couch, but the expression on her face was alert as she watched the two of them.
“Upstate,” Samuel commented, pulling a black Glock from the locked cabinet in the living room.
“Well go after him!” Morganna demanded.
“Oh, I plan to.” He checked the gun, making sure it was empty and grabbed the box of ammo from the shelf. “I will find them, no matter what, Morganna. I’ll bring her home.”
* * *
If you want to find out what happens next, make sure to grab the final book in this trilogy, Shattered Obsession, here!
About Roxy Sinclaire
Roxy Sinclaire writes steamy, suspenseful romantic stories as the main genre, and this includes a variety of different topics. Some of these include dark romances, action packed romances, mafia romances, and many more. She currently works in customer relations in New York City, but is trying to fulfill her passion in writing and eventually have her dream job become a reality.
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A taste of Shattered Obsession…
Chapter 1
Red lace.
Seriously?
What the fuck is wrong with him? Camila stared at the bed and her hand went to the collar around her neck. The fucking thing was locked in place with some sort of padlock that she couldn’t break if she tried.
“Camila, you have one minute!”
Camila’s eyes flew to the door. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the stupid red lace and slipped into it. She feared being shocked again. No way was she going to let him do that to her again if she could help it. And it wasn’t as though he hadn’t already seen her naked. Unfortunately.
A glance in the mirror told her that all of the important parts were covered. The red lace thing was actually a short, very, very short, night gown. It just barely covered her ass at the bottom and the top put the swell of her breasts on display. Her stomach rolled at the thought of wearing this for him, but taking a breath she decided she could live with it.
“There you are.” Adrien stood in the doorway. “It fits nice. Turn.”
Keeping her mouth shut, Camila did as he asked. When she’d made the full turn, she stopped and looked at him. Her lips pressed in a thin line as she bit her tongue.
Adrien’s expression turned lecherous and she took a tiny step back. “I set food out, go cook it, wife, I’m hungry.” His words and his expression implied two different things.
It was the look in his eyes that worried her. Carefully, she moved toward him. He didn’t move out of the doorway and she attempted to make herself smaller as she passed by him, but as she did, he grabbed her hips and she froze.
“Mmmm, you smell good enough to eat,” he commented.
Camila’s heart raced. With panic in her eyes, she glanced up at him. “I-I thought you wanted food.”
“I do.” He smacked her ass. Hard. “But I might want this later.”
Camila shuddered, but didn't say anything.
“It’s waiting for you. Be quick about it.” He gave her a little shove and she stumbled in the hallway before gaining her feet.
She hurried down the hall to the kitchen and found two steaks, a can of green beans and some powdered mashed potatoes set out on the counter. The steaks were already defrosted, so she didn’t have worry about thawing them. Going through the drawers, she looked for a knife, maybe she could hide it somewhere… but to her great regret, there were none. All she found were regular table knives that were pretty dull. She half wondered how he planned to eat the steak, but with a sigh, she went about gathering the rest of the things she’d need to make the food.
“How long will it be, honey?” Adrien asked, standing in the kitchen entryway.
Camila looked over her shoulder. He wore a smirk, as if he’d known exactly what she’d done when she reached the kitchen. She suppressed the shudder she felt building and said, “Half hour, maybe?”
He gave a sharp nod. “I’ll set the table.” He moved toward her, his hand skimming over her back as he opened the utensils drawer.
Camila grabbed a pan and added butter. She found the salt and pepper and seasoned the steaks before adding them to the pan.
“It’s too bad we don’t have any garlic or onions. That would have added great flavor,” he commented as if they were really husband and wife and this were just an ordinary night at home, and there wasn’t a dead body in the basement. “We’ll just have to make do for a while though, till things cool down and my arm heals. Then I’ll make a trip to the store.”
Camila couldn’t believe how delusional he was, but she figured it would be better to play along as much as she could. She didn’t want to give him any reason to hit that button on the remote, and until she could get it awa
y from him, or get the collar off, she was going to be the best actress on the planet. “I’m sure there is plenty here for us to work with.”
“Now, that is a good attitude to have.” He smiled at her and it made her a bit nauseous.
How do actresses deal with this shit? Pretending to like things they don’t? Samuel had better find me fast!
Camila gave him a tight smile and turned her back to add the green beans to a sauce pan. Luckily, they had a pull tab top, and she didn’t have to hunt for a can opener.
“When I was downstairs, I saw we have plenty of canned goods. I’ll bring up more tomorrow. Maybe we can rearrange the kitchen. Get rid of some of these knick knacks, and use it for food storage. How does that sound?” He came up behind her and she felt his hips press into her ass.
She nodded and swallowed hard. “Fine.”
“Good girl,” he commented and swatted her ass again. “I also found some liquor. I must have forgotten setting it down there for safe keeping.”
Camila looked at him, confused. He forgot he put it down there? What the fuck?
“Oh, did I spoil the surprise? Did you do that for me, honey?” He looked at her as if he completely believed what he was saying. “You are such a good wife.”
“Why don’t you sit down, it’s almost ready,” Camila murmured, giving him a tight smile. And then she had a thought… maybe she could get him to drink and pass out… “Or, you know, maybe grab one of those bottles for dinner?”
Adrien’s eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s a great idea.” He kissed the top of her head and stepped away. “I’ll be right back.”
As soon as she heard him on the basement stairs, she breathed a sigh of relief to have him away from her. She plated the steaks, green beans, and mashed potatoes and moved to the table. She took the seat on the left side and waited. While she sat, she said a silent prayer to heaven that Samuel was searching for her and would find her soon, because she had no idea how long she could keep this charade up.
Tangled Obsession: Book 2 of the Obsession Trilogy Page 15