"I've had someone watching the Gallaghers ever since they came to NYC." Wait, what?
"Why? Did Vlad put you up to this?"
"In a way. We watched Enzo and, by extension, the Gallaghers" It all sounds logical, given Vlad's blatant interest in Enzo. But why do I feel like it isn't the real reason...
"Maybe one of these days, you'll give me more details into this friendship of yours with Vlad," I add casually and watch Marcel's face fall for a second before he composes himself.
"Maybe..." He answers cryptically.
"Let me send a picture of Carlos to Bianca; that way, we can have direct confirmation without resorting to conjectures." I get my phone out and snap a picture of Carlos, sending it to Bianca.
"Right. How have things been with you and Bianca?"
"Good. She adopted a cat." I keep my answer short and vague, not wanting to disclose more details. Our new relationship is still in its infancy, and I don't want to jinx anything.
"A cat?" Marcel asks, clearly amused.
"Her name's Mally. You'll like her." I add fondly. However, Marcel does not seem to share my enthusiasm, as the prospect of meeting Mally has him already pale.
"Shit. Sorry, forgot about that." I shake my head at my thoughtlessness.
Marcel has a pet phobia. I know this because when we first met, I had one too many pets. One time, Marcel had come by my place, and at the sight of the animals racing towards him, he'd fled the premises and had declared my apartment off-limits. It seems that fate is about to repeat itself.
"No worries." He tries to dismiss it, but I can see I've ruined the mood.
I excuse myself and tell him I will update him when Bianca replies.
"One more thing..." Marcel says as I'm about to head out.
"Hm?"
"Carlos is still in NYC. Tell Bianca to be careful."
"Thanks."
Now, that's a worrying thought. Bianca had tried to describe her experience at the Block in as much detail as possible, and I'd been shocked at how close she'd come to being assaulted, first by the guards and then by the man who bought her.
He'd been bent on getting his due since, apparently, Martin had cheated him. I'd tried not to show Bianca just how upsetting those details had been to hear, mostly since it was clear that it wasn't too bad from her own perspective.
To just think of her in such a situation... I still blame myself for allowing her to do that in the first place. I don't care that it did yield results, and we uncovered Jimenez's identity. Not at that potential cost.
After wrapping up with Marcel, I head back to the work to fill some paperwork. With everything going on, I'd been on leave for almost two weeks now. Although the amount of work I have to catch up with is outstanding, I leave at around six, thinking to surprise Bianca for dinner.
Since we'd decided to give our relationship a try, things have been... too good. We'd had various discussions, and we'd both confessed the stuff we'd done in our past. I'd told her about my childhood, how my parents had done the best they could with me and that I'd been a happy teen until their deaths. After that, I'd been placed in foster care, and because of bullying, I'd ended up on the streets only to be taken in by a Catholic church belonging to the Irish mob. I'd described my time in the ring and how it had forced me to grow up and mature. I'd also confided in her my shame at keeping that lifestyle for as long as I did when there wasn't anything really forcing me to do it other than my thirst for revenge.
I really owed Theo everything.
Not only had he given me a clean slate, but he'd also given me a ticket out of a lifetime of criminality, which was what I'd been looking at had I continued on that path.
In turn, she'd also described her childhood. Her voice had held her usual cool tone as she'd related the abuse and neglect she'd suffered at Martin's hands. After Jenna, she was already looking at a self-destructing path that Drew had helped her avoid by showing her how to redirect her anger. She'd told me as much as she could about her involvement with the Bratva. And then she'd opened up about how her obsession with me started.
I have to admit I'd been a little weirded out by the lengths she'd gone to get to me. But is it normal to find it all just a little bit endearing?
Maybe not... and perhaps the fact that I hadn't reacted negatively to her confessing all of the fucked up shit she'd done from the time she'd first seen me to our first meeting should be the first sign that our relationship will never be normal.
And now that I've had a taste of her brand of abnormal... I'm not sure I'd ever want to go back to normal.
I get home before dinner time, but I'm surprised to find the apartment empty.
"B?" I call out, but nothing. Mally slowly walks towards me and gives me a meow. I pick her up and pet her a little while I look for Bianca. When I realize she's not in the apartment, I check my phone and see that there are no messages from her. I frown. She's usually pretty quick at replying to my texts. I dial her number, and while it rings a few times, it soon goes directly into voicemail.
Ok... not to panic. I'm sure there's an explanation.
I go to my laptop and try to track her phone. The app shows me the phone's last location, and it's not too far off from the Foundation.
Maybe she's on her way from work? Over the last few days, she's been organizing a leadership takeover. Maybe her meetings ran late.
I think Marcel must have sown paranoia in my mind when he'd mentioned that Carlos is still in New York.
Yes... I'm sure that's why I'm so frantic about not hearing from her yet.
I wait another half an hour, the time it usually takes her to get home from the Foundation. When there's still no sight of her, and her phone location has not changed, I take my car keys and head towards her.
It's not too long until our locations coincide on the map. I look around and see an empty street. Already a feeling of uneasiness is creeping up my spine.
