Page 104 of Fragile

This is Ava, if it’s important, leave a message, if not. Go fuck yourself.

Why the hell would Gerard’s stepdaughter send me shit on him? I was totally lost, torn between what to do, a sense of dread creeping over me. If anything happened to Leonie, I would die. The intensity of how much she meant to me gripped me by the throat.

Thoughts of Ava Kinlan, or whatever the hell she was called went out the window, I couldn’t compute that right then.

I knew at that point that whoever had Leonie was either part of the Kinlan’s or connected to them in some way. They were professionals and so would probably have taken her phone, but I checked the correct App just in case and BOOM. Thank fuck! I found her. Maybe she’d hidden it. Clever girl. She was in an industrial area, in a building that used to be a brewery. It was probably as creepy as hell. Fuck, the thought of her being terrorised pushed my temper up into the highest of all gears. I was raging.

I hit the screen of my phone and dialled Max. He answered on the first ring. Good boy.

“What do you need?”

“Get dressed, I’m coming to pick you up. Be outside your apartment in ten,” I instructed, my feet eating up the floor.

“Roger that.”

Running to my room, I dressed in jeans and a black top and shoved my gun into the waistband of my bottoms. I had no appetite to shoot someone but if I needed to, I would. If anything happened to Leonie, I would burn their empire to the ground.

Pushing my feet into sneakers, I searched for the spare key to Asher’s Audi Q5, a car which was parked in the car park under the building. As with all crises, nothing was straightforward as Marco had the fucking Range Rover.

I then made my way into the lift and took what felt like the slowest ride down into the car park. As I walked towards Asher’s car, I found the correct app again on my iPhone and hit Find My, accessing Find My Phone.

The only thing I had to lead me to Leonie.

Leonie

SILENCE. My mum’s face, twisted metal and being trapped was how I felt but then Gabriel’s hand was there, pulling me to freedom.

I came awake with a gasp, but I couldn’t move my arms. There were voices, muffled ones.

Dread bled through me. In what universe was this happening?

I closed my eyes again to stop their stinging and listened to the sounds. Pretending to be asleep was my thinking and then make a run for it? My anxiety skyrocketed.

“I told you to search her. You were supposed to pat her down like you would anyone else,” that deep voice said. That was how I imagined the devil would sound.

“I didn’t think she’d keep anything in her fucking bra and it didn’t seem right to touch her when she was out. I’m not a pervert. If Eileen knew I’d even touched another woman she’d have my balls for earrings.”

“You’re lucky I don’t wear earrings. Why the fuck you didn’t check her for a phone is beyond me.” With those words, I realised they’d found my phone, or at least, the one with the boomier voice had.

Blinking, I tried to focus. I was in a large dimly lit space, with my wrists attached to the arms of a chair with cable ties. It was like some type of horror movie. My mouth felt dry and my eyes were stinging and I could smell petrol fumes. The clearer the scene came before me, the more worrying it got. Everything about my surroundings reeked of trouble.

My heart leapt in my chest as a chair suddenly appeared in front of me and the man from earlier spun it around and sat, straddling it; Kai. My eyes watched him warily as I tried to get the circulation back into my wrists. He was so huge close-up with large legs corded with muscle and broad shoulders.

His first words were true. At that moment, I was the epitome of fragile; a weak defenceless female. The weight of worry pressed against my chest.

“You’re a fragile little thing, aren’t you? You purr like a kitten when you sleep,” he said with a smile. I noticed his eyes didn’t appear as angry as they had in the restaurant. His expression was softer, it gave me a slither of hope. Maybe I could appeal to his better nature or something.

My thoughts switched to the word kitten. Gabriel’s pet name for me and an agonising thought that he may be in danger pumped through my veins like acid.

“I don’t suppose the phrase, pick on someone your own size would wash?” I huffed, surprising myself.

He grinned and I saw a flash of admiration in his eyes. “Not a chance jelly bean.”

I lowered my lashes before jerking my head back up. “Gabriel?” I blasted out, searching the darkened area. It appeared to be a large empty warehouse but my vision was too blurry to see properly. I could make out two SUV cars and some old machinery set against one wall.

“Please, where’s Gabriel?”

He looked satisfied by my alarmed expression as he explained, “On his way I imagine. Now he knows where you are. You have that fuckwit to thank for that,” he replied with a flick of his head, his face hardening. I followed the direction he motioned towards to see a tall man all in black leaning against the wall. He was one of the guys by the car earlier and he looked embarrassed. I hadn’t a clue where the other one was.

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