Chapter 88
Nico
Inside the bedroom space is a double size bed with black satin sheets on it. I throw myself down on the bed and lay an arm across my face. The pain in my chest is acute, it is piercing me. I know it’s anxiety and tension. Hell, I haven’t had an attack like this in years. The last time was when my mother was hurt because of my father’s business.
What the hell am I doing with my life? Do I need all this stress? Do I need all this money and the power that comes with it? Losing Lucky renders it all in vain, useless, for fucking nothing. I can’t and I will not let anything happen to her. Carlos has better deliver. I am banking on him.
As if Carlos can sense I am thinking of him at this moment my phone beeps beside me on the bed. I lift it up and look at the screen seeing that his message has come through.
Got what you need, Nico. There are twelve flights that came in to these three private airstrips in the last seventy-two hours. If you need me to go further back in time, give me a shout. By the way, we already know that out of the twelve, five were drops for drugs. You can dismiss those ones. They are highlighted in red. The rest had people on board.
Good, at least it feels like I am getting somewhere. I review the logs and can identify that out of the seven that are of interest, only three came in from New York area. That narrows it down some. Feeling a glimmer of hope because that is all I have right now, I stand up and head to the bathroom through the door off my bedroom suite.
I open the faucet and splash cold water on my face and scrub it down. Taking a look in the mirror, the reflection that greets me is of a man who is unshaven and hasn’t slept for a few nights. The dark circles sit under my eyes taunting me. My body aches with exhaustion and fatigue.
Brushing my teeth, I spit in the copper bowl and wipe my mouth and my face with a plush, white towel that has my initials stitched into it. I gargle some mouthrinse and undo my shirt and dump it in the laundry basket under the counter then strip down my pants and boxer shorts to have a quick shower.
Perhaps refreshing myself and feeling ice cold water on my skin might enable me to focus more clearly. Right now, I am still seeing a mist of red and feeling burn up.
From the small closet I pull a black T-shirt off the shelf, it’s plain. I don’t do logos; I don’t do prints. I like my clothes to blend into the background and be non-identifiable. A snippet of good advice from my father when I was a teenager.
Never let them see you, Nico if you are trying to go undetected. Those sharp, snazzy suits are for the boardroom and when you mean business to let them know you are the boss.
There are several pairs of jeans in the closet, I opt for black straight ones and pull them up over my fresh boxer shorts. I run my fingers through my wet hair and shake it to get the last of the droplets of water off me.
Grabbing my phone, I open the sliding wood door and head back to the main cabin where Tony is nursing his Macallan.
“Better?” he asks as he looks up from his screen. I managed to send him the logs to review whilst I got myself changed and showered.
“It could be any one of these remaining flights. How do we know, however, that one of the drug drops didn’t have Lucky on board?”
“We don’t,” I say as I take my original seat in front of him. “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, Tony. We have to get cam feeds on all of them. There must be a way to tap into the cams on their sites.”
“Bro, that isn’t going to be easy.”
“Get it done, that is why you are head of my security, Tony. Don’t tell me what is hard and what can and cannot be done. I don’t understand that, I want it done.” I bang my fist on the table. The stewardess comes quickly to me.
“Mr. Santangelo, is everything alright? Can I get you anything?”
“No, I’m fine. Actually, yes. I would like another shot of MacCallan please.” She nods and steps away from us taking both mine and Tony’s glasses with her.
“I’ve forwarded everything to our guys in New York, Nico. We will know more soon. They know this is hot and will act on it immediately.”
“Good, thank you. And whilst you are on to the guys in New York, I want you to find out where the fuck Dario has gone. I need someone to check in with our parents and with Lucky’s to make sure they are adhering to protocol and not leaving the property grounds.”
God, my mind is whirling with all the shit that needs to happen. Nothing, however is a priority over finding Lucky and bringing her home to the safety of my own arms.
Then I will not let her out of my sight again. Fuck it. If I have to buy a small island for her, I will. So long as she is always close to me, I don’t care what I have to do. I want her back. I want to hold her and feel her chest pressed up against mine.
I need to smell her intoxicating perfume and look into those emerald eyes than can bring me to my fucking knees.