Page 92 of Lethal Infatuation

I nodded, placing my cup onto the little black, round coffee table. "I'd rather get it over and done with."

Negative.

The pregnancy test turned out negative. The relief immediately washed over me and it felt like I could breathe again.

Kehlani dropped me off at home ten minutes ago so I sat in my living room just trying to soak in everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours.

In the midst of retrieving my cell phone from my bag, I heard shuffling coming from the other side of my front door. I frowned, clicking the power button on my phone to see if Kehlani perhaps texted me to say she was returning for some unknown reason, but I didn’t see any messages from her.

A knock followed after the shuffling. Kehlani wouldn't knock, but Nicolas would. I suddenly felt nervous as I stood up from the couch. I zipped up my black and blue puffy jacket before headingto the door.

I turned the handle, preparing to see Nicolas, but it wasn't him. My heart nearly stopped completely. I took a step back and then darkness surrounded me.

THIRTY SIX

Isped down the street, feeling my body buzz and my heart fill with regret at the way I handled the situation last night. A bad feeling washed over me and I frowned. My intuition was never wrong.

I grabbed my phone out of the glove compartment on the passenger side and dialled Gabriella's number, which immediately went to voicemail. "Fuck," I cursed.

Sheneverturned her phone off. I drove to her house as fast as I could, trying my best to dodge any traffic officers. The last thing I needed right now was to be pulled over.

When I pulled into the driveway, alarm bells immediately rang in my head. I looked down the empty street and scanned the perimeter of the house, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary from the outside.

Until I reached the front door and realisedit was ajar. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach and I quickly headed back to my car, grabbing my gun from underneath the driver's seat.

I held it in my hands, opening the door slowly and checking the perimeter of the kitchen and living room. The place was a complete fucking mess. The photo frames were on the floor, glasses was shattered, and it looked like someone broke in.

I quickly moved towards the main bedroom, but what captured my eye was Gabriella's phone on the ground, smashed to pieces. This couldn't be fucking happening. I searched the rest of the house, running a hand through my hair when I realised the house was empty and she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Judging by the state of the house, they definitely used force. My hands shook as I took my phone out of my back pocket. This was Antonio’s doing. My fears were unfolding before me and it felt as if I were drowning with nobody around to save me. My chest constricted and I could feel an impending anxiety attack.

"Fuck!" I dialled Ares' number, knowing we needed to find Gabriella and we needed to do it right fucking now.

He answered after the fourth ring, clearing his throat before speaking. “Valiente speaking.”

"They took her." My voice was laced with anger, frustration, and concern. "They took Gabriella."

Ares stood beside me while Kayden sat at the kitchen counter with his laptop, trying to get any information possible, as we went over our plan. We accessed the camera footage for the entirety of the city and spent countless hours sweeping through each feed, but there wasn't any trace of. We even set up facial recognition to ensurewe didn't miss him, but there wasn't any detection.

"Don't worry, we'll find her." Ares patted me on the shoulder. My body was tense, my mind worked overtime, and the guilt gnawed at me. It felt like I was being eaten alive.

I replayed our last conversation in my head over and over again. Like an endless, torturous loop.I know how sex works, Gabriella, you're not the first woman I've fucked.

The look of sheer hurt on her face haunted me. I promised to keep her safe. I promised to protect her. Then I leave her alone for less than twenty-four hours—only to come back to an empty fucking house. A house that has been destroyed on the inside. Braun cornered her premises off until further notice with agents searching for evidence.

"This is why we couldn't fucking locate him." Ares and I snapped our heads in Kayden's direction. "I don't know how I didn't connect this shit sooner."

"What is it?"

“Antonio and everybody associated with him have been wearing infrared LED glasses whenever they’re in public,” Kayden said, clicking on the footage. “Antonio hasn’t been making use of the internet, either, and Jonathan was never blacklisted, so we’ve never focused on him.” We nodded. “Because trust me when I say, I already contacted Antonio’s ISP, but they couldn’t help me, either.”

“They’ve been untraceable thus far, but we’ve got them now,” Ares muttered, clenching his fists. “We’re going to fucking nail them.”

“Another accomplice in this situation has been Antonio’s son.” Kayden ran his fingers through his hair. “His name is Lorenzo. He’s a well-known businessman in the Times Square area. Extremely professional, polite, quite the gentleman,” he scoffed. “It’s been a fucking facade to continue his father’s drug dealing business.”

The loading icon on the screen finally stopped and the footage of the camera feed outside of Gabriella’s house started playing. I’ve never experienced anger of this magnitude before as I watched her struggle against the men who took her. I couldn’t watch anymore and looked away, grinding my molars in frustration.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." I paced the room, knocking all of the items off the counter. Ares and Kayden watched me, but didn't intervene.

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