“Come on, hermosa, tell him where it’s at.” I have no clue what he called me and if I wasn’t chained up with my father dead, seconds away from death—myself. Then I would find him attractive, and he could keep calling me whatever he wanted.
“It’s between my thumb and index finger on my right hand,” I admit. There’s no way out of this, so I might as well cooperate. Getting cut up doesn’t sound like a great idea. I know I’m still going to be tortured. Francesco isn’t going to ignore the fact that I killed his men, but maybe I can deal with it until I come up with a plan. Even as I say it, I know it’s hopeless. What could get me out of this? But then I see how the young guy’s eyes roam over me. Maybe I could create an ally with him.
Even if he doesn’t free me, maybe he can keep me from getting hurt.
“Zane,” he smiles and I assume he’s giving me his name. But there’s no time for casual talk as Smacking Sam digs into my hand with the tip of his blade. “Ah,” I grunt, but quickly bite back my groans of agony. Just as Kel had taught me. ‘They like it when you’re hurt’ he’d say.
Instead, I keep my eyes focused on the warm blood as it trickles from my hand.
Ash
“F irst, tell me how you figured out it wasn’t Cas,” Kel says after he’s finished checking us all for wires. “Skunk.” AJ beats me to it, but there was more to it than that.
“After Emery checked her hair, we figured we might as well check a couple of other things, too. She had absolutely no defensive wounds. Not that that technically proved anything, but Cas wouldn’t take anything lying down. Then we noticed that she wasn’t wearing any nail polish. Which Edward and Emery held her hands that day and said she was wearing black nail polish. Not to mention her hands were totally different. She warned us several times that the people after her could make her disappear.” Kel’s eyes search my face with pity; if I wasn’t on edge before, that would have done it.
“You’re going to want to take a seat.” He’s talking to me, but then he gives the others a look. “You all might want to.” He doesn’t have to tell us twice.
We all find a place to sit. Kel starts pacing. “Francesco and his men were the ones that were after her.” Ice fills my veins. A lead ball of trepidation sinks into my stomach.
“I’m not sure how they figured it out, but I’m thinking it had something to do with that fiancé of yours, Beatrice.” He stops pacing to check me over. I assume he wants to know I’m with him, but I can feel the blood drain from my face. It’s making the room spin.
“I overheard Francesco having a conversation and even though I can’t say for sure, I’m pretty confident he was on the phone with Beatrice. Cas isn’t Cas. That’s the name she was given after already changing it once before. Her name is Reign. I’m not going to tell you what happened to her when she was eight, but I’m sure you can figure it out after I tell you what happened. Cas came home to a setup. Your grandpa and his men were waiting for her when she got there.” Kel’s words slam into me one after another, striking me right in the gut and ripping the air from my lungs.
“He told her that after you found out that she was the one responsible for killing his men that you were disgusted with her. That you struck a deal with him, worth a lot of money. You agreed to give her to his sex trafficking ring to be sold.” That gets me on my feet. I stand up and start pacing, too.
This went from fucked to fucked-er. Yes, I’m aware it’s not a word, but I’m making it one. White hot rage flashes behind my lids and I need to release it. I punch the wall as hard as I can. The wall cracks and my knuckles spurt blood.
The rest of the guys are also on their feet, but we wait, knowing Kel isn’t finished talking. “You need to know she had good reason for killing his men.” He tries to convince me, but obviously, she had a good reason.
“Fuckin’ eight?” I ask, grabbing at my chest. Kel nods. I don’t cry. The only emotion I ever wear is anger, but for Cas, I cry, and I’ll do it every time for her.
“Francesco told her she had a choice to leave without causing a scene and if she did, he wouldn’t kill her father in front of her. Even though she went willingly, there are two possible scenarios and neither are good. Cas is either being raped repeatedly or tortured. Fuck, it could be both.” Kel shakes his head.
“She had a tracking device on her. They took her to Italy. Some of her father’s men were sent ahead of me because someone had to stay behind and deal with this fake body. They wanted us to think she was dead so we wouldn’t search for her.” Ah, Italy, that’s why my gramps wants to work with Tommaso, sex trafficking. Fuck.
“What happened to her tracking device?” AJ asks. I can tell he’s as overwhelmed as the rest of us with this info. “They found it,” I tell him, knowing how my gramps works.
“What do we do?” Edward begs, hoping there will be a simple answer. “Well, I wasn’t sure where to start. I would have come to Ash sooner had I known that he wasn’t involved. You’re our best shot at finding her.” I nod. I’ll do whatever it takes to find Cas.
“What if we are already too late?” AJ asks a question I don’t want to think about. My eyes meet Emery’s glassy blue ones. Every one of us is beside ourselves with heartbreak. We knew that she wasn’t okay but having it confirmed and it’s my fucking gramps. Damn. Again, that guy at the warehouse who tried to warn me months ago, right before I killed him comes to mind.
“We try anyway and hope that we aren’t. As Ash said, Cas doesn’t take anything without fighting back. She’s okay. She has to be.” Kel’s voice shakes and I see how impacted he is, too.
“Do you have a plan?” Edward asks Kel.
“I have to suck it the fuck up and act like I don’t know what’s going on. I’m going to have to shadow my gramps and Beatrice, no matter how sick the thought might make me.” Knowing what I have to do makes me want to hurl. I’d rather sell my soul to the devil than hang out with either of them. “Bingo.” Kel points at me in agreement.
“How do you plan on doing that after what you said on the news?” AJ brings up a valid point. Kel stares at us in confusion. “I’ll have to pretend I don’t know who did it, and act like it was for show.” The thought makes me feel as if I’m betraying Cas.
“This is so fucked.” Edward pulls at his hair.
“It is.” The rest of us say at the same time.
“In the meantime, don’t have conversations with your phones around. Get a burner cell. Always watch your back and trust no one. We have men searching for Cas in Italy as we speak. Maybe we’ll find her before the day is out.” Kel tells us. We nod.
We leave the church in silence from the weight of this situation, no doubt. The freaking one thing we live for is missing and there’s no way to know what she’s going through.
Later that night, my phone rings and I’m in no mood when I see it’s from Francesco. The thing is, I know I should answer it, but there’s no telling what I might say. I hit ignore, letting it go to voicemail. After about ten minutes, I get a notification that he left me a voice message. I go to it and hit play and after only listening to a few minutes of it; I delete it. He saw me on the news and was pissed. Of course, he didn’t say it was because I wanted revenge for Cas, but because I was drawing unnecessary attention to myself, which in return meant him as well. He did add that it doesn’t look good when I have a fiancé.