She walks in and I open my arms for her. I understand she needs to be held right now and who am to deny her what she needs. I think I need this as much as she does. I need someone to understand the pain I’m feeling. I’m not sure what has happened to them, but from what Anton said, it can’t be good.
I wrap my mother in my arms and listen to her as she cries against my chest, we’ve not done this since Bella’s funeral. After a few minutes she pulls out of my arms and reaches up to wipe the tear that has fallen down my cheek. She straightens up and asks the staff to put on a dinner even though it’s so late. She knows as well as I do that until I have some answers, I won't rest, but I don’t think my stomach will keep anything down.
I head to the gym while I am waiting. I don’t even bother to get changed, I just take my shirt off and start at the punch bag. If I don’t hit something, I will end up killing someone. Right now I want to feel the pain against my knuckles and the sweat running down my back. I let off steam for a good half hour, blow after blow I rain down but nothing seems to help ease the anxiety that I feel right now.
Back in the office after I quickly rub off the sweat and put my shirt back on, I sit myself back down at my desk, Malc is now sat in front of me, his toe is tapping on the floor and it’s driving me mad.
He is worried about Cami, I can see it written all over his face He wants to break something just like I do.
“I can’t get rid of this feeling that something is wrong,” he says to me, and it’s a tone I am not used to hearing from Malc, it’s desperate. What can I say to him? I can’t even reassure myself. Today is shaping up to be one of the worst days I have ever had. I have felt loss and pain, but nothing compares to the thought of losing Faith.
“We’ll do everything we can to find them friend.” There is nothing else I can say, so why bother trying to give the situation false hope.
“I know but that does not make the worry any better.” With every word he speaks I feel his pain.
“I know my friend, I am the same. I don’t even know what has happened to moya lyubov.” The Russian flows off my tongue with ease at the moment, I know right then that the words are true.
“I’ve been waiting for you to realise that brother. I just wish it wasn’t the worry that made you realise. I have not heard you speak our mother tongue for a long time my friend.”
“It’s only since Faith has been around, it fits, and it feels right.”
“Well it’s great to hear you speaking it again.”
My mobile phone rings in my pocket and I quickly pull it out to answer.
“Yes” I bark down the phone.
“Hello Damien, something tells me you are couple of guests short this evening.” Bile rises in my throat when I realise who it is on the phone and my worst fears are confirmed. Darren Young is on the other end of this line and it’s then that I realise he has my girl.
“What do you want Darren? If you have laid one finger on them your dead,” I see Malc visibly pale in front of me before his anger rises to the surface.
“That’s not any way to speak to the man who controls what happens next, do you understand Damien? If you want to see these girls back alive and in one piece you are going to do exactly what I say.”
“How do I know that she is still alive Darren? I am not going to play ball without knowing if she is still alive.”
“You want proof of life, is that it Damien?” I hear him shout to someone to go and get Faith, and my hearts sores at the thought of speaking to my girl. Fuck, he really has her and with that my heart sinks all over again. I will kill this motherfucker if it’s the last thing I do.
“Speak you worthless bitch,” I growl at how he speaks to her.
“Hello” I hear her voice, it sounds so hopeless. I let out a breath and try to find my voice so I can reply to my girl.
“Baby are you ok?” I need to hear her voice.
“Damien, oh god please Damien get us out of here! My dad and” but before she finishes what she was going to say, I hear Darren’s voice telling them to get her back into the room. I can hear Faith screaming, as she’s pulled away from the phone. I swear to god when I find her I am going to fucking kill them all.
“So you have your proof of life, now I will tell you what is going to happen, you’re going to nod and smile and do as you’re told, if you ever want to see her again.” I do my best to keep a lid on my temper but I can feel it starting to rise.
“Tell me what you want then Darren.” I spit out
“Well for starters, I want £100,000 and my debt wiped. You’re going to personally deliver it to me, and then when you do you can take the girls unharmed and we can go our separate ways.”
“When and where do you want this to happen?” I grab a pen and paper off the desk and prepare to write down what he tells me. The fact that he has managed to get hold of her is pissing me off. Yet again Jake has fucked up, why the fuck would I let him watch her I should have learnt my lesson the first time. I have no-one to blame but myself.
“You will meet me tomorrow at 12 pm at your warehouse and I want you on your own. If I see anyone else I will kill them both do you understand?” I clench my fists tight by my side
“Fine!” before I can say anything else the line goes dead. I can’t believe that fucker chose my warehouse, why the fuck would he think that it’s ok to hold them at my fucking warehouse. I am going to put a bullet in the fucker.
“What are we going to do?” Malc says to me his voice is still thick with emotion.
“We’re going to do whatever he says for now, we don’t have a clue how many people he has working with him.” I say to him, hearing groans as his reply so I continue. “We haven't got a clue how they managed to get the girls or if he has Jake as well.” This whole thing is a mess but what else can I do. I just hope my words are enough to placate him, as once Malc gets hold of something he’s all guns blazing, and that’s not what’s needed right now. We have to play it safe. This is more than just money, it’s my girl on the line, and I need her more than anything in this whole damn world.
