Page 81 of Forbidden Bond

“I wish I was. I only just found out a week ago. I was hoping to get her out of the country until we could confirm his whereabouts,” he says.

I let him go and start to pace. “If that bastard has her…” I can’t even finish the sentence.

“Leeman has some odd revenge fantasy against me. He wants to hurt me.”

“I’ll hurt you for him if he gives me Katherine back,” I mutter.

Beside me, Christian’s lips curl into a smile. Malone glares. “Unfortunately, that’s not an option. I have all the resources of the FBI at my disposal. I’ll find my daughter.”

Christian places his hand on my shoulder. He gives me a reassuring look. “We’ll find her, fratello.”

* * *

The combined efforts of both my family and the FBI yield a lot of answers to a lot of questions. Surprisingly, James Malone seems inclined to provide us with any information we need. As Christian pointed out, he isn’t stupid. He understands that we have a lot more manpower to provide. And more eyes and ears in every corner of New York.

In a matter of hours, I know everything there is to know about the man who has Katherine. Charles Leeman is a forty-five-year-old man who spent the last six years in a penitentiary in New Jersey. He was released on parole two months ago thanks to a spotless record during his time served. He was sent home with an ankle monitor to ensure he didn’t violate the terms of his release. He wasn’t supposed to leave his town of residence and yet he somehow found his way to New York two months ago.

The first thing we work on is finding out how he worked his way around the ankle monitor. It’s increasingly clear that he’s not working alone. Someone’s been helping him. Someone good with computers, someone who was able to reroute the information on the ankle monitor and make it so that it seemed like Leeman hadn’t taken it off at all.

It takes us two days to find out who. A friend of Leeman’s who had apparently grown up with him. Malone made some calls to Jersey, sending people to detain him. He left a few hours ago to interrogate the guy while we’ve stayed behind to keep searching.

“I have a gut feeling,” Christian says, walking into his office. He’s been going back and forth between the FBI office, home, and here. He’s the one running this operation and keeping it together.

I haven’t left this room in two days. I can barely sleep or eat. Every time I close my eyes, I see Katherine’s eyes. Or I hear her calling for me. It’s driving me crazy.

“What gut feeling?” Carlo questions, getting to his feet.

“Stacey disappeared around the same time Leeman showed up in the city,” he murmurs.

My eyes widen as I realize what he’s hinting at. “You don’t think he has her, do you?”

A part of me had been holding on to hope that Stacey chose to disappear on her own.

“It’s possible,” Christian says, taking a seat at his desk. He grabs his laptop, turning it on. “There aren’t any CCTV cameras where she was taken but…” He trails off, turning his attention to his laptop.

His hands move over the keys furiously and I watch as he hacks into several security cameras around the city. We followed Stacey and Leeman to the same shopping center. He must have taken her near the back where there are no cameras and then we see a car drive off but one different from the one he drove there in.

“The bastard has Stacey,” Carlo says, his jaw clenched.

It doesn’t make any sense, though. Why would he kidnap Stacey? She doesn’t know Katherine or the Malones.

“This is good,” Christian says, distracting me from my thoughts. “We can narrow it down now. I just need to cross-examine the places where their locations overlap and try to find the vehicle he used to abduct Katherine yesterday. Get Malone on the phone. I can’t do this on my own.”

Soon enough, we’ve got the best computer experts on the case. Christian tells me it might take a few hours until they’re able to get the exact location. All we can do is wait.

“Tomorrow, Topher,” Carlo says, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll know where they are by tomorrow.”

CHAPTER 25

Katherine

It’s been two days. Leeman spent the first day coming in here every two hours. He didn’t say anything, he simply stared at both of us with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. When he moved to touch me, I put up a fight, scratching his face till it bled. He stayed away after that.

Yesterday, he told me the story of how he abducted Stacey. He was so pleased with himself.

“I thought she was Tessa,” he said laughing. “She was on the phone with your daddy if you can believe that. Talking about the D’Angelo’s and I just couldn’t believe it. It was like a gift from the man upstairs. I knew I had to act fast and by the time I realized it wasn’t your sister, it was too late. Either way, I figured she’d be useful in one way or another,” he said leaning down to touch her bare arms causing her to flinch.

I hate that he kidnapped Stacey but I am so grateful it wasn’t Tessa. Leeman also informed us that we’d be moved soon. He was going to take us somewhere else. To his hometown. He also said he might have to kill one of us but he wouldn’t tell us who. According to him, he’s grown pretty attached to Stacey in the month since he’s had her.

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