Seen

Seen
CHAPTER 104

~ Stephano 

My phone buzzed on the console and I did not bother to look at the caller ID. I picked it up on the first ring. I was expecting one of my men. A lead. A location. A direction. Instead, the voice that spilled into my ear was shaking. Stuttering. It crawled with guilt.

Alex.

I sat up straighter in the backseat. A slow, cold heat crawled down my spine. I did not raise my voice at first. I kept it very low.

“Where,” I said, “the hell is my woman?”

I saw Lydia’s head snap toward me, her eyes widening a fraction. She looked almost entertained. Alex inhaled sharply on the other end. He sounded like he was running. Or crying. Or both.

“Stephano… listen…”

I cut him off immediately.

“Alex, if this is the part where you demand a ransom, I swear to God, I will rip your head off with my bare hands. I will take it off your shoulders and I will feed it to the dogs. Where the fuck is Camilla.”

Lydia was staring at me now. Not blinking. Her brows slowly lifting like she was watching a particularly interesting live show. On the phone, Alex made a sound that was not quite a breath and not quite a word. A sound that told me he was scared to the point of shaking.

“She is with me,” he blurted out suddenly. “I am bringing her to you. I swear, I swear Stephano, I am bringing her. I am on the road. I am driving right now.”

I sat very still. I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth so I would not scream directly into the phone and burst the speaker.

“Alex,” I said quietly, “if she is not okay, I will tear your liver out.”

Lydia winced like the threat physically hit her. She turned toward the window, muttering something that sounded like dear God under her breath. I leaned back in the seat and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Give her the phone.”

“Stephano, let me just explain…”

“Give her,” I repeated, “the damn phone.”

I heard fumbling. Shuffling. A soft sound from Camilla as Alex must have placed the phone in her hand. My heart kicked against my ribs once. A single violent thud that sent heat rushing through my chest.

Then I heard her.

“Stephano…?” Her voice was small. Breathless. Weak.

Lydia’s head snapped back toward me so fast her ponytail swung across her shoulder.

I swallowed hard. My grip tightened around the phone.

“Camilla,” I said. “Baby. Are you okay.”

I did not even think about the word. It slipped out of me like it had always been there, waiting under my tongue. Lydia whipped her gaze to me with her mouth dropping open like she had never heard me speak to a woman like that in her entire career.

There was a long quiet pause from Camilla. Then a shaky inhale.

“I am fine,” she said. “I am okay.”

Something inside me loosened. Something else inside me got even angrier.

I rubbed a hand across my jaw and glared at the road ahead as if I could burn my sight through the windshield.

“Tell me exactly what happened,” I said, keeping my tone even for her sake. “Are you hurt. Did he touch you. Did he put his hands on you. Tell me what he did.”

Behind the phone I heard Alex panic.

“I did not touch her. Stephano, I swear on my life I did not. She is safe. I am bringing her. I am taking her straight to you. I swear she is okay.”

“I am fine,” Camilla whispered again. “He did not harm me.”

Lydia leaned back into her seat slowly and gave me the slowest, most dramatic side glance I had ever seen in my life. A look that said interesting. A look that said you have feelings you are not admitting to, you stupid man.

I ignored her completely.

“Camilla,” I said quietly. “Listen to me. I want you to stay awake. I want you to keep talking to me. Can you do that.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Good. Good girl.” The words came out rougher than intended and Lydia covered her mouth like she wanted to laugh.

I glared at her and she threw her hands up defensively. “What?” she whispered, eyes wide with fake innocence.

I turned back to the call.

“Camilla,” I said softly, “I am coming to get you.”

There was a soft breath from her end. A small pause. Almost like relief.

Then she whispered, “Okay.”

I hung up before Alex could try explaining again. I leaned forward and tapped the divider so the driver could hear me.

“Speed up,” I said. “Now.”

Lydia stared at me for a long moment.

Finally she sighed and shook her head slowly.

“Baby,” she repeated under her breath. “Well look who suddenly has a pulse.”

I shot her a look that should have turned her to stone.

She only smirked.

“Relax. I am on your side,” she said. “But you really need to work on how you show affection. You sound like a mafia boss trying to comfort a hostage.”

“Lydia,” I said with a warning note, “not today.”

She held up her hands again and settled back in her seat, her voice dropping to a murmur.

“At least she is alive.”

My jaw clenched.

Alive.

But not with me.

Yet.

“Alex has no idea,” I muttered darkly, “what I am going to do to him.”

Lydia stared out the window.

“Oh,” she said softly, “I think he has a very good idea.”