Page 26 of Winter Love

Emmanuelle

Working at the store today is making me feel uneasy. Like someone’s watching me. I look around and see Galen walking around in the grocery section, Noah is in the book section and Mitchell is hanging with Paxton in his area. Today, Rhett has Antonio with him and he seems to be having fun.

I’m doing some restocking today in the grocery store, so I head into the back to grab some boxes.

“Hey, gorgeous,” I hear a voice say. A voice I’ve been dreading to hear. I whip around to face William.

“Don’t scream. If you do, it will only make this worse.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because no one says no to me.” He leers at me.

I can’t believe I actually thought he was handsome. Now he just looks like a slimy serial killer.

“Are you serious? No one says no to you? NO.”

Before I can move, he’s on me and slaps his hand over my mouth.

“You’ll never say no to me again. I promise you that.”

I feel a prick on my neck and everything goes dark.

Chapter Fourteen

Lukas

That ball of dread in my body just ramped up one thousand percent and I have no idea why. I reach for my phone and call Emma. It goes to voicemail and I frown at it, willing her to call me back. After ten minutes, I call Galen.

“Hey I tried to call Emma, is she busy with customers?”I blurt out when he answers.

“She went into the back to do inventory. She said she’d be a bit. I’ll go check. Give me a sec and I’ll call you back. Or I’ll tell her to call you.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate it. I’ve been having a bad feeling all day and I don’t know why.”

“No problem. This is what we’re here for, to help you. Call you back in a minute.”

Five minutes go by and I’m climbing the walls waiting for Galen to call me back.

Ten minutes. What the fuck is going on? The storage area isn’t that big. Finally. my phone rings. I look at it and it’s Enea. And that dread is now full blown panic.

“What happened?”

“Calm down, Lukas. We’ve been through this before and I can guarantee it won’t be the last. Where are the cameras in your store? We’re headed there now. Mitchell is with Felicity and I made sure Noah and Antonio are with Paxton and Rhett. Leonardo and Giacomo are waiting to bring you down to the store. The rest of us will meet you there. The one thing I need you to do is not panic. You’re not going to be able to help us if you do. Sebastiano will be with you too. He’s been through this and knows what you’re going through. Talk to him if you need to.”

“Okay. I’m on my way.”

The whole time he was talking, I noticed one thing. Enea never once promised we were going to find Emma right away. How long could this really go on? I see Sebastiano walking towards me. When he gets to me, he gives me a hug.

“We’re going to find Emma. Guys like William and T-Rex don’t want to kill her.”

“Then what do they want with her…” I trail off with the realization of what they would do with and to her. I’m going to kill them. Fuck the consequences. No one will hurt my family and live to do it again.

“I can see that look in your eye, Lukas,” Sebastiano says.

“Tell me something. The man who took your Schuyler, is he alive?”

I stare at Sebastiano as he stares back at me. I can see he’s debating whether I really want the answer to that.

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