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“I believe you’re right. I’d rather take the heat and your mother be angry at me. At the end of this, she won’t see me again.”
I didn’t want to think about that. We weren’t really dating, but I didn’t want him out of my life. Maybe it was because Damien was the first person with whom I had been able to share a part of my life that no one else knew about. It was a connection I hated to think about ending.
Maybe once I have my family, this emptiness and loneliness won’t feel like a large hole in my heart and I won’t even remember Damien’s name.
I could only hope, but my gut told me it wasn’t going to be that easy. I liked him, and pretending I didn’t was a lot harder than pretending I did.
CHAPTER8
Damien
“Where the fuck is Tabiq? How come I’ve never even heard of it before?” I asked Brian, my friend at the FBI. I’ve traveled to many different parts of the world in search of missing people. Tabiq has never been on my radar. Not sure if that was a good or bad thing.
“Most people haven’t. It’s a small country halfway around the world. I’ve never been, but I did some digging into it,” he said.
“And what did you find?” I asked.
“They were a third-world country and have recently started to turn things around,” he said.
“That’s a good thing,” I replied.
“Not so sure. There is a family that seems heavily involved in what goes on in Tabiq. Not sure who is really running the country. This family, or should I say their father James, had been on the radar with the FBI several times in the past,” he stated.
“Does James have a last name?” I asked.
“Henderson. He died several years ago. A shame, because there were people hoping he’d spend some time in Federal prison. Just couldn’t get anyone to testify against him. Seems that James had a way of intimidating people so much they were more afraid of him, than of us.”
“James Henderson. That name sounds familiar, but I don’t know why. Is he from New York?” I asked.
“Boston, Massachusetts. But his reach goes far and wide, obviously. And I believe some of his children might be doing business in New York. They seem to have their hands in a lot of things. Once again, nothing we can prove to be illegal. It’s possible they are using Tabiq as a way of hiding them. We haven’t had any luck getting someone on the inside to find out. Guess their brother-in-law, Bennett Stone, keeps close tabs on anyone getting close to the family.”
“What? Are they a mob family or something?” I half-joked.
“No, but their father was vicious. Things happened to people when he didn’t get what he wanted. Not the kind of man you want to do business with,” Brian stated.
“Fuck no. Then again, it sounds more like I’d be hired to find people who dealt with him than be hired by him.” Brian nodded. “And you think his children are doing the same?” I asked.
“I don’t know. They are all married with children, and their wives seem...normal everyday people. But I’ve seen enough in my job here to know things are not always as they appear. At this point, I’d need them to prove to me they are not like James.”
What I thought was going to be good news to deliver to MaKayla, was now on hold. I couldn't tell her anything about Tabiq. I might not know her well, but I knew enough to know that she’d want to book a flight and go there herself. If Tabiq was dangerous, I needed to keep her as far away from there as possible.
“Did her fingerprints turn up anything?” I asked.
It was possible that she’d been kidnapped from Tabiq and that is why Venus is keeping her away from there.
“Nothing besides the fact that she is MaKayla Prada. Not linked to any missing person. We did learn that the woman called Venus Prada is her biological mother.”
That was one thing I could cross off my list. It didn’t explain why Venus was not sharing any personal information with her daughter. Was she on the run? Did the Hendersons have anything to do with it?
“Brian, did you learn anything about the DNA results to locate her father?”
“Just that he was European. I did come up with someone who potentially could be a distant relative, but they are still testing it. I’ll let you know when I get more details for you.”
“I’m going to be traveling for the next few days. I’ll call you to check for any updates,” I said. The last thing I wanted was for Venus to overhear anything she shouldn’t.
“Sounds good. But are you sure you’re going to continue working on this case? I mean we’ve determined that MaKayla is not a missing person.”
“True, but I’m telling you, this is not just a woman who doesn’t want anyone to know who the father of her child is. Venus has gone to some serious lengths to ensure MaKayla isn’t found. It’s my job to learn why. It had to take some serious cash to be able to create false documents and a new identity. If she was from a third-world country, how the hell did she come up with that kind of money?”
