by J. G. Sumner
Tony’s words are kind, but I want to make sure he has no doubts. The last thing I need is to find him messing around with some tramp. “No regrets?”
Tony kisses my nose. “Not a single one. Nobody compares to you. You’ve got me hook, line, and sinker. I hope you’re okay with that.”
How could I not be? What woman doesn’t want her man to be head over heels in love with her? Yes please, I’ll take it.
“I’m going to go take a shower. Would you care to join me?” The devilish grin tempts me, but I still have calls to make.
“I’ll have to pass just this once, but I’ll have your coffee waiting when you get out.” It’s amazing the man can sleep. I had to buy an espresso machine when he moved in because he prefers to drink about four shots of it straight just to get going in the morning. I’m not sure how much he drinks throughout the day, but if I consumed what he does, I’d be up for a month.
“Your loss, sweetheart.” Tony feigns disappointment.
I wave him off before picking my phone up and dialing Kendall. She answers on the first ring.
“Oh my God! I can’t believe this. You got engaged and I don’t hear from you for almost twenty-four hours? What kind of friend are you torturing me like that? No, just tell me how he did it. I want to hear all the juicy details!”
Clearly Kendall has had her coffee already. She’s talking a million miles a minute. I walk into the kitchen and start to prepare Tony’s espresso. I realize that we’re out of beans. I throw on some clothes and head to the Starbucks around the corner.
“Oh, you wouldn’t believe it! He planned out the entire day. It was so magical and unexpected.” I continue to fill Kendall in on the details as I grab my keys and wallet and head out the door.
“I might lose you. I’m getting into the elevator,” I say halfway through the story. Fortunately, the connection was never lost, and I continued to go over every magical minute even as I was stepping into the coffee shop.
“Hold on, I’ve got to get our drinks.” I order Tony an espresso and an iced green tea for myself and pay the barista before picking back up on the conversation.
“Tony and I thought it would be fun to go out tonight with you and Jasper to celebrate. Are you up for it?” She squeals in the background. Obviously she was waiting for an invitation. I’m surprised she didn’t invite herself.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! What time?”
I look at the time on my phone and note that it’s about noon. “How about we meet at five? We can get dinner and then go out for drinks afterwards.”
“That sounds great! I can’t wait to see the rock he gave you. I also wouldn’t mind checking out some more of Jasper’s tattoos.” I look down at my ring as soon as she mentions it.
“Hmm. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re a bit smitten.”
“You could say that. I don’t see wedding bells anytime in the future, but I envision many rolls in the hay. That man can have me any which way he wants!” Kendall was never one for subtleties.
The barista calls my name, and I hold the phone with my ear and shoulder as I pick up the drinks and continue the conversation.
“So where does the soon-to-be Mrs. Bertalucci want to go tonight?”
Kate Bertalucci. I like the sound of it. I smile as I push out the door and back onto the street. “I’m not sure. Let me talk to Tony when I get back, and I’ll text you with what we decide.”
“Sounds…”
The phone drops from my ear and drinks spill from my hands as I’m grabbed from behind. A cloth has been put over my face, and all I can smell is something chemical. I reach for the hand covering the cloth, but I have no time to panic or fight back as my world transcends into darkness within seconds.
Chapter Twelve
Tony
“What do you mean you don’t know where she is? How could you fucking lose track of her? Where the fuck did she go?” I pace around Jasper’s apartment and security headquarters looking for answers. I didn’t put all this security in place and spend the last year protecting her from afar only to have Kate disappear while I’m taking a goddamn shower.
“I don’t know, man. I tracked her phone to Starbucks and on the way back, the GPS stopped moving. I rushed over there, but she was gone. Her phone was on the ground.”
I take a vase from the table and throw it against the wall. It crashes into a million little pieces; kind of like my heart did when Jasper showed me the coffee cups with Kate’s name on them.
