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‘I can fucking see the cogs turning in your brain,’ I hissed.
‘I just haven’t seen you like that for a long time, that’s all,’ he replied.
I hadn’t been that man for a long time, that was why. I had just tortured Joey Ortega to death, and I had taken perverse comfort in hearing his screams filling the air, but I was still no closer to finding Alana and Lucia. I had known Joey knew nothing, but I had kept on anyway.
‘I don’t know what else to do, Jax? Why haven’t the kidnappers made contact yet? It doesn’t make sense. There should have been something by now. A ransom demand or something!’
‘I know, amigo. It doesn’t make sense. So what do we do now? You have worked your way through every enemy we have. You have killed more people in the past twenty-four hours than the Spanish flu.’
I frowned at him. ‘They all deserved it,’ I snapped. Even if they hadn’t taken Alana, they were our enemies for a reason.
‘I don’t doubt it. But what now?’
‘We haven’t spoken to all of our enemies,’ I reminded him. ‘Have someone prepare the jet. We’re going to New York.’
Jax nodded and then he slipped off to make a phone call as I climbed into the waiting car.
CHAPTER 42
ALEJANDRO
I waited on the steps of the old brownstone with Jax by my side. I had no idea what I hoped to gain from this meeting, but I knew that I had to explore every possible avenue. We had still received no word from Alana and Lucia’s kidnappers and as time ticked away, I knew that the chances of finding them both alive were diminishing.
A few moments later, the door was opened by a woman I assumed to be the housekeeper. ‘I’m here to see Foster Carmichael,’ I said.
She looked both Jax and me over. ‘I’m sorry, he’s not in.’
‘That’s okay. We’ll wait,’ I said with a smile. ‘This is concerning his daughter, Alana.’
At the mention of Alana’s name, she hesitated. ‘Hold on for a moment,’ she said and then she closed the door before returning a moment later.
‘Mr Carmichael will see you now,’ she said curtly as she allowed us inside.
‘Thought he wasn’t home?’ Jax muttered under his breath.
We were shown into the sitting room where Foster Carmichael was sitting with his wife, Alana’s mother, Audrey. I had only met her once before, at our wedding. She had sobbed through the whole thing. Alana had told me afterwards that they were tears of happiness as her mother had had no idea about our original business arrangement, most notably that her father had sold her to me for three million dollars. As far I was aware, she still had no clue.
‘Alejandro. Jackson,’ Foster said as he looked up at the two of us walking into the room. ‘Please have a seat.’
We sat on the sofa and I glared at him, trying to read him and determine if he had any idea of the reason we were there. I had managed to keep Alana and Lucia’s kidnapping from the news. It was better to work in secret than have the whole media circus surrounding us. I already had the best of the LAPD’s resources at my disposal anyway.
‘What brings you here, gentlemen?’ Foster asked as he leaned back in his wingback chair, his hands steepled under his chin.
‘I came to ask you a question, Carmichael. And if you lie to me…’ I didn’t need to finish that sentence. He was well aware of what would happen to him if I ever wanted him to disappear.
‘And what is that?’ he frowned as Audrey shifted in her seat and looked between me and her husband.
‘Do you know where Alana is right now?’
He frowned at me in bewilderment. If he wasn’t lying then he was a good actor — but I already knew that.
‘I don’t know the answer to that, Alejandro. Because as you know, she has disowned me and her mother. But I think the more pressing question here, is why don’t you know where she is?’ he snarled, but there was a clear tremor in his voice.
I stared at him and then at his wife.
‘What the hell is going on, Montoya? Where is my daughter?’ he shouted.
‘I don’t know,’ I said as I leaned back against the sofa.