“I hope you know what you’re doing Damien, because it’s not just you with something to lose this time.”
It’s then that I realise my friend's feelings are just as much at stake as my own.
We sit for a while going over the plans of the warehouse looking at the surrounding area to see where the best point for Malc and Anton to stay out of sight. Anton may be old but he is far from past it, he guards my mother, he has done more than I will ever do in the time that he has been with my family.
There is a knock at my office door and I shout for them to come in, not wanting to peel my eyes away from the research I am doing on my own fucking property.
“Damien you might want to listen to what I have to say,” Anton says I can tell by his tone this is serious. I look up from the blue prints from the warehouse to see him with a murderous look on his face.
“What is it Anton? What was so important that you could not tell me over the phone?” He walks over and sits down at the desk and I wait for him to begin telling me what’s going on.
“How well do you know Jake Masters?” as soon as he says it, I know that my initial feeling about him was right.
“All I know is that he met Malc in a café, and Malc brought him back here to work with us, he’s been with us a few months, the background check we did on him didn’t turn up anything suspicious.”
“Well I tried to traced his phone and came up with nothing as it was switched off, so I changed tactic and checked out his known address, there was nothing of note at first, it just looked like a rundown apartment with second hand basic furniture inside. When I went into his bedroom, that’s when things got interesting.” This is why I keep Anton around as he has a skill that you can’t find in many people. He is ruthless, every task he takes on he is meticulous. He checks his information and then checks it again like he says “in life or death there is no room for error or bad judgment”.
&
nbsp; “How did it get interesting? How does this relate to Faith?” I ask him.
“I want you to listen to me Damien, and hear me out until I have said every word.” I sit up straighter in my seat and prepare myself for whatever it is he has to say to me. I already know that I am not going to like whatever it is he has to say.
I nod giving him my word that I won’t interrupt him.
“I walked around his apartment and saw nothing much until I entered his bedroom, there on his nightstand was a picture just lying on the top. The picture was of Jake with Conner, so I made a call to try and get more info on him. Damien, Jake is Conner’s brother.”
“FUCK!” my loud curse stopped Anton and he just pinned me with a look that said shut up there is more, I nod for him to continue.
“As I was saying Damien that is not the only thing that I found. He had pictures. A LOT of pictures of Faith and you, some of just Faith, it seems that he has been watching her for months. This guy, let's just say he has a total hard on for Faith, some of those pictures… No-one but you and her should see that shit. From the looks of it, he has been, let's say, fantasizing about Faith.”
The dirty motherfucker. When I get my hands on him I am going to kill him, just like I did his brother and I won’t even blink. To think of him using pictures of Faith to get himself off makes me feel sick. She is fucking MINE!
“Do you have any idea what he is up to? Or where he is now?” I ask Anton, I can see Malc sat in the chair his hands are gripping the chair, his knuckles are white with the death hold he has. I know he will blame himself for this because he brought him into the family. He is not to blame, we did the checks and did not find anything to connect him to anyone dangerous to us.
When I think about it, he has been there when things went wrong or did not happen as I planned them.
“Yes I know where he is” he sighs.
“Where is he?”
“At the warehouse Damien.” I see the look of shock on Malc’s face and that’s when I know I heard him correctly.
This motherfucker is going to die.
Time to hunt.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Damien
I have gone through this plan over and over again, and it still doesn’t sit right with me. What I can’t fathom is why he has planned whatever he is doing to such detail. He’s had plenty of opportunity to take me out and that’s what makes me think it is not just me he wants and I will kill him for even looking at her. I can’t get over that we have had this going on under our noses and we didn’t even have a fucking clue.
I sent Malc out about an hour ago, he is no use to me when he can’t think straight. His rage was at boiling point after he heard what was going on, he threw my chair against the wall in his fit of rage. I need him to cool down and get his head in the game that means detaching himself from the situation, closing off his emotions.
Anton sits in the seat that is still available and I know he has more to say about the whole deal, but he is holding back and I want to know why. Even if he is my elder I am still the head of this family.
“What are you hiding my friend?” I ask him wanting to give him the chance to tell me before I lose it completely. My sense of calm went out of the window when I learned that scumbag had moya lyubov. I am trying to hold it together as best I can but as the hours pass by it gets harder. I need to get her back here safe with me. I don’t know what has happened to her or if she is ok. God help anyone if they have hurt her. I swear right now that they won’t ever wake up.
Once I get her out, and I will get her out mark my words, she will be back home where she belongs.
Is it wrong that this has made me realise now more than ever that I can’t live without her? No that’s not it, I just don’t want to live without her. She belongs by my side and that’s where she will be for the rest of her life she will be mine.