“Aaaagggghhhh! You assured me there was no way we’d lose her with that phone. Your men were supposed to be tailing her twenty-four seven. What the fuck?” I’m seething. I want to blame someone and have them pay for Kate going missing. The only one I should be blaming is myself. I should’ve never come out of witness protection. I knew I was putting her in harm’s way, but I thought I could protect her better than the government. They’ve been keeping tabs on her in an attempt to find my cousin. Now the fucking bastard has her. He waited until we got engaged so he had something on me. Goddammit!
“You also told me I needed to be discreet so we didn’t alarm her. I can’t have them waiting outside your door. You told me you were going to be inside most of the day. I let the guys have the day off and figured I could do surveillance. You’re supposed to call me anytime she leaves to go anywhere.”
I know Jasper’s as upset as I am. He’s become fond of Kate, and he never likes to fail a mission. “I didn’t know she was leaving. She was supposed to be making me coffee and talking to Kendall. Shit! Have you called her? Maybe she heard or knows something.” My heart races. I’m hopeful for any information that train wreck might have.
Jasper picks up his phone and dials her number. I hold my breath with bated anticipation. I silently pray, hoping and willing Kendall to know something.
“Hey, baby. Is Kate with you?”
Baby? When did they get to the pet name status? Jesus, I want to throw up. Seeing a big burly guy like Jasper all melty over some chick is ridiculous. He must be in deep. I’ve never seen him like this.
“I see.” I eye Jasper and he shakes his head. My heart sinks as all the hope I had floats away.
“Tell me exactly what happened.” The room is silent except for the occasional uh-huhs. I’ve lost control over the most important person in my life—the only family I have. All I want to do is punch a wall. Instead, I pace. This isn’t my apartment. I’ve already broken a vase. I don’t need to destroy everything that’s Jasper’s or I may just lose the one friend who can help me get Kate back.
“I’ll call you back when I hear something.” Jasper presses END on his phone. I’m impatiently waiting for whatever information Kendall has provided.
“There’s not really anything to go on. She confirmed Kate left Starbucks, but that was about it. I guess they were talking and in mid-sentence Kate stopped. There were no sounds. She didn’t scream. It must’ve been a surprise attack. She probably didn’t see it coming.”
“What about her credit or ATM card? Have they been used?” I’m grasping at straws here. If it was my cousin, there’s no way he’d use any of Kate’s cards. He doesn’t need her money and he wouldn’t leave any kind of trail like that.
Jasper shakes his head. “I followed the tracking device we put in her wallet and found it inside the trash can in front of Starbucks. Nothing was taken out of it and none of the cards have had any transactions other than purchasing coffee.”
I slam my fist down on the table. “Goddammit! That sneaky fucking bastard took her in broad daylight. Either he wants me to know it was him, or he doesn’t ever plan on us finding either of them. What are we going to do?” I run my fingers through my hair. A headache suddenly hits me like a baseball bat to the side of my head. She literally vanished without a trace. Everything I’ve worked so hard for is gone in a flash. How on Earth am I going to tell her parents?
“I’ll call Agent Thompson and the FBI. They’ll let the authorities at the airports and train stations know. He won
’t be able to get her out of this city.”
I state the obvious. “It’s been an hour. He could be long gone. God only knows where he took her.” I rub my hands over my face and pick up my cell phone to make the call I hoped I’d never have to. “I’m going back to my apartment. I need to tell Kate’s parents. Let me know if you hear anything.” I walk out of the room, slamming the door behind me. This is officially the worst day of my life. It doesn’t even compare to the death of my parents and brothers. It’s as though my heart has been ripped out of my chest with a spoon. All I want to do is curl up in a ball and die. The only thing preventing me from doing so is any prospect of finding Kate. I have to stay strong for her. I have to save her.
I opt not to call Kate’s parents and instead, go to her dad’s office. This is something I have to do in person. I promised her father months ago that I would keep her safe. I failed, and I’m going to have to take it like a man. I need to look Charles Anderson in the face and find a way to right this wrong. I can only hope I get the opportunity.
