Page 80 of In My Blood
Minutes later, we were all loaded into two cars and on our way to the address Cara had given us. Dario and Rafe were in the car up front, and Dante, Cal, and I were behind them. Three cars filled with our men trailed us, and two other cars were meeting us there. We were taking almost everyone we had, and I felt reassured that whoever had dared to take Cara from us would regret it very soon.
“Thank God she set that message up for us. At least we know where to go,” Cal said anxiously.
“Doesn’t mean she’ll still be there,” Dante grumbled. “She should never have gone. She should have called her brother and told him what was going on!”
“She panicked. She wanted to get to Gia before it was too late. At least she left us a trail to follow,” I told him, hoping to calm him enough that he’d at least get us there in one piece. He was losing his shit though, and when he started on the rampage I knew would come when we got Cara back, there was no one, God, saint, or otherwise, who could help the bastards who had taken her from us. All of the men in the cars behind us would be superfluous once Dante got going with that knife of his and the raging beast that I knew lived within him.
I felt it too, that wild rage within me, ready to kill anyone who had laid hands on Cara or Gia. Getting to Cara and assuring she was protected, was overriding my rising need for vengeance right then. All I wanted to do was get her in my arms and know that she was safe once again. After that, I would very likely let loose the beast inside of me too. They would all die that night. Every single scumbag who had anything to do with our family being endangered. Every fucker who had even laid eyes on Cara! Not one of them got to live after this. Our family may keep our hands clean most of the time, but that didn’t mean we weren’t savage and bloodthirsty when vengeance was called for.
CHAPTER 23
CARA
I tried hard to focus on where we were going as we drove, but I had no idea where we were. I didn’t know the streets of London, and it was dark out. I tried to memorise the names of stores we passed and place names I read on road signs. Thankfully, Jase stopped talking to me, and I got the chance I needed to try and settle my terrified mind so I could focus. I wasn’t doing so well with it, as my fears triggered memories of my past, of hits I had taken, and kicks, of the violence, and of the things those perverted men had done to me whenever they got me alone, powerless beneath them, or in their grip as they used me however they wished. My Mum’s temper as she lashed out at me over and over, and her dismembered body flashed up intermittently in my thoughts too, as I imagined myself ending up just the same way.
“This is it. I’ll do what I can, but just do as they say, okay? Do everything they tell you to do and I’ll get men back here to rescue you, as fast as I can,” Jase told me, and I didn’t believe him.
There was something off about the things he said, and the way he said them. He wasn’t nervous, and he hadn’t even tried to come up with a way to save Giaandme, which I was sure a loyal man who worked for Rafe would have. Maybe it wasn’t feasible, but he could have at least tried to think of something. But hedidn’t. I was almost sure he was in on whatever was going on. I just wondered if his claim about dating Gia was true, or just a ruse so I would go with him. It seemed likely he could have used Gia to gain valuable information, like the best way to exit the house quietly, and who would be where, when. If that were the case, he had used her. I just hoped she hadn’t been too attached to him, because one thing was for sure – Rafe would kill him if he was a traitor.
“Don’t worry about me. Please, just get Gia out and somewhere safe,” I told him. I hoped maybe he would do that to keep up his ruse with Rafe. Afterall, he didn’t know I had left Rafe that message tipping him off about Jase. He also was banking on me disappearing after this in one way or another, so he might get Gia out of there so he could play the hero with my brother. If not, then I would just have to find a way to get Gia out of there myself. That was my number one priority.
“I will,” he agreed.
We both got out of the car on a quiet back road. It looked like it contained businesses mainly, all of which were in darkness at this time of the evening. I couldn’t see any houses nearby, but there was a main road which I could hear, so it had to be nearby, somewhere. If Gia could get free, she could run for the road and flag a car down at least.
We walked over to the car repair shop, which had been on the address I was sent, and Jase knocked on a small doorway, set into the closed garage doors. Seconds later it was opened by a short, but bulky guy, dressed in a black suit with a cream roll neck sweater beneath. He looked over Jase and I with dark, beady eyes, then stepped aside, waving us in without a word.
