I nearly screamed as I spun around, my heart pounding out of my chest. It slowed down when I saw a man in a suit standing beside a slick, black BMW sedan, then it sped up again as he stepped into the light of a lamppost. It was the guy who couldn't keep his hands to himself. The one who'd left bruises on my inner thigh. "I was just heading in to change," I told him. I didn't smile this time. "I'll see you inside."
"Then where are your clothes, baby doll?"
I kept walking, calling back over my shoulder, "Inside." I didn't know what he was doing in the back lot. It was small and for employees only. My instincts were telling me to get away, and to do it as fast as I could.
I was three cars away when he grabbed me. One hand covered my mouth and nose as his other arm wrapped around my middle, pinning my arms down to my sides as he hauled me back against him.
"You think you're too good for me?" he said in my ear. I couldn't breathe, and I fought against his hold, trying to pull his hand off of my face, but the dude was freakishly strong. "You're not, you know. I can buy any woman in this place, baby doll. You're not fucking special."
The entire time he talked, he was dragging me backward into the lot. I kept my eyes glued to the back door, praying someone would come out. I tried to scream, but it was muffled by his large hand. I started to see spots and knew I didn't have much time.
I heard car locks beep and a latch open, and then he was shoving me into the trunk of the BMW. As soon as he let go of me, I sucked in a lungful of air and screamed as loud as I could as I threw myself toward the opening, but he knocked me back with a hard backfist across my face. I hit my head on the car as I fell back, and for a moment, everything went black around me.
"You're not too good for me, bitch. And I think you need to be brought down a peg or two."
The trunk slammed shut, and I was alone in the darkness. I heard the car door slam and the engine start. Frantically I searched for the emergency release that every new car had just in case a child-or an adult-got stuck in the trunk. I found a hole where it should be, but there was no cord to pull. Then I rolled over and started feeling around the back seats, but I couldn't get them to budge from my position inside the trunk.
Even knowing it wasn't there, I searched my pockets for my cell phone as I tried not to panic. But of course, I couldn't find it. It was back in my bag, sitting on the front seat of my car.
As the screams rose inside of me and horror turned my blood to ice, I let the panic take over, kicking and banging my fists against the trunk, praying someone would hear me, and knowing it was too late.
CHAPTER 21
Enzo
I slammed my fist into the side of the delivery truck that was supposed to be full of Luca's product. Then I hit it again. And again. Until blood
smeared the dirty white surface. But I didn't feel the pain.
Gripping my phone in my left hand, I tried to call Sera again. And then again.
"Goddammit, baby. Where the fuck are you?" I swung around, my eyes skittering wildly from side to side behind my sunglasses without really seeing anything. "Think... just think... where would she go?"
If anyone could see me right now, they'd think I'd lost my fucking mind. And they wouldn't be entirely wrong. But this truck had been abandoned on a lonely strip of highway halfway between Austin and Mexico, the pounds of meth it was transporting gone. And I was still waiting for some of Luca's soldiers to arrive and drive it the remainder of the trip, where we would hide it in one of our warehouses until we could figure out what the hell happened.
In the meantime, I was stuck here while Sera was... who the fuck knew where.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to calm down. If she had her phone on her, even though she wasn't answering it, I could get a location on her. I pulled up the tracking app I'd installed on her phone before I gave it to her and saw her photo in downtown Austin.
The club. Of course! If they owed her money, she would make an appearance there. I called the guard I'd hired to watch over her. "Have you seen Sera?" I nearly shouted into the phone when he answered.
"I was just about to call you," he responded. "Her car is here, but no, I haven't seen her."
"She didn't come into the club?"
"No, sir. I was alerted by the manager that she was coming in tonight and I was waiting outside for her like I always do. When she didn't show up after about twenty minutes, I went inside to check to see if something had been changed. It wasn't. So I walked out into the club proper to see if maybe she'd gotten a ride or come in a different way or whatever. The bartender told me she'd never shown up. When I went back outside, her car was there. Sera was not. The vehicle is locked, and her bag is inside on the passenger seat."
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't fucking breathe.
"Mr. Delligatti? Sir?"
"You saw nothing," I reiterated, even though he'd just said he hadn't. "You have no idea if she got into a car willingly with someone."
