CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Instead of Russell at the valet station, it was some kid whose name I couldn’t remember. He’d been training in the last week, but with everything going on, I hadn’t even thought of introducing myself to him. On this day I jumped from the car and nearly tackled him.
“You know Cristiano Leventis?” I asked.
He kind of shifted his weight backwards a bit, like he was afraid I might suddenly grab his shoulders and shake him silly.
“Yeah. Everyone does.”
“Have you seen him this afternoon? This evening?”
“Uh, I think I saw him walk out earlier.”
“He didn’t drive?”
The kid kind of shrugged. “I don’t know. He might have gotten his car himself. Sometimes he does that.”
“Okay.” I pressed my keys into his hand. “Thanks.”
Walking as fast as I could, I booked it for the elevator, only looking over once to make sure Florentia was keeping up.
When questioned, the elevator operator gave close to the same story as the valet. Cristiano left the building maybe an hour or less before, but if he came back in, it was through one of the back entrances.
I shook my head as the elevator door closed behind Florentia and me. “He wouldn’t use the back entrance,” I said. “There’s no reason for him to.”
I tried the door before getting out my key, knowing Cristiano hardly ever locked it. The knob turned smoothly under my palm, and Florentia and I walked into the foyer.
“Hello?” I called out. “Cristiano? Evie?”
I hit the hallway, my sneakers echoing in the silence of the space. “Evie?” A frantic edge crept into my voice. I made myself take a second to stop calling. I needed to calm down. Nothing could be done if I stayed in a frantic state.
But I couldn’t stop my feet from speeding up. Couldn’t stop the crazy way I rushed into the guest bedroom, then Cristiano’s room, then the living room. “Evie!” I yelled.
“No one is here,” came Florentia’s voice. I followed it to the kitchen. She stood in the middle of the floor, looking lost. “No one is here,” she repeated, softer this time.
Something caught my eye on the island. I rushed forward and picked up Cristiano’s phone. “Cristiano wouldn’t just leave this.”
Gulping, I tried to open it, to see if he’d received and listened to the voicemail I left him. The phone was locked, though, and I didn’t have the password to get into it. Judging from the little icons at the top, there were no new messages.
“I think he got my message,” I announced.
“Where is your friend? Did she leave with him?”
My stomach sank. “She would have called me,” I whispered.
Just like Cristiano would have. No way would either of them just disappear on a day like this.
Unless someone made them disappear.
“This building is carefully watched,” Florentia said. “Will there be cameras all around?”
“Yes!” I nearly shouted. “Cristiano is always talking about how safe this building is. Come on. We’ll go talk to the front desk. If something did happen here, it has to be on camera.”
Back at the elevator, I hit the button several times, frantically calling it. When we got to the front desk, I nearly threw myself over it. Clutching the sides, I stared the concierge down. “Do you have cameras installed at every door? You do, right?”
He opened his mouth slightly, looking unsure.
“It’s about Cristiano,” I pressed, knowing the concierge had seen me with him on numerous occasions. “He and my friend might be in danger.”
The man looked uncertainly from me to Florentia.
“Please,” Florentia said. “What she says is true.”
“All right,” the man agreed. “I’ll have someone go and take a look. If you’ll wait here please.”
We sat down on the couch nestled between the potted plants while the concierge got on his phone and made a call. I pressed my hands between my knees, unable to stop my legs from jiggling up and down. The minutes ticked by, with me looking at the concierge every thirty seconds to see if he had any news. The first few times, he smiled at me politely, but after that started flat out ignoring me.
Finally, his phone rang, the call making me jump to my feet.
“Yes?” he said into the phone. “Yes... All right...” His lips tightened together, and he hung up then looked at me. “There appears to be something, ah, questionable on the tape.” He cleared his throat. “I will escort you to the security room if you like. I’m afraid we may have a case on our hands that may need to involve the police.”
My heart beat so loudly I wouldn’t have been able to hear anything else even if the man said something more. Numb, I followed him through a door behind his desk and then across a narrow hallway. The three of us entered a small room where a wheeled chair sat in front of a wall of screens, each one showing a different part of the building. The man sitting in the chair glanced at us before turning back and clicking something on the computer that controlled the screens.
“The middle one, two up,” he instructed.
I trained my eyes on the little screen, then sucked in a sharp breath as the still there began playing. A female figure, unmistakable Evie to anyone who knew her, was being escorted down the back stairs by three men. One of them stood close behind her, jabbing a gun against her back.
The operator clicked a few more buttons, and footage showing the party leaving through the back door came up.
My breathing came harsh and ragged. “How did they get in?” I demanded. “This building is supposed to be one of the safest in the city. Isn’t it?”
The concierge’s face flushed. “Yes,” he said to the operator. “How did these men get in?”