I get out of the car and start dialing her number. Please pick up... I walk around in circles, still ringing her phone when I suddenly hear a sound. I'm barely able to put one step in front of the other towards the bush where the noise is coming from.
I take a deep breath and burrow my way through the foliage. I see the phone. I don't see Bianca. I sigh in relief, my worst fears alleviated.
I pick up the phone and notice it's cracked. There's no way Bianca would have just dumped her phone and left somewhere. No... something isn't right.
"Carlos is still in NYC. Tell Bianca to be careful." Marcel's voice is ringing in my head.
No... Please let her be ok.
I try to compose myself, knowing that if I let fear rule me, I won't be able to do anything to find Bianca. I slowly look around from the spot where I'd found the phone for any CCTV cameras that might have caught what happened on film. I see two of them overlooking the street.
I know what I have to do. Swallowing my pride, I get in my car and drive to Vlad's. He has the resources to find Bianca. I also ask Marcel to meet me there.
I drive at full speed, not wanting to waste any time. When I get to Vlad's, Marcel is already there. So fast?
"Bianca's missing." It is the first thing I say when I see them. "I found her phone, but no sign of her." Turning to Marcel, I ask. "Do you think Carlos..." Marcel purses his lips.
Vlad, on the other hand, doesn't seem to think this is an emergency.
"Maybe she just got sick of you." He starts joking around. Daggers must be shooting from my eyes as I make my way towards him. He puts his hands up in surrender.
"Chill Hastings. I got you." Vlad gets his computer, and after inputting password after password, a map appears on the screen.
"What's that?" I ask, looking at the red dot on the map.
"That's Bianca's location."
"But how?"
"Both Bianca and I had a chip implanted under the skin for this exact reason. Because we were partners, the chances of one being used to draw the other out were quite high. We didn't want to take any c
hances, so we covered our ground."
"That's one of those storage places in the Bronx, isn't it?" Marcel studies the map on the screen.
"I think so." Vlad concurs.
I don't have time for this. The moment I have the location, I do a one-eighty, already heading for the door.
"Do you want to save your wife, Hastings, or go to your own death?" Vlad makes a tsk sound that stops me in my tracks.
"We can't waste any time. You know that the first few hours after a kidnapping are the most important." I address Marcel, who's also seen his fair share of such cases.
"Yes, but there's also the element of surprise. And we can only bank on that if we know the details of who took her. Don't be hasty."
"I can't just sit around, Marcel." My voice betrays the emotion I feel inside. If Carlos took her...
My mind keeps on imagining the worst.
"Patience, Hastings." Vlad shakes his head. "Now, tell me where you found her phone."
I give Vlad the coordinates and watch as he swiftly pulls the CCTV feed. At this point, I'm not even interested in how he's done that. All that matters is seeing what happened to Bianca.
"When was the last time you talked to her?" He asks me.
"Around ten." When she'd told me about her plans at the Foundation.
Vlad starts the feed from ten, and we go through the footage until I point out Bianca's car coming to a stop.
"There's another car." Right behind Bianca, another car stops. We watch as she gets out of the vehicle and heads towards the other car, knocking on the window. Simultaneously, a man walks around the car and takes her by surprise, likely with a chloroform infused material. After she slumps against the man, she’s loaded into the car.
"Stop." I point to the frame that allows the best view inside the open window.
"Zoom in." Vlad zooms in, and I spare a glance at Marcel. It looks like him.
"Carlos? “He asks, and both me and Marcel nod.
"We need to go there."
"Wait," Vlad says again, and I'm starting to get annoyed with all his interruptions. He pulls up more CCTV footage, this time from the storage unit in the Bronx.
"There's a lot of traffic." Marcel frowns and asks Vlad to search for other angles.
We see a few trucks pulling up at the industrial entrance. Switching to some inner cameras, the trucks are being unloaded, and craters are being carried inside the buildings. There's also an excessive number of staff climbing out of the vehicles.
"What do we know about that storage company?"
"It's been closed for more than a year now and was recently acquired by an offshore account... Do you think?" Vlad looks at Marcel when he asks this, and he nods.
"It could be Jimenez's new operating base." Marcel speculates. "It would make sense why the increased traffic now, since Agosti is out."
"You think he moved in so quickly?"
"To get the best part of a carcass, a scavenger must be the first one at the scene." Vlad's voice turns wistful.
"Thanks for the imagery," I add dryly.
"Welcome." He beams.
"You can't simply barge in there. We need a plan." Marcel tells me. "It's likely they have an army in there." He starts pacing around, thinking of something. "Vlad, can you find the blueprints of the building?"
"I'll try," Vlad replies and gets to work.
I head over to Marcel and lower the volume of my voice. "I can't just sit around. What if something happens to Bianca?"
"We'll get her. Don't worry." It's all that Marcel says.
"I wouldn't underestimate your wife, Hastings." Vlad's eyes are still on the screen when he calls out.
"Yeah, but even she isn't invincible."
Vlad looks up ever so slightly, and for the first time, I detect something more than apathy.
"She will be fine." I give him a small nod, the only concession I'm willing to make when it comes to him.
Vlad manages to eventually find the building's plans and we start poring over them, making notes on all the entrances, exits, and how the rooms are connected.
