Page 79 of Owen (Storm Enterprises)

“Ava said she’s on her way back here,” Tate states, as if reassuring me. I nod, then glance at my watch.

When the door finally opens, breath whooshes from me in relief. My palms feel sweaty, and I drag them down my jeans as nervousness swims in my stomach before bubbling up my throat, making it difficult for me to swallow.

Ava walks into the kitchen with her security detail, and my eyes search behind her.

“Oh. Hi, Owen. I didn’t know you were going to be here.” She looks toward Tate, who grimaces.

I ignore her pleasantries. “Where’s Laya?”

She rests her hand on her stomach. “I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions. She’s gone shopping with Brynn.”

“Brynn?”

She nods. “Her friend from college.”

“I know who Brynn is,” I snap back. Brynn is the little shit who was forever leading my girl astray. When Laya first left for college, I spent a lot of time watching her from a distance, until Mase warned me off the idea. He told me he was worried about me and if it continued, he’d have no choice but to tell Tate. I know he had my best interests at heart, but I hated him for that at the time. Brynn is also the girl who was out with her the night she met Carlos. Nope, I don’t like Brynn.

“She stayed with Brynn to go shopping.”

“Without security?” Tate airs my thoughts as I bring her tracker up on my phone, suddenly grateful that she has it, no matter how much I loathed her not responding to my messages.

Anxiety hits me like a Mack truck at the thought of her and Romeo out without protection, and my blood thickens, making it difficult for me to breathe.

“Is she in danger?” Ava’s panicked voice becomes background noise as I scroll through my app searching for her latest location, which appears to be fucking difficult for some reason.

I grind my jaw while Tate and Ava’s bickering plays out like background noise as I try and fail to regain control of the way my pulse races, causing my head to swim in anxiety.

“We’re fucking billionaires, Ava. She’s always in danger,” Tate snaps while my blood bubbles at her stupidity. Mine too. They should both have their own security details, and I hate myself for not organizing it sooner.

“Oh, my God. I’m sorr—”

My phone rings, and Laya’s name flashes up on my screen, taking away the stress at not locating her instantly.

“Baby.” Relief washes over me at the fact she finally called me, and my heart rate begins to settle.

A dark, maniacal laugh echoes through the phone, sending my blood cold with fear I’ve never felt before.

Somehow, I speak, my voice deadly. “Who the hell is this?”

Tate’s and Ava’s voices stop as their attention is drawn toward me.

“My name is Azrael Carrera.” A silent choke lodges in my throat. Please, God, no. “Now I suggest you listen very carefully, Owen.” I nod like an idiot as fear grips me. My chest rises, and I drag my hand over my head over and over as I wait for him to speak, while inside, I’m unraveling at an epic speed. They’rein danger, not just danger, it’s worse than that. So much fucking worse.

“Put it on speaker,” Tate spits out, nodding toward my phone, but I glance in Ava’s direction, and knowing what she’s already been through at the hands of monsters, I’m unwilling to let her witness this one’s request. I shake my head, and Tate’s face pales, then he nods as if understanding.

“You have something I want, Owen.” My mind goes to the memory card locked inside my safe. “You’re to come to this phone’s location. Alone. No weapons. If I find out you so much as alerted your little friends, I will personally skin your woman alive, then sell her baby to the highest bidder.” Romeo chooses that moment to cry out, and the weight of Azrael’s words force me to my knees as a strangled scream lodges painfully in my chest.

“You have one hour.”

I close my eyes while Tate shouts in my direction and Ava cries hysterically, yet the shrill cry of my son rings out in my ears, pleading for me and his mommy.

If they so much as hurt one hair on my family’s head, I will rain down a new level of hell on each and every one of them.

Azrael Carrera may think he’s untouchable, but when a man has everything to lose, he would destroy the world with a smile on his face to protect the ones he loves.

He may just start a war, but I will be the one to end it.

THIRTY-NINE

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