The man in the seat slowly shook his head. “I haven’t found that yet. There were no lock breaches, so my guess is they somehow entered through the back stairs. Maybe someone opened the door for them. Maybe they paid off a maid or the janitor or someone. I’m doing a scan for unauthorized codes now.”
The concierge turned sharply to Florentia and me. “We will alert the police immediately.”
“But what about Cristiano?” I asked the operator. “Did you see him?”
“I’ll keep looking, but I haven’t seen anything yet.”
“So your cameras aren’t manned in real time.”
The man shook his head. “No, that isn’t policy. They are used to deter crime and provide video proof if something does occur.”
The concierge pushed open the door, holding it for us. “Ladies, I apologize greatly. We will discover what happened here and make sure it never happens again.”
He may have gone on, but if he did, I couldn’t hear anything he said. Evie had been kidnapped. Who knew where she was? Who knew what was happening to her?
Bile rose in my throat, and I gagged.
A hand rested on my arm, its touch soft and soothing. I looked at Florentia and tried to talk, but all that came out was a pathetic whimpering.
“It will be all right,” she said. “Do not worry.”
Now she was the one saying what needed to be said, comforting me so I wouldn’t freak out. But I knew her words were just that: words. No one knew what was going to happen, and no one could be sure of anything.
***
I sat in the middle of Cristiano’s couch, the dark city leering at me through the windows. Police milled about, filling the home with activity. I stared at his cell phone, in a baggy where the detective placed it earlier. Evidence. That’s what it was now. The police department would keep it and answer if he or anyone else called.
“You should get some sleep,” Detective Noels said to me. He sat on the edge of one of the armchairs and folded his hands together. He seemed a nice enough man, with gray hair but a smooth face hardly lined at all. It was hard to believe he’d gone through years as a detective in Chicago without the wear and tear getting to him more. Although maybe it did, and he just had a knack for not showing it. Or maybe he’d just found an excellent anti-wrinkle cream.
“Fat chance,” I bitterly responded.
“Mrs. Gonzalez took something to help her sleep. Would you like the same?”
The fact that Florentia still went by the last name Gonzalez was hilarious and pitiful at once. Especially when the mention of her made me think of the luxury she must have once lived in. And now here she was, a maid pretending to be from Central America. I scoffed, and Detective Noels peered at me.
“I can’t sleep.” I pressed my hands to my eyes. “My friends...”
“We’re doing everything we can,” he softly said. “Please believe that. You won’t be of any help to anyone if you end up collapsing from exhaustion.”
“I can’t sleep,” I dumbly repeated.
“You’ll be safe. We’ve stationed two officers out front. The building is being watched carefully. Don’t worry.”
I slowly nodded. I’d been sitting there racking my brain, trying to think of anything I could tell him that I hadn’t already. The only thing I left out of my story was the part about me pulling a gun in the parking garage. I didn’t want him to go looking for a tape only to find it wasn’t there. Not only would that spell trouble for me, it would be even worse for Cristiano. To get caught paying someone off to hide evidence...
My head dropped down, suddenly too heavy for me to even attempt to hold it up. He’d risked himself big time for me, and I’d let him down.
Detective Noels handed me his card. “Call me if you need me. Or, if it’s emergency, call the precinct.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled.
He stood up and walked away. The crowd in the apartment thinned out, police officers moving towards the door. Finally, it closed with one last click. Somewhere out there two officers remained, watching to see if anyone tried to come back. I tried to feel comforted by their presence, but I couldn’t be. It wasn’t me I was worried about. It was Evie and Cristiano. And Florentia as well. If these men were looking to collect all the Erul’s they possibly could, they’d be coming for Cristiano’s mom next. Likely Evie had been taken simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had to have some faith in the police and trust they would do everything they could to find my friend.
Standing up so quickly I got a head rush, I ran from the room. I hadn’t been able to protect Evie or Cristiano, but I could still save Florentia. I could send her away, somewhere no one would find her. If anyone had enough friends in the military to make something like that happen, it was me.
“Florentia,” I said, entering the guest room and hoping to wake her. She was already up, though, sitting in a chair and looking out the window. She turned her puffy eyes towards me.
“I have to get you out of here,” I explained. “If these men come back and get you, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“I can’t leave,” she simply said. “Cristiano...”
“Cristiano will never forgive me if I let something happen to you. Please. You know it’s what he would want.”
Finally, she nodded and stood. “Where am I going?”
“I have a friend,” I explained, thinking of Seth. “He can get you out of the city. He has other friends who know safe houses. You’ll be all right with them.”
“Can we go to my house?” she begged. “I must get some things.”
“No. It’s too dangerous.”
“Blaire, please. The only photo I have of Cristiano is there. I can’t leave without it.”
I clenched my teeth, trying to ride the wave of pain from my heart breaking. “All right,” I conceded. “But two minutes. I swear. We can’t stay there any longer than that.”