I take the elevator to the sixty-seventh floor, which also happens to be the top of the building. As the doors slide open, I take a deep breath and prepare for what I know is going to be a difficult conversation. I enter the lobby of Anderson Industries. The padded carpet buffers the noise from my shoes. The soft lighting provides a warm and inviting ambiance. For a second, I stare at the deep brown leather couches lining the walls and think how I’d much rather just sit there with a bottle of Jack and drink this away. No such luck as the receptionist pulls me from my thoughts.
“I hear congratulations are in order.” I glance up at the smiling face of the young blond. She’s petite and wears a white short-sleeved button-down silk top. I know from previous meetings I’ve had here that her name is April.
I can’t even muster a smile, as there will be no celebrating tonight. “Is Mr. Anderson in?”
“Yes, he is, but he’s in a meeting. Was he expecting you?”
I shake my head. “No, but his meeting needs to be interrupted. This is a family emergency.”
The smile she wore only seconds before quickly falls from her face. “Of course, let me get him for you.” She picks up the phone and speaks softly into it. I don’t listen to what she says. I don’t care. All I know is I’m about to tell my future father-in-law his daughter is missing.
April rolls her chair back, stands up, and waves for me to follow her. I can now see she’s wearing a black skirt hanging to her knees. Her black heels dig into the white carpet, leaving an indentation with each step she takes. I can’t help but focus on these inanimate things. It helps my mind not think about the fact that my heart is crushed and aching so badly; it’s as though it’s being stepped on by an elephant.
She takes me to Charles’s personal office. I sit down in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk. I rub my face with my hands and hold my head between my legs.
“Mr. Anderson will be with you shortly.”
I don’t say a word as she shuts the door and leaves me to stew in my own private hell. I pray that Jasper has received some clue and by the end of this dreadful conversation that’s about to take place. I’ll be able to tell Kate’s dad I know where she is.
I’m not sure how much time passes before the door opens. I take a deep breath and brace myself as I stand to face Charles Anderson.
“I hope you have a good reason for interrupting, son. The meeting I was in is very important. I’m trying to open some restaurants overseas.” I nod as he stops in front of me. “You don’t look so good. What’s wrong? Did something happen to Katherine?”
I square my shoulders and do my best to make eye contact. What I really want to do is run to the trash can in the corner and vomit. “Sir, I don’t know how to say this.”
“Don’t beat around the bush. What’s happened?” Charles drops his leather notebook on the desk. The look of concern spread across his face doesn’t come close to the fear and panic that is overtaking my entire body.
“S—she’s missing. They’ve taken her again.”
He stands there frozen for what seems like forever, but may just be for a few seconds. I don’t know. Time escapes me at the moment. His stare his blank. He must be in shock. Suddenly, he spins around and punches the wall behind him. Charles doesn’t speak a word as he stands with his forehead resting against it. Finally, he lifts his head and turns around. He reaches for the phone on his desk and presses the intercom button.
“Cancel all my meetings for the rest of the day. Apologize to the investors in the conference room and reschedule a meeting date. Hold all my calls unless it has to do with Katherine.”
The voice on the other end I recognize as April’s. It’s shaky, but she acknowledges Charles’s requests.
As he leans over the desk, Charles lifts his head. His face is pleading for answers. “What happened? What do you know?”
I recite the events as I recall them. I explain how Jasper and I have already started searching for her and we’ve contacted the FBI and Agent Thompson, who was able to find and save her in Italy. The one thing I’m thankful for is that this happened on American soil. The resources available to find Kate are far more abundant than they were in Italy.
“How could you let this happen? You assured me you had everything under control. I could’ve had my own men protecting her, but you were adamant that yours could do it better. I believed you. I trusted my daughter was safe in your care.” He stands up and stares at me. His eyes search mine, pleading for answers and some sort of understanding.
“I don’t have an excuse. I’ve done everything in my power to keep her safe. I’ve been working day and night to find that asshole cousin of mine. I don’t know what else I could’ve done. He outsmarted us.”
“I thought you had a tracking device on her? You were supposed to be able to trace every step she took. What happened to that?”
