Page 52 of Stalked

“Where’s Izel?”

My head snaps up at the mention of that name. I know that name. “Why?”

“For fucks sake, Zion, get Izel, it’s about Gabriel!” Zane bellows.

My eyes drop down to my phone, the picture of Gabriel sleeping on my chest, the picture I took just last night when he had fallen asleep on me. I want to take the last few hours back; I want to ignore that text that Kyler hadn’t sent. To go back to sleeping with Gabriel wrapped around me.

“Zane?” a female voice appears, assuming it’s Izel. “What’s going on?”

Zane looks at me, nodding towards the phone. Obviously wanting me to take over. Except I can’t. If this is his sister, this isn’t how I want to meet her. Gabriel says she is the nicest person, always forgiving, but she won’t forgive me for this. If something happens to Gabriel, I won’t survive, I couldn’t.

“Tell me, tell me what is going on? What happened? Where's Gabriel!” Izel's voice shakes, her breathing picking up.

“I can’t reach him,” I mutter, barely moving an inch, my body melting into the seat.

“I, I don’t understand. What do you mean? What do you mean you can’t reach him? Who are you?”

Zane waits for me to say something, but I can’t. The tears fall down my cheeks. I’m supposed to be the strong Pakhan, the one that takes over for my father, a ruthless killer. But I’m weak, I’ve always been weak, and now that Gabriel is involved, I’m nothing but a mess.

“Someone better start talking,” Zion growls into the phone.

“Tobias got a text from his enforcer that he found who had been threatening Gabriel and to meet him a few hours west from Salem’s. I went with him for backup, leaving Gabriel and Blake–”

“Who’s Blake?”

“Tobias’s sister, and her bodyguard Henry. They were all at Salem’s.”

“Fucking bitch,” Zion mutters under his breath, not caring that we can clearly hear him.

“Watch your mouth when you talk about my wife,” Zane snaps, his knuckles whitening on the steering wheel.

“Anyway, we got to the location, no Kyler, nothing... It was a trap to get us away from the house and now we can’t reach Blake, Salem, Gabriel, or Henry. No one is answering, and the security was tripped.”

It was deadly quiet, no one speaking, no one breathing. I looked down to make sure they hadn’t hung up.

“Aziza’s working on their location, Killian is on the phone with Dimitri, who’s on their plane heading here… Gabriel’s phone is pinging at the house, but uh… fuck–”

“What? Just tell me, tell me!” I scream, the air from my lungs escaping when Zion says, “They knew he had a tracker. They knew somehow and cut it out. It’s down the road from Salem’s, which means they left.”

“How can you tell they cut it out?” Zane asks as I wrap my brain around the fact Gabriel has a tracker or did have a tracker in him.

“Aziza designed it. It pings when it's no longer in use, or well, in humans. It was in his hand, and now it’s not.”

I have so many questions, like how do they know each other? How did Aziza get brought into this, and how did Gabriel get wrapped into all this? He’s normal, and he isn't involved in the Mafia. Sure, I don’t know much about his family. Emilia could never get any information on him, someone had wiped any trace of his existence from the web.

“Why couldn't I find anything on him?” I blurt out.

“Aziza wiped mine and his identity from everything. Kind of like what she did for Salem.” Izel’s muffled cries ring in my ears.

Nodding my head, even though they can’t see or hear me, it makes sense. I just don’t understand how Aziza is involved in any of this.

“Remember when Aunt Aziza was kidnapped when you were little?” Zane must have picked up on my confusion.

“Somewhat. I mean, I remember everything that happened with Aunt Salem, her being in the hospital, the accident with Aunt Aziza, but then... I mean, I was kept in the dark, mostly. I vaguely remember hearing about Aziza missing with Uncle Killian until we were all at the hospital again when she was found…” I mutter. I mean I was seven. Sure, I should remember more about that time, but my parents kept us in the dark for the most part. Mom didn’t want the darkness of the world to touch us yet.

“Fuck… okay, uh well, Zion and Aziza and Killian are all childhood friends. When Aziza had been kidnapped after Killian and her ran away, uh… well, Izel was there and helped get her out before Killian asked Zion to go get her out of thehouse.”

“I’m so confused.” I shake my head. None of what Zane is saying makes sense. Childhood friends? Izel being kidnapped and locked in a house?

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