“Yes,” she nodded. “I will hurry.”
A police car sat in front of the building, right next to the valet stand. Though I’d prepared a story about going home to my own apartment, the cops didn’t stop us and question where we were headed.
I pushed the pedal on the drive back to Florentia’s, going as fast as I dared.
“Two minutes,” I reminded her as we pulled into the driveway. I was coming across as a hard ass, but it was necessary. I couldn’t let whatever had already happened to Cristiano happen to his mom as well.
We climbed out of the car together, and I made sure to lock the doors so no one would have the chance to sneak in the back seat and lie in wait.
I’d retrieved the gun I ditched hours before from Evie’s banged up car. Taking it in my hand now, I hurried my way up to the front door with Florentia.
“We need to check the place first,” I softly told her.
She unlocked the door and waited while I scoped out the living room and hallway, then checked the back door. The deadbolt was in place. Slowly, I edged down the hallway, checking the windows in the one bedroom and bathroom.
“We’re good,” I called.
Florentia emerged from the living room doorway.
“I’ll keep watch at the front while you get your stuff,” I told her.
She nodded and scurried past me. I went to the front door and pulled it shut then locked it. Settling myself next to the front window, I pushed the curtains aside so I could peek out. The neighborhood sat quietly, with nothing more than a few cars puttering by.
In my pocket, my phone buzzed. As fast as I could, I pulled it out.
And saw the person calling was Derek.
I hit silence and jammed the phone back down into my jeans. We hadn’t talked once since the day we broke up at his place, and now he calls me at one of the worst possible times. I shook my head and continued to look out the window. A car went by, going what seemed to be a few miles per hour slower than it should have been. I pressed my face closer against the window, trying to decipher the car’s make and model. Some kind of pickup truck, it continued on, bumping its way down the block.
My phone started ringing again. I sputtered in irritation.
“Florentia!” I called. “We have to go!”
“Coming, coming!”
I pulled my phone back out of my pocket. Derek. Again. I went to hit the silence button but then hesitated. What if, by chance, it was important? What if it had something to do with Evie and Cristiano?
Derek wasn’t friends with Evie. He didn’t even know Cristiano existed. The chance of him having something to do with or knowing something about their disappearances was extremely slim.
But that still meant it was a chance worth taking.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Blaire,” he sighed in what sounded like relief. “How are you?”
“Derek,” I nearly snapped. “Is this important?”
“What? I, uh...”
“Look, I’m not trying to be rude, but I don’t have the time right now.”
“God, that’s kind of harsh. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”
“I can’t do this right now. We need to talk another time.”
“Really? That’s how you’re going to act when...”
“Another time.”
I hung up on him and put the phone back in my pocket. “Florentia!” I yelled. “Now! We need to go!”
I stomped across the living room then went down the hallway towards her bedroom. “We have to...”
The words died in my throat. Florentia stood in the middle of her bedroom, but she wasn’t alone. The tall bald man from the black SUV stood there, one hand pressing Florentia’s arms behind her back and the other one holding a gun to the side of her head.
“Let her go,” I commanded, pointing Seth’s Glock at Baldie’s chest.
A click sounded behind me. I didn’t have to turn around to know a second person stood back there, their own weapon pointed in my direction.
“Put it down,” the gravelly voice behind me commanded.
Slowly, I bent and set the gun on the carpet.
“Let’s go,” the voice said again.
I turned, making a point to not look at my attacker straight on. He might think I was trying to memorize his face, which might piss him off and cause him to act out. It was Florentia they were after. I happened to be expendable. From the corner of my eye, I could tell he was a tall and buff dark man I’d never seen. “The back door,” he commanded.
I followed instructions, my mind racing with each step. There had to be some way out of this. There was always a way.
But I couldn’t think of a single one.
We passed the bathroom, its window open and the curtains lifting in the breeze.
Damn it. Didn’t I check the lock?
I thought I had. I thought I tried it, but maybe I just looked at it. I’d been in a rush. And then Derek called...
Damn Derek.
If only I could blame this all on him, but I couldn’t. I’d let myself get distracted by his pointless phone call. If only I’d been paying better attention, listening for sounds of movement in and around the house...
The men stopped us at the back door and felt through our pockets to remove our belongings then put black hoods over our heads. Terror washed over me along with the darkness. I reminded myself the hoods might be a good thing. If our kidnappers didn’t want us to remember where we were going, then they probably planned on keeping us alive.
I fumbled the whole way across the back yard, losing my footing and stumbling once or twice. We kept walking, on an on for what seemed like a mile but was probably not even a whole block. Where had the men hidden their vehicle? And how could it be no one saw the kidnapping party trudging around?
My legs brushed against some scraggly bushes, telling me we walked through either an abandoned lot or a field. Please, I prayed. Somebody see us.