I know he blames me. He has every right to. Shit, I blame myself. I didn’t do a good enough job. I shouldn’t have allowed her to ever leave the apartment without telling me. It’s just she was still suffering from the attack in Italy. I didn’t want to make it any worse. I provided the maximum amount of security I could without her knowing. “We put a sophisticated tracking device in her phone; she also had one in her wallet and watch. Unfortunately, the wallet and phone were found in front of Starbucks. She never put her watch on this morning. It’s on the bedside table. I didn’t know she was leaving.”
Charles rubs his hands over his face much the way I’ve done the last couple of hours. “I want to be able to blame you for this, but I know it’s not your fault. You’ve done everything in your power to keep Matteo away. Now we just need to find her. What are your men doing?”
My jaw drops. I thought for sure he would be yelling expletives. Instead, Charles Anderson remains calm as he still accepts me as his son-in-law. He wants to work with me to get Kate back. I never would’ve seen this coming in a million years. I thought for sure he would try to cut me out of her life. Instead, he treats me like a son. He does it when I need a father most, when I need someone to confide in and tell me everything is going to be okay. The kindness and understanding of this man knows no boundaries. I decide right then and there that I’m going to spend every day for the rest of my life trying to do right by him and Kate.
“We don’t really have any leads. We’re hoping to get her picture out to the authorities, so he won’t be able to get her out of the city. I recently traced Matteo to the Caymans. However, when my men went to find him, he was already gone. That was about a week ago. My guess is he made a quick stop for money transactions.
“Jasper is looking into flights that have come in from the islands landing in Florida. I don’t think he’d take a direct flight here. The chances of him getting caught between your connections and mine are too high. Also, Jasper’s men are looking through the security footage from the cameras we had placed around the building. Hopefully we can pick up a license plate or description of
who took her. We hired a new doorman about a week ago to keep an eye on things and not let anyone in the building who didn’t belong. Kate had no idea. She just thought the others quit or were retiring. Anyway, Jasper is questioning them as we speak. Hopefully one of them has seen something lately that would provide us with a clue. Other than that, I don’t know what to do.”
Charles crosses his arms while placing one hand under his chin. He looks as though he’s contemplating the world. In a way, I guess he is. He’s trying to find Kate, and she is definitely every bit of his world as she is mine. “Didn’t you tell me about some sort of facial recognition thing you had installed?”
I had forgotten about that. It was built into the camera system around our building. I’m going to have to get Jasper to look into that. “We did it about a month ago. We’ve designed it to alert us to Matteo’s and Manchetti’s faces. Other than that, we don’t know who we’re looking for. The chances that either of them would come near the building are slim. They know they’d get caught. Surely one of Matteo’s thugs is responsible for this.”
Charles continues to rub his chin. “I see. I want to keep this private from the press for as long as possible. I have to go home and deliver this horrible news to my wife. I don’t want her finding out on the internet. This is going to be a high-profile case when it gets out there. We’re going to have random idiots asking for ransom thinking they can score a buck or two out of our family’s tragedy. If your cousin wants money, I’d like to know it’s a legitimate ransom.”
“With all due respect, I don’t think he wants your money. He wants vengeance on me. He knows the only way to get to me is through Kate. He killed the rest of my family. Let’s hope we can find her before he does any more harm.”
Charles walks toward me. I brace myself wondering what’s going to happen. Is he going to take out any remaining frustration on me? I brace for a blow to the gut or a right cross to my face. Although I’ve never experienced it myself, I’ve been told Charles Anderson has quite the temper and doesn’t put up with a lot of shit. Instead, he extends his arms and embraces me. “I’m proud of you for how you’re handling this situation. There’s no one else who would’ve gone to the extent you have to keep my daughter safe. Some days, I think it sure would’ve been easier if she never met you. Others, I’m glad she did. You saved her life in more than one way in Italy. I’ll never be able to repay you for that. I know you’re a man of your word and you’ll do everything you can to get my daughter back. In the meantime, I’m I’ve got to talk to my wife, and make some calls to pull in some favors. Keep me informed of anything you find.”