AllFreeNovel
Share Us
24
JASE
Relief spread all over my body as the door opened and two men strode in. I recognized the man with the white-blond hair on sight. Julian Westcott hadn’t changed much from the days I’d known him. Tall and lean, his ice-blue eyes had a way of seeing right through you.
Victoria’s chair spun around at the sound of the door and she rose immediately. “Julian.”
He dumped the bags he was carrying on the floor and opened his arms, and she stepped right into them without hesitation. They held each other tightly, talking softly so their conversation couldn’t be overheard.
When Victoria finally stepped back, she turned to the dark-haired man standing next to Julian. He wasn’t quite as tall, and his hair was longer than a military man would’ve been allowed to wear it. His strong features and olive skin told me he had some sort of European heritage—Italian, maybe—and his eyes were so dark they looked black.
He’d already placed his duffle bag on the floor, along with the strangely-shaped bag he’d had slung over his shoulder that I suspected held a rifle. She greeted him with a hug as well, and he kissed her cheek.
“Julian, you remember Jason Bennett?”
“Of course.” Julian’s English accent was still as strong as ever. From what I remembered, his parents were English but he’d been born in the United States because his father, a university professor, had been teaching here at the time.
He held out his hand to me and I shook it. “Jason, good to see you again. I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances.” He gestured to the man standing beside him. “This is my teammate, Dominic Russo.”
I introduced Connor, although Julian had met him previously, and once handshakes had been done all round, we sat. Julian pulled a sleek-looking laptop out of a bag and fired it up. “Okay, catch us up on everything that’s happened. When did you realize Emilia was first missing?”
I told the two new arrivals everything I knew, with Connor and Marian contributing here and there. Marian disappeared after we were done and returned with two fresh mugs of coffee for the men.
Julian took a sip of the hot liquid, his expression sober. “Have you tried to track Emilia’s phone?”
Connor nodded. “I started a trace as soon as Jason started talking to Janet Edwards, but I wasn’t able to lock down a signal.”
Julian and Dominic exchanged glances. “They probably killed the phone so we couldn’t trace it.”
Dominic slid the laptop over and started typing. “What’s Emilia’s number?” I rattled it off and he typed it in. “The last call pinged off a cell phone tower on Staten Island.”
Julian frowned. “You said you got a proof of life photo?”
I opened the text with the photo up and handed it over. The two men examined it carefully, making it bigger in some places. “It’s definitely a warehouse of some sort,” Julian murmured.
Dominic nodded. “Looks like it’s been abandoned for a while. Lots of oil stains on the floor. If I had to guess, it was probably a chop shop.”
“Yes, that was my thought, too. Can you run abandoned warehouses on Staten Island through the program?”
I watched as Dominic’s fingers flew over the keyboard of the laptop in silence. My mouth couldn’t form any words as everything caught up with me, and the very real possibility of losing the only woman I’d ever truly loved hit me square in the gut.
I hadn’t realized I’d made any noise until everyone in the room looked at me. Julian’s face softened. “We’ll get her back, Jason. I promise.”
The expressions of empathy on everyone’s faces didn’t make me feel any better, and I was grateful when Victoria stood and held out her hand. “Come with me, honey. Let’s get some air.”
I took her hand and she led me up the private stairs behind the office I shared with Emilia to the balcony, which was only accessible that way.
Night had fallen, and the cold smacked me in the face the moment I stepped out into the open. I’d shed my jacket and tie upon arriving back in the office, and I regretted not grabbing my jacket when we’d left the meeting room. It was freezing and I could only think of my fiancée.
Was she cold in that vast warehouse? She had to be because she hadn’t been wearing a jacket and I doubted Janet would consider her comfort high on the list of things to be concerned about.
What if they left her in the warehouse alone all night and she froze to death?
“I know this must be so incredibly hard for you, Jason.” Victoria squeezed my hand. “Knowing Emilia’s being held somewhere against her will, cold and injured, must be breaking your heart. But do you know what’s keeping her going?”
I shook my head listlessly.
“You. Knowing you’re doing everything you possibly can to find her. Knowing she’ll be back in your arms soon. She won’t give up on hope. She won’t give up on you, so you can’t give up on her. You can’t let your despair drag you under. She needs you now more than ever.”
