Allowing my rage to take over, I slapped my cheeks. Jamie needed me, and I had no time to wallow. Standing up I nodded at him before turning and storming out of the room. Luder followed close on my heels. We found Leo, Evelina, and the others downstairs.
They have rounded up all the enemy Bratva in the lounge area. Storming in I headed to the first guy I saw. Picking him up by the throat, I slammed him into the wall as I screamed at him. “Where is she? If you don’t tell me, I’ll kill you! Where is Jamie?”
The young man’s eyes widened; he gasped for air as I forcefully kept slamming him into the wall.
Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I glanced around but didn’t let go of the man.
“Ashan,” Leo said pulling on my arm. “Let him go before you do kill him. We have to handle this smartly. Tell us what happened from the start and maybe we can help.”
I handed him the note to as I slowly dropped the young man back down. Turning, I noticed everyone was looking at me.
“I,” I started saying but didn’t know what to say. My heart was racing and my mind pounding just thinking of what they might do to Jamie.
Evelina stepped up to me taking hold of my shoulders as she spoke. “Leave finding her to Leo and me, okay? We will get her back.”
All I could do was nod. Staring at the blood on my hands, I went back to our suite and got cleaned up. Rinsing my face, I stared at my reflection in the mirror. “It will be fine; you will get her; no harm will come to her. You got this.” I told the enraged bull staring back at me.
Once I felt calmer, I headed back down to aid Luder. We questioned everyone and searched for a connection between them.
While we were doing that, Leo and Evelina put their skills together to work on one last hacking project. Evelina had given it up years ago, but to get Jamie back, she would aid Leo. They traced Jamie’s hack and compiled a list of groups that were exposed after she infiltrated the networks.
Comparing their list to the one Luder and I made, we checked to see which ones had colluded together and who wasn’t part of the original attack. Everyone had ideas of how to proceed. Listening to the family, it struck me. I knew how we would handle this.
After a round of interrogation of certain suspects downstairs, I found the link, and we knew who had taken her.
Chapter 23 - Jamie
My head was pounding, everything was stiff. It felt like I had been run over and then dragged behind an eighteen-wheeler. I tried moving but couldn’t do that either. Trying to open my eyes, I had to flutter them a bit before they opened. The light was extremely bright, burning my eyes. But I had to know where I was.
As my vision settled, metal walls and brick flooring came into view, it reminded me of a warehouse. Surveying the area around me, I realized I was indeed in a warehouse.
It wasn’t the one I had seen before when Pedro rescued me, as there were no rooms. In the furthest corner, there appeared to be some crates and barrels, though. But other than that, the entire area I could see was bare. Fear set in as I searched for those who had captured me.
Straining my neck left and right, I tried to see as far back as I could. I was sure it must have been one of the Bratva groups I was hiding from that captured me. I was terrified that I would be tortured for information.
Yet, the place appeared quite deserted. There were no guards or men with weapons as expected when one thinks of Bratva. I couldn’t see torture equipment or anything else that was dangerous, the place was empty. I wondered how they intended to extract the information if they weren’t going to use torture.
At least I wasn’t gagged, I thought. The ropes around my wrists and ankles were a bit tight and were cutting into my skin. The ones around my wrists were average-looking. I couldn’t see any blood but felt my skin burning under the pressure. I couldn’t see the ones around my legs but was sure they were the same. They also had pressure on but felt slightly looser as My ankles didn’t burn.
Glancing around, I didn’t bother to scream, I felt sure it wouldn’t be of any use, and that was why I wasn’t gagged. I was sure the warehouse was isolated, and no one would be around if it was still night. With no windows, and not knowing how long I’d been out, I wasn’t sure if it was still night or if the day had sauntered in yet. I scanned the area with as much focus as I could muster, trying to figure out if there was any way I could escape while I was still alone.
Somewhere behind me, I heard a door creaking open and some voices. Listening carefully as I sat dead still, I could make out only two voices. One was a man, but the other was undoubtedly a woman. Both voices sounded somewhat familiar. I tried to think where I knew them from, yet I couldn’t place them. Thinking made my headache more intense. Shaking my head softly, I let go of my thoughts.
Sitting still, I waited for the voices to come closer. I realized I knew the man, hearing them whispering close behind me. “Pedro,” I asked warily. “Pedro, is that you?”
“Well, well, well, look who’s woken up.” The woman said as she came into view. “Look, little Miss Perfect is awake, Pedro.”
“Ana,” I breathed out, astonished as she came to stand before me. Then I saw Pedro joining her. My mind whirled as I tried to formulate the facts of the situation. I felt betrayed, how could these two people who knew me and knew Ashan very well, do such a thing to us?
Ana was dressed all in black, and I now understood my memory of the mirror room. It was her hiding in there. That meant that Pedro was the one who had hit me on the head.
“What’s going on here, let me go,” I added, looking from him to her and back at him. “Ashan’s going to find me, and you’re going to pay. But, if you let me go now, we can forget that it ever happened, okay?”
His face was still bruised from the beating Ashan had given him, and he had a scar just above one eye. “I’m so sorry for what happened,” I said sincerely. “But this. Keeping me captured is a bad idea.”
“I’m sure you are very sorry, but sorry doesn't fix it, sweetie,” Pedro replied. I could hear resentment in his voice, accompanied by anger and hate. I couldn’t believe my ears; Pedro was blaming me. It was his own doing that got him a beating.
Giggling, I shook my head at the odd pair, feeling less threatened. “You know Ashan’s going to find me, and this time he’s going to kill you,” I said as they stared at me in disbelief.