“There are things I found out that I will never be able to erase from my mind Damien, and it’s not thoughts I want you having about Faith or it will make you irrational and unpredictable. That is not something you need right now.” Anton says to me, his thick Russian accent is more noticeable when he is angry. What the fuck is he going on about? All of these secrets and lies. This bullshit really gets to me, when I ask a question I want an answer, not some cryptic clue. I just want everything laid out in front of me
“Just tell me everything Anton. I need to know what I am walking into tomorrow.” I am a little more forceful this time making him realise it’s an order not a request.
“You really want to know what I found?”
“For fuck sake, yes! Just spit it out already.”
I understand what he is saying I really do, I just want to have all the information so I can make the right choice. I need to get her out of this nightmare.
The things Conner did to her, I wonder if Jake has told her who he really is, if he has, then she will be reliving the hell she went through with him.
“I saw the pictures and tokens that he has kept from each victim.” My stomach drops.
“What are you talking about Anton? Just tell me what you know.” he nods his head and continues.
“There were pictures of women after he had raped them, and slit their throats. In some of the pictures, it was Conner doing the raping and slicing at the same time. There must have been over twenty pictures. It seems that they got their kicks from doing this and now he has the two girls and a very deep hatred of you. You took away Conner from him. If you don't play this right it’s not going to end well for any of us.”
I despise rapists. Men who get their jollies off from overpowering women and then taking away their right to say no, they’re not real men. That's why I did what I did to Conner, to make him pay for what he tried to do to Faith. The rot that was in him is in his brother, I will do exactly the same to him, I will cut off every appendage he has used and I will tell him right at the end when I finally give him that deadly blow that will let him meet his maker, I will tell him that I enjoyed killing his brother and that I will rest easy knowing women are safer with the two of them dead.
I feel sick, I cannot bear to think what might be happening to Faith. I only just got to her in time the last time. I don’t know if I would cope if I did not reach her in time again. Knowing that what we have is so much more than what it was back then, it kills me to think of any part of him touching any part of her.
“What were the tokens that he kept?” I question Anton, needing to know all the details, not that I want all that swimming around in my head, but I think it’s the only way I can prepare for what’s to come.
“He kept a lock of hair and their underwear that obviously had not been washed.” What sort of sick fuck did this? My mind is reeling. I want to go and hunt him down right the fuck now and put a bullet in his skull.
Tomorrow has to go to plan. It failing is not an option. I won’t give up. I can’t.
“Right we need to get this plan locked down, I don’t want any details left out. He will not get away with this, I won’t let him Anton. I understand why you didn’t want to tell me but I needed to know how bad it was.”
After a time I leave the office and go in search of Malc. I have not seen him since I had sent him out of the office. And with what Anton told me I am glad he was not there. He would only blame himself more.
I find him in the gym punching the bag. I can see the sheen of sweat that coats his skin, his pained cry alerts me to his hands. When he would not give up hitting the bag it was then I saw that he was punching the bag bare.
No strapping on or any gloves, his knuckles where red raw and I needed to get him to stop.
“Malc Stop!” I yell at him but nothing was getting through his haze. I walked closer to him knowing that any wrong movement and he would swing for me, not seeing anything but his pain.
As I got closer I saw the anger all across his face, his fists continued to pound against the bag.
“I heard what Anton said! I heard every last word how could I
have brought some sick fuck like that into the family Damien? How could I do it to the girls, put them at risk like that?” I hate the fact that my friend is broken like this, it was bad enough that I was feeling the same way but I had to keep that mask in place to keep up the facade that everything would be ok when all I was thinking on the inside that I was about to lose my heart.
“You weren’t to know who or what he was all we can do now is to try and fix it. Wallowing like this is not going to bring them back. I need her back whole Malc. Do you get me? I need your head in the game, close off your emotions like I have had to.” I can see the pain slowly fade from his eyes as he turns to me. I need to know he is with me, right now I need him not as my friend but as my second.
“I’m with you, we may need to go over the plan again I was zoned out a little before, too wrapped up in my own shit to help you with yours.”
“Right, well we need to find Anton and get this shit finalized. It happens tomorrow.”
He nods his agreement and we head out of the gym towards the kitchen, thinking that’s where he would be. I can smell my mother’s cooking and if she is cooking Anton will be close by. He always was, it’s funny to think that if it was not for my dad all this could have played out so differently. He adores my mother, I do think he has loved her all these years but would not go against my father. I suppose they got closer when I took over and sent Anton with her to protect her, I knew he would protect her until his last breath.
Walking in I see my mother sat at the table with a coffee in her hand and a plate of scones with jam and cream. I do love my mother’s scones they are heavenly, across from her I see Anton with a couple of scones on his plate tucking in like it was his last meal, which I suppose, if things go wrong it might be. With that thought I sit down at the table and I place a scone on the plate in front of me.
Malc sits with us, but just grabs himself a cup of coffee and sits brooding while he waited for us to get on with planning.
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