Page 91 of Unveiled

Imaginary Ainsley left me as soon as I started getting dressed. Apparently, the hope of finding Ainsley was too much for her. She couldn’t continue degrading me while I have a potential lead on finding Ainsley.

Enzo clears his throat nervously as he takes the seat across from my desk. His body language doesn’t hide just how nervous he is to be sitting in my office right now, and I can’t blame him.

Enzo Costa isn’t the head of a large cartel, he’s merely a gang boss from a few cities away. He has a non-aggression pact with me in case we ever cross paths, but he’s smart enough to know that if it comes down to it, my men could crush him like an insect.

It took a lot of guts for him to come to me, I’ll give him that.

Enzo clears his throat again while I sit, waiting impatiently for him to start.

“I received a message,” he announces. I raise an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. “Your father and I weren’t exactly friends, but we tolerated each other, as you know. Apparently, that was enough for him to include me in his plans.”

Enzo pulls out his phone and searches through his messages while I work to hide the steam coming out of my ears at the mention of the man I’m supposed to call my father. When he turns his phone to me, showing me the message he received, I want to explode with anger.

My beautiful Ainsley. Standing in the middle of a plain room, still wearing the dress she disappeared in. Now, it’s covered in blood, as is half of her face. The same side of her face is one giant bruise. Whatever he did to her to cause all that bruising and bleeding, I’m sure she has yet another concussion.

The pain I caused myself while I carved her name into me is nothing compared to the pain I know she’s in.

Ainsley looks miserable in the picture. I force myself to stare long enough until I find the gash in the side of her neck, right where I placed the tracker. I knew it was gone, and I knew he had to cut it out of her, but seeing the slice in her neck makes it more real.

There’s no hiding from this. I don’t deserve to hide away from her pain and act as if some of it hasn’t happened. If I could, I would take it all away from her.

Underneath the picture is a message.

RYKER: If you have ever wanted revenge on The Reapers, now is your chance. The girl pictured here belongs to Cain Ryker, the new leader of The Reapers. If you choose to purchase this girl, you will be able to take out your revenge on her. If interested, I will send out details for an auction soon.

I slam the phone down on my desk before standing up to pace the room. He’s going to auction her off like some kind of farm animal, and just invited every enemy he ever made to get revenge on the new boss: me.

Jonah, who was standing in the corner of the room the entire time, walks forward and takes the phone from the desk. Once he’s done looking her over and reading the message, he curses and looks up to me.

“What do you want to do?” he asks me.

The problem is, I have no fucking clue.

Enzo sits quietly in his chair, waiting for us to decide what our next move is. By coming here and telling us what he knows, he’s chosen to be on our side. Unfortunately for him, he’s now my main lead on finding my little one, and I’m going to use him to get to her.

Stopping in front of my desk, I pick up the phone that Jonah dropped and hand it to Enzo.

“Call him and tell him you’re interested,” I command. As he raises the phone, ready to obey, another thought forms in my mind. “Tell him you would feel more comfortable taking part if those invited were required to wear masks, to prevent any potential wars from breaking out.”

Jonah and I stand silently over him as he dials the number the message came from and waits to hear a voice on the other end. While we wait, I make a mental note to send the number to my tech team to see if they can trace its location. While I don’t doubt their skills, I’m not going to get my hopes up that it will be that easy. My father was in this business for a long time and will know how to cover his tracks.

The phone call lasts only a minute, but from our end, it sounds promising. As soon as Enzo hangs up the phone, he turns his attention to us and fills us in.

“I’m in. Once he’s satisfied that there will be enough bidders, he’s going to send out a message with the date, time, and location, as well as the requirement to wear a mask.”

I nod my head as I try to go over every scenario in my head. My only saving grace is that he will want her in perfect shape for the auction, meaning he’ll keep his hands off of her. As long as she doesn’t provoke him, she shouldn’t have to endure anymore pain before I can get to her.

“You will let me know the second you get that message,” I inform him, not giving him a choice in the matter. Waiting this out will be the hardest part, but it’s the easiest way to get to Ainsley.

Enzo nods, agreeing to my command without question.

“Oh, and Enzo?” I call out as he stands to exit my office. He stops mid-stride and turns back to look at me. “Your help is more than appreciated, and you will be rewarded accordingly. You may now consider The Reapers your allies, and if there’s ever anything you need, please do not hesitate to ask me.”

Enzo nods his head once, acknowledging my words though still clearly nervous to be within the walls of my compound. I let him walk out, not wanting to make him more nervous by making him stay here any longer.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Jonah asks from beside me as we both watch Enzo walk away.

“I have to believe it will because we’re out of ideas.”

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