"No, sir. I'm waiting for the manager to arrive so he can pull up the security feed for the back lot."
"Thank you. I'll be there as soon as I can." Ending the call, I immediately called Luca. "How far away is your driver?"
"About forty minutes. Why?"
"Did you send Tristan after Sera?"
The accusation wasn't missed. There was a slight pause. "No, Enzo. Tristan is sitting right in front of me. What's happened?"
"Fuck... FUCK!" I looked around, searching for answers along the side of the abandoned highway. My gut clenched, and I couldn't seem to get enough air.
"Enzo! What's going on with Sera?"
I took a few deep breaths. "She's gone," I told him. "Her car is parked at the club where she works, but she never came inside. I have to go. I can't fucking wait around here."
"Just wait a minute. Stop and think. Would she have gone off with someone?"
I shook my head. "No. I think she went there to pick up her paycheck."
He was silent for a long time. "What?" I finally asked him. But I didn't have to ask. I knew what he was thinking.
"Enzo, it's likely her father found out she was here in Austin and sent someone to get her."
"Is there a way you could find out without giving her away?" My jaw was clenched so hard I could barely get the words out.
"Give me five minutes." He hung up the phone.
As I waited, I paced, concentrating on my breathing and counting my steps. I didn't have time for a full-blown panic attack. When the phone rang, I closed my eyes and lifted it to my ear.
"It wasn't her father. He's still searching for her."
"Luigi?"
"No. My father is preparing for a trip and told me to handle it."
An ugly feeling began to creep through my insides. "I have to get to the club, Luca."
"Is the truck clear?"
"Yes. The key was still in the ignition and there's nothing that will lead anyone back to you. I checked it twice when I first got here."
"I'll meet you at the club." He hung up the call.
Even though I wanted nothing more than to tear out of there, I pulled gloves onto my shaking hands and went through the cab of the truck one more time, then checked underneath and all around before opening the back and doing one last sweep. It was completely clean. Jumping out, I closed the back, locked the doors, and buried the key. Then I texted Luca to let him know where it was so he could tell his driver and got into my car.
I made it back to Austin in record time. Luca was already there when I arrived. He was in the office with the manager, going through the video feed of the back entrance, each in front of a different monitor on the desk. Sera's guard stood by the door. "Have you found anything?"
"Yes. Just now." He pointed at the monitor in front of him. "Do you know who this guy is?"
Taking off my sunglasses, I leaned down beside Luca until I was eye level with the guy's face. Luca glanced at my bloody knuckles, but said nothing.
Sera was talking to a man in the back parking lot. I knew it was her even though I couldn't see her face and she had the hood of her sweatshirt pulled up to cover her hair. And by the way she held herself, I could tell she was uncomfortable.
No, not just uncomfortable. She was afraid.
An ice-cold calm filled me. Screaming and punching things, although it might make me feel better, would not get Sera back. Neither would panicking.
I was so focused on her that I almost missed the face shot of the guy she was talking to when he turned his head slightly to follow her movements as she tried to walk into the club. Then he looked straight up into the camera, and we lost the picture. When it came back, he and Sera were gone. And so was the car he stood near. Hers was still in the lot. "Back it up," I ordered the manager.
He did, and I watched it again. "Can you zoom in on that plate number?"
"I'll try," he told me. "But I don't know how close I'll be able to get before it goes blurry."
"Do the best you can."
"You know him?" Luca asked me.
"Yes. That's Derek Jonak. He's a customer who's been harassing her." It all clicked together the moment I saw him waiting for her. "He was bothering her one night when I was here. One of the other waitresses gave me his name, and I pulled up some info on him. He's a business guy. Runs a tech company. Thinks he's hot shit and above everyone else. He left bruises on the inside of her thigh. A few nights ago, I believe, when I wasn't here."
"Apparently, he has a thing for your girl."
"Looks that way," I murmured as I wrote down the plate number. "Let me have the computer."
Luca ordered the club manager out of the way and gave me his chair. "As soon as you know anything, I'll call in some guys. I need two to stay with Veda, but the rest are all yours."
"I won't need them," I told him. "I can handle this myself. But thank you."
"Enzo, you don't know what you're walking into."
"It doesn't matter," I told him as I went incognito and typed in a website. "I let this happen to her, and I'll get her back."