Chapter 49: Chapter Forty-Nine - Ava

I woke up before the sun the next morning. Sleeping had become my enemy since they took Charlotte. Fletcher didn’t stir when I got out of bed and walked into the kitchen to make myself a pot of coffee.

Lucinda’s light was on in her house, but it was still too early for her to make it over to start breakfast.

I’d needed that release the night before in the shower, but it didn’t heal the ache in my heart. I wanted to run to the Capellos myself and demand they let her go. But I wouldn’t make it two feet out of that door alone.

The guards would stop me: Jones or anyone else watching our house every second of the day.

I made my coffee and stepped outside on the veranda to drink it. Lucinda walked out of her house ten minutes after I sat down. She looked startled to see me.

“Morning, Mrs. Hines,” she said.

“Please call me, Ava, Lucinda.”

She chuckled. “Ava. You’re up early this morning. Are you ill? Do you need anything from me?”

I shook my head. “No, I have a lot on my mind. Unless you can find my missing sister, then there is nothing you can do. You do enough already.”

Lucinda looked down at her watch and gestured toward the seat across from me.

I nodded.

She sat down across from me and folded her hands into her lap. “Your sister is missing because of Mr. Hines’ business?”

“Yes,” I said, sipping my coffee. “It’s a long story, but she was taken from the ball that I invited her to. We know who took her but don’t know where they have her.”

“That’s why the big guy is here?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Yeah. He’s the muscle of the operation. I’m scared they’re going to kill her.”

Lucinda frowned. “Listen, Mrs. Ava. If I may. I’ve worked for Mr. Hines for a long time. I’ve never seen him bring a woman over. I’ve never seen him smile so much. That man loves you with everything he has. Mr. Fletcher will do whatever it takes to get your sister back. He loves you.”

Hearing it from someone else nailed the coffin shut. It wasn’t that I didn’t know he loved me. I did know that. It was the realization that someone else noticed it too.

“Thank you, Lucinda.”

She reached across the table and touched my hand. “I’m glad you came into his life. You saved him from a life of loneliness.”

I smiled as she got up and dismissed herself.

Fletcher walked outside thirty minutes later with bedhead and wearing his old sweats. “What’s wrong? How long have you been up?” he asked.

“For about an hour,” I said, clearing my throat. “Is breakfast ready?” I asked, knowing it wasn’t.

“Not yet,” Fletcher said, walking over and bending down beside me. “What’s the matter? Can’t sleep?”

“No, I’m worried.”

Fletcher reached up and touched my chin. “We’re going to meet with the Capellos this afternoon,” he said.

My heart thudded heavily as I searched his eyes for a sign of his thoughts. “Are you sure?”

Fletcher shifted onto his knees and cupped my face in his. “We’re going to figure all of this out. I’m going to meet with them and do what I can to find her.”

I placed my palm on the outside of his. “What if they…”

“Levi and I will handle everything. I don’t want you to worry about any of it.”

How would I not worry about them? I fought back the tears in my eyes. “Maybe we should look another day.”

Fletcher released my face, stood up, and then helped me to my feet. “You’re sick to death over this. We can’t keep waiting. I’m reaching out to Mr. Capello today. We aren’t telling my father, because he’s not making rational decisions right now. Levi, Duke, and I are going to figure this all out.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Fletcher bent down and kissed my forehead. “Let’s go check on breakfast. I’m sure Duke and Levi will be up soon.”

I followed him absently into the kitchen where Lucinda almost had breakfast made. She didn’t look at me as I walked through the kitchen to get dressed, but I felt she cared more about us than we realized.

“I think we should send Lucinda on a vacation,” I said when we got into the bedroom.

Fletcher looked over his shoulder from the closet. “Yeah? Where to?”

I shrugged. “Somewhere tropical. She deserves it. She takes such good care of us.”

Fletcher nodded. “I can take care of that.”

I felt his gaze on me as I slid into my clothes and tied my hair into a bun on top of my head. “Did something happen? Is she okay?” he asked.

“Everything is fine. I just think she’s a very sweet woman.”

Fletcher kept watching me get ready while he took his time changing clothes. When the guest bedroom door opened down the hallway, he cleared his throat.

“We are going to have breakfast and then I’m going to call them. I want you to stay in the house today. Paint. Do whatever you want. Swim. It doesn’t matter. I

don’t want you to go to the gallery just in case they send someone to hurt you while we're busy.”

“I can find something to do,” I said.

Fletcher walked over as Levi knocked on the door and lifted my chin with his fingers. “We’re going to find your sister today, okay?”

“Knock. Knock,” Levi said stepping inside. “Breakfast is ready. Are we doing this today?”

Fletcher dropped his hand. “Yes.”

Levi waved at me while I absently waved back. The feeling of this going wrong hovered over me. Even when I walked down to the kitchen and sat in my usual spot at the table, I felt a gut-wrenching punch from reality.

Just because they went to find her didn’t mean they would. What if the Capellos wanted something that Fletcher couldn’t give them?

What if something went completely wrong?

What if they didn’t have Charlotte?

“Ava?”

I blinked and found Duke pointing to the syrup beside me. “Can you pass that?”

“Yeah,” I said, sliding it over.

He poured a ton of syrup over his French toast and took a giant bite. I hadn’t even seen him walk into the room. Fletcher’s warm palm slid over my thigh and he squeezed it softly.

I looked over at his dark eyes. “You okay?”

“Fine.”

“You haven’t touched your food,” he said, gesturing toward my plate.

I looked down at the untouched food and took a slow bite. The rest of breakfast felt like the slowest meal I’d ever had in my entire life.

My knees began to bounce in anticipation of the phone call Fletcher was going to make. I needed him to make it now. My palms grew sweaty and my anxiety hammered in my chest.

Fletcher cleared his throat and we all three looked over at him. “Y’all finished?’ he asked.

Their plates had been clean for ten minutes. I knew he was dreading making this phone call.

Duke nodded silently and Levi laughed humorlessly. “It’s better to rip off the Band-Aid, right?”

Fletcher stood up slowly and offered me his hand. I was thankful he was letting me in on the call at all since he kept a lot of work things to himself.

We walked into his office, and I sat on the ottoman beside his desk. The seconds turned to minutes as Duke shut the office door behind him and Fletcher pulled out his phone.

I listened to the ringing on the other end before Fletcher put it on speakerphone.

A man answered the phone on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

“Mr. Capello. I think we need to have a chat today.”

Silence enveloped the room. Nerves danced down my spine waiting for him to speak.

His chuckle made my fingers tighten into fists. “Do we now, Fletcher? I haven’t seen you since you snatched our deal out from underneath us. A lot has happened since then. I hope that you had the restaurant repaired. I heard about that. What a shame.”

Levi cursed under his breath in the corner of the room while Fletcher kept his cool.

“Send me a place and time. You have something of ours and we want it back.”

“Do I?” he mumbled. “I’m busy tonight…”

“Tonight you old bastard,” Fletcher shouted.

He laughed. “I wouldn’t go calling people names when we have something so precious. I’ll send you the details today. See you then, Mr. Hines. I'm looking forward to it."

He ended the call and Fletcher tossed his phone harshly onto his desk. The quietness in the room was heavy. No one knew what to say. What was there to say?

I stood up swiftly and interlaced my fingers in front of me. “I’ll be in the studio if you need me.”

I left the room, hearing Levi cursing as I shut the door. I loved Fletcher. I truly did, but I didn’t love this lifestyle. I hated his job and the fact that he was born into this.

If there was one thing I wished for other than Charlotte back, it was that Fletcher would leave the mafia behind.