She’s gone. She’s actually fucking gone…
Christian walks over to the security panel on the CCTV and switches everything off.
We watched it. Watched her get the phone call and watched her walk through my closet and into the passage that led to the safe room.
I watched as far as her going outside, out through the side door and into the woods, then we lost her.
“They won’t be able to see now,” Christian says.
I pick up a glass paperweight from the desk and launch it at the fucking wall. It smashes, and the glass goes everywhere.
They all look at me.
Christian, my brothers, Claudius, and Pa.
“This is fucking shit!” I shout.
“You wouldn’t have known, Vincent,” Christian imparts. I look at him, and he holds my gaze.
He figured straightaway that my CCTV was being hacked. That and the fucking phones in the house. Those fuckers snuck her out right from under my nose, and they took my boy too. What the fuck was the point of me setting up this fortress of a place with all the security in the world only to have this shit happen to me?
I reach for my phone and call the fucker again.
This is my hundredth call since we discovered Ava was gone. He’s not answering, though, and I don’t know what the fuck’s going to happen now because I’ve practically lost any leverage I had over Ilya.
“Vincent, you have to calm down,” Pa says. He comes closer to me and places his hands on my shoulders. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll figure out something. I’ve got the secret squad trying to locate them and all the boys on the street doing the same. Everyone’s doing their best.”
I nod and look at the solemn faces surrounding me.
Things are bad, and they know it. I know it.
I don’t think I’m going to see my boy alive again, and as for Ava… she’s dead.
There was never a question about what would happen if Ilya got his hands on her. Death.
What must he be doing to her?
She’s been gone for hours, and Timothy the whole day. He could be dead too.
I blow out a ragged breath and move out of Pa’s grasp.
I can’t deal with this.
I walk out and head outside, where the cold night air stings my cheeks. I lean against the wall feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders.
I don’t move until a hand rests on my back, and I turn to see Salvatore.
“Vin…” he says.
“I don’t know what to do. It’s death again, isn’t it…?”
“Let’s try not to think like that.” He nods. I lower to the ground with my back against the wall, and he sits next to me.
We stay like that all night. No one comes out to us because there’s nothing to tell us. No updates, no news, and in this instance, no news isn’t good news. It’s all bad.
***
As the clock strikes nine, I ring that bastard’s phone again.
When he answers, I’m not sure what emotion I should feel. Happy that he answered, furious as fuck that he didn’t answer before, or furious as fuck about the whole situation. I feel all of it at once.
“You motherfucker!” I shout into the phone.
I have the same faces glaring at me as last night. They’ve all been here offering their support in whatever way they can.
“Do calm yourself. I have no reason to speak to you now. I’m doing you a favor.”
Prick… he’s fucking playing with me.
“I want my son back, and I want Ava.”
“I will allow you to try to get your son back. You pissed on us, and this is us shitting on you. It will be a pleasure to watch you try to save your boy. Didn’t think of him, did you, when you thought you could be all high and mighty taking charge?”
“Where?” I demand. There’s no point entertaining any conversation with this asshole.
“Peyton Prison. Get there for midday on the mark, and we’ll tell you what to do. I don’t have to tell you to come alone, and no funny business. You won’t like what will happen if you try to screw with us.”
Once again, he hangs up, cutting me off before I can say another word.
I slam the phone down on the table and look back to everyone.
“I have to go to Peyton Prison at noon. This fucker wants to kill me too.” Obviously, it’s that because I can bet my ass whatever plan he has in store for me won’t include me coming out and getting my boy back alive. He didn’t even mention Ava.
Claudius steps forward. “I know that place. We could work that to our advantage,” he says.
“I’m supposed to come alone. He’ll fucking know if we try any shit he won’t like.”
“If I’m right, the oldest section of the prison has no surveillance. We can go through there and meet you in the middle. I know the way.”
“I can tap into their surveillance the same way they used ours here,” Christian says. “I can do it. I just need another pair of eyes to get set up.”
“Me,” Salvatore says. He and Christian are the two tech geniuses in the family.
“Looks like we have a plan,” Pa says.
I want to hope, but I don’t know if I can. I certainly won’t give up, though, before I’ve even began if I have a shot.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
It will be on me when I get in. Everything will be on me once I step inside the building. That’s the part I worry about.
What will happen?
What has this bastard got planned for me?
Another day, another enemy ready to kill and take from me.
It’s the story of my fucking life.