“CARA!” I heard Gia scream, and when I turned to look around, I saw her in the back corner of the dirty garage, curled up on the floor, her hands bound, her shoes gone and dried blood staining one side of her face. Her eyes were red and she was crying as she reached her bound hands toward me.
I started to run to her, but was grabbed from the side by a huge meaty hand, wrenching me back so hard and fast I had to fight to remain on my feet. When I felt steady I fought my instinct to try and slip the hold, and instead looked up to the face of the man holding me. He was tall, and built, dressed in dark jeans and a black t-shirt. He glared hard at me and I wondered how old he was. He looked like a kid, barely older than Gia.
But his presence and hold on me made me think straight again, and I forced myself to calm down and look around me. The garage was one wide open space, with a small office at the back. The lights were on throughout and the office looked empty.
In front of me, against the opposite wall, there were two other men, both dressed in dark colours and watching me with nothing but threat in their cold eyes. The small, burly guy, who had allowed us entrance, still stood by the door, and other than the guy holding me, there was just one other stood off to my left. He was in a suit with a pressed shirt underneath. He looked to be in his forties maybe, and he was what I would describe as an average Joe – dark hair cut short, handsome face, but nothing striking. He was average height and he didn’t look as fit or muscular as the other men with him. He was, however, watching me like a hawk.
“I’m here! Let Gia go now!” I demanded as calmly and cooly as I could. One thing I knew, was that I looked weak when, or if, I letmy fear show, and that was what men like these men – predators - liked most. I could not allow any weakness to show.
“Cara, no! Why did you even come here? I told you not to!” Gia cried, and when I glanced over to her, she had her face buried in her hands, her shoulders shaking with her sobs.
“It’s okay, Gia. I’ll be fine, but I need you to leave, okay? You have to get out of here,” I told her.
“Shut the fuck up!” the guy holding me hissed, as he shook me violently by the arm he held.
“Hey! She did what you said. Now let her sister go!” Jase snapped, surprising me. Had I got him all wrong? Was he actually going to get Gia out of this?
“Just tell us what you want. My brother will do anything to get us back...please…,just let us go!” Gia cried and she squeaked in pain when one of the guys across the room moved closer to her and kicked her leg hard.
“Gia, just stay quiet honey, please!” I called to her through my tight throat. Tears filled my eyes but I blinked furiously to stop them falling. Seeing her hurt and so afraid terrified me. I was starting to realise I was in way over my head right then. “Everything will be…” my words were cut off as, what I thought was the butt of a gun, crashed into the back of my head so hard that everything went black. I don’t think I was out for long, but when I opened my eyes, I was laid out on the floor, my head throbbing so hard it made me feel nauseous. I managed to push myself up and lean to the side just in time to throw up all over the floor.
“Fucking bitch!” I looked up as I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my sweater, and found the average Joe guy stood so close to me I had gotten vomit on his shoes. He lifted his foot and kicked my shoulder hard. I screamed as something inside popped loudly from the impact, and I fell down on to my front instantly as my arm just gave beneath my weight. I landed hard against the floor and in my own vomit with another agonised cry. I was pretty sure that sonofabitch had just dislocated my left shoulder.
“Stop! Please. Leave her alone!” Gia wailed. I tried to lift myself up to see where she was, but I still felt dizzy and nauseous, and I couldn’t seem to make my brain and body work in tandem.
“Let her go,” I uttered weakly. “You have me. I’m not going anywhere now.” I turned my face away from my vomit and tried to breathe through the pain and fog that had filled my head. I needed to get control of the situation, or at least keep it calm until my text sent and Rafe came for us. I had no doubts that hewouldcome for us.
I felt someone kick my side, but I didn’t even move. My eyes were closed and I just stayed like that, still, biding my time as I tried to come up with something to get Gia out of there. It hurt so much to move and I had to conserve some energy.
“Has she passed out?” A strange voice asked.