"If Jimenez's already finished with the preparation, then we should expect to meet guards here, here..." Vlad shows us the most strategic placement of people given the open spaces in the building.
"I'll have my people ready. Hastings, how are you with a gun?"
"Decent," I answer. I haven't had much practice since my active duty days, but those are long past. I can probably hit a target, but I'm nowhere near as proficient as Bianca.
"Hope so. If you've noticed, trucks carrying craters come in every two hours." Vlad shifts back to the screen. "The most straightforward way to access the compound is to hijack one of the trucks and take out the men inside. We'll then replace them and deliver whatever it is they are delivering. "
"Sounds good to me. When can we go?" I say, almost too impatiently. I know I should pay more attention to the planning part, but I can't stop thinking about Bianca and what might be happening to her right now.
Vlad proceeds to follow CCTV footage along the trucks' route and finds the best spot for the take-over. After we hash over all of the details, Vlad phones Maxim and asks him to assemble some people.
A little while later, Maxim comes in with a huge box-like case and opens it for us. Inside are bulletproof vests, guns, and other weapons.
Vlad takes a pair of long curved blades and sheaths them to his back, in the bulletproof vest pockets that seem to be custom made to hold the swords.
Both Marcel and I start donning the vests, and we each take two pistols.
"How are you with a pistol?" I ask Marcel, amused. I don't recall him ever touching a gun.
"He's good. Aren't you, Marcel?" Vlad answers for him, putting a weird emphasis on his name. Marcel seems to be put out by the reply but doesn't comment further.
With everything now in place, we leave towards the convened spot.
CHAPTER XLIV
I struggle to open my eyes. Stifling a groan as a full-on headache hits me, I'm trying to bring my hand up to massage my temple, but I realize I can't.
My hands are restrained behind my back. I blink twice and try to focus on my surroundings. Everything is still foggy. My mouth is dry, a cloth wrapped across it. And as I slowly come to, I remember confronting the car following me for a few days now.
And that man... Jimenez's son.
My eyes finally get used to the room's lighting, and I see that I'm inside what looks to be a cellar.
I turn my head around as much as possible, but there isn't much to see. The room is entirely bare but for the chair that I'm sitting on. There are no windows, and only one door, right in front of me. There is, however, one camera directly above the door.
I shake my head ever so slightly, seeking to alleviate the discomfort I'm feeling.
They must have drugged me. Fuckers... taking me by surprise. My muscles tense with the animosity I'm feeling towards them. Just wait until I'm free. I'm almost tempted to break my non-messy rule and make them pay for daring to do this to me.
I wriggle in the chair, but my hands and feet are tightly secured to the chair. I simply can't do anything right now. I must bide my time and take advantage whenever the opportunity presents itself.
I look straight to the camera, and with a jerk of my head, I push my feet into the floor with all my strength and propel myself backward. It works, and I fall flat on my back. I truly hope someone is watching that feed and that seeing proof I'm awake, they come in.
It doesn't take long after my stunt to hear the door opening. Since I'm lying on my back, I can't see who's coming inside. But the sound of someone stepping inside is unmistakable.
"And she's awake." The voice says in a laconic manner. I purse my lips, already knowing who it is.
"Mhmm." I make some sounds from behind my gag, hoping he will take it off.
"Naughty, naughty." He comes deeper into the room and within my field of vision. Crouching next to me, he looks at me with an eyebrow raised.
"Mhmm," I try to say something again through the gag, and he finally pulls it down. I immediately lick my chapped lips, wishing he would have at least brought some water with him. Well...kidnapping and a five-star hotel aren't exactly synonymous, so I'll just settle for having my mouth free for now.
"Really?" I ask him, ironically.
"You know... I really underestimated you." He threads his fingers through his hair. "At first, I was really pissed for the stunt you pulled. But then, the more I thought about it..., the more I realized how perfect you'd be."
"Perfect? For what?" I need to draw this out until I find an opening to make a move.
"To rule together, of course." He smiles at me before frowning. "I just have to get rid of your husband." The moment I hear that, a coldness that I'd never experienced before spreads through my limbs.
"You might want to start by telling me your name?" I change my voice so that it seems I'm actually interested in his proposition.
He gives me a challenging look, "Carlos."
"Nice to meet you, Carlos," I add sweetly, but not overly sweet. "Honestly, I could care less about my husband." I lie.
"I already have my people on him. But don't worry. I'll kill him myself. I won’t do the same mistake twice." He takes my jaw in his hands and tips it up so that I'm forced to look into his eyes.
“Twice?” I frown, but Carlos just smirks.
“He’s been a thorn in my side for too long. I should have known that sending someone else to kill him wouldn’t deliver successful results.” He says almost pensively.
“Someone else? You sent those people to the lake house?” Until now I’d thought all attempts on Adrian’s life had been made by Jimenez.
“Ortega was supposed to get rid of him when he sent Martinez for the meet-up, but he failed. So he sent some amateurs to finish he job. Of course they couldn’t.” He shakes his head. “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” He mutters, more to himself.
Morally Corrupt: A Dark Romance (Morally Questionable Book 1) Page 31