Page 64 of The Voicemail

ELENA

Alex leaves me in his bedroom with the door closed behind him. I stand there for a few seconds, barefoot and shaking, staring at the place where he disappeared. He lied to me. This whole time, he’s been lying. Not just about what he does, but about who he is.

Now my best friend’s been taken. I wish I could be angry with him about that, but it isn’t his fault. It’s mine.

I press my hand over my mouth, but the sound comes out anyway. Small and ugly. Crying won’t get her back. Standing in Alex’s bedroom surrounded by his expensive sheets and his guns won’t get her back either.

Maya is out there somewhere, alone and scared, because of something a mafia boss thinks I took from him. No matter how much I hate Alex right now, it’s all still my fault. I have to do something.

My stomach roils. I breathe through it and reach for my shoes. I have to get dressed and make a plan. I can’t just sit and do nothing.

In my panic, another thought occurs to me. An ugly, awful one. If he knew I was pregnant, he’d never let me out of his sight again. I’d be his prisoner. Forever.

There would be more guards and more rules. He’d give me a million careful explanations about why I couldn’t leave. He’d bring doctors here and monitor my food intake. My life wouldn’t be mine anymore.

Maybe I’m overreacting. Either way, I can’t stick around and find out. I have to save my best friend. I have to find the file Bianchi is so hell bent on and trade it for her freedom.

I leave his bedroom and head straight for the office. No one stops me in the hall. One guard looks my way, then immediately looks away, like he’s been told not to speak.

Voices come from Alex’s office. Low, clipped, urgent. I push the door open without knocking. Alex is behind his desk, dressed in yesterday’s pants and a black shirt. Luca stands across from him with his phone in one hand. Marco is near the window. Another man I don’t recognize is writing something on a tablet.

Everyone goes quiet.

“What’s the plan?” I ask.

Alex stands. “You agreed to let us handle this.”

“My best friend has been kidnapped,” I snap. “I’m not going to just I sit back and twiddle my thumbs.”

Luca blinks once.

Marco looks at the floor.

Alex’s jaw tightens. “I didn’t expect —”

“You expected me to do whatever you say. That’s off the table. Tell me what’s happening.”

He looks at Luca, clearly realizing I don’t want to hear one more word out of him.

Luca clears his throat. “We’re tracking the vehicle that took Maya. Bianchi’s men used the back exit from her building and switched cars three blocks away.”

“Is she hurt?”

“Unfortunately, there’s no way for us to know that right now.”

The room tilts for half a second. I grab the back of the nearest chair. Alex moves like he wants to come around the desk and help me.

“Don’t,” I warn.

He stops.

Luca keeps his voice careful. “All we know for sure is she was alive when they moved her. Conscious and fighting.”

His words are probably meant to be comforting, but they land like a fist. Of course she was fighting. She’s a fighter. She’s taken kickboxing classes for years. She wouldn’t have been prepared for an attack like this, though.

“If I give Bianchi his file, will he let her go?” I ask the room.

Alex’s jaw tightens.