Climbing into the back of what felt like a large van was even harder than walking. The man shoved me inside, and I half sat, half collapsed on the rough floor. Two loud doors slammed, sealing us in. Florentia’s quick breathing came from next to me, and her shoulder brushed against mine as the van backed up.
I wanted to speak, to say something to the woman next to me. I needed to apologize, as paltry as that apology might be. But our captors were near. For all I knew, there was no divide between the front of the vehicle and us. I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of hearing my voice crack in disappointment and fear.
How long we drove, I couldn’t tell. Each ten minutes that passed was probably only one, but riding to an unknown fate made every moment seem so much longer.
I counted the lefts and rights the van took, trying to commit them to memory, trying to trace a map in my mind. Eventually, there were so many turns that I lost track of which direction we were even headed in. I couldn’t tell if north or south was the destination.
For a while, the van kept straight, telling me we were either on a highway or country road. A few more turns and the vehicle slowed down, getting onto a bumpy and unpaved driveway.
The van came to a stop, and the back doors opened to the sound of crickets. Other than that, there was nothing. We were somewhere in the country, far from the city limits of Chicago. A rough hand grabbed my arm and led me forward. I went willingly, doing my best to keep my back straight.
The whole ride, I worked on coming up with ways to sweet talk the captors. Since I didn’t know just what they wanted, it was hard to know what kind of offers they might bite at. I didn’t have a lot of money to offer, and if they wanted what I did have, all they needed to do was go back to Florentia’s and take my purse out of the rental car.
My heart lurched. The rental car. How long before the police found it abandoned there? Assuming one of the goons hadn’t already taken it and lit it on fire or something.
We stopped walking. Keys rattled in a door, and then we were ushered into a damp but warm room. My arms were let go. I fought the urge to reach up and tear the hood off my face. Footsteps hit something like wood, and a second later, another door opened and shut.
Silence. Were we alone?
I ripped the black hood off. The room we were in was dark, save for a thin window somewhere near the top of a wall. I squinted at the bit of moonlight coming through the glass. No, that wasn’t a wall. It was a garage door.
“Florentia?” I asked.
She touched my arm. “I am here.”
“Blaire!”
I gasped in surprise. “Evie?”
Two new hands grabbed onto me as a form appeared in the darkness. I wrapped my arms around Evie and pulled her close. “Oh my God, Evie! I’m so sorry,” I said into her hair.
She hugged me tight. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. Cristiano’s mom is here. Florentia.”
“His mom?”
“Where are we?” Florentia asked.
“In a garage,” Evie explained.
“Any idea where?” I peered at her, finally able to make out a bit of her face.
She shook her head. “I’ve already tried looking for a way out. The door is sealed, and there’s nothing to break the glass with.”
“Damn it,” I hissed.
“These men came into Cristiano’s and grabbed me,” Evie explained, her voice shaking a bit. “It happened so fast.”
“Cristiano,” I gasped. “Do you know where he is?”
“No. Right before the men took me, he went out. He said he needed to think.”
I clenched my teeth. “I think they got him too. You checked the door that we came in here through?”
“Yes, and the one leading to the house.”
“The house?”
“Over here,” she said, her voice a little softer. “Follow me.”
I put my hand on her back, and Florentia did the same to me. We shimmied along the concrete floor.
“There are steps here,” Evie whispered. I bent down and felt the wooden steps I’d heard shoes clomping on. “They must go up into the house.”
Some banging around came from the other side of the door, and the women on either side of me froze.
“If you weren’t so fucking stupid,” a male voice said, “You would have gotten it right the first time.”
“How was I to know?” asked a second man. “All Ken said was go into the place and get the girl. We did what he asked. No one told me what she looked like.”
Man Number One growled. “Then you should have thought to ask before barging in there. Now we have one extra bitch to deal with.”
I tensed. They were talking about Evie. So the men who kidnapped her thought she was me?
Florentia shuffled a little bit behind me, and I put my hand on her as a signal for her to be still.
“Yeah,” the other man sullenly said. “So what are we going to do about her?”
“Don’t worry about her. It’s your own ass you need to be concerned about. Ken will have more than a few words for you.”
There was some more moving around and the creaking of furniture. A fridge opened then shut.
“This is my last job anyway,” Man Number Two said after a minute. “I’m done with all of this shit.”
Man Number One snorted. “That’s easier said than done. What makes you think you can get out so easily? Anyway, if you wanna get your cut, you better wait till the money’s in your hand to tell Ken that. He’ll hold out on you if he knows you’re leaving.”
“He wouldn’t do that.”
“Yeah, he would.”
A can popped.
“Whatever,” the other guy muttered. A chair creaked, and someone got up and left the room. I stayed frozen where I was until sounds told me the other man was leaving as well.
Gingerly, I edged my way over to the far wall. Florentia and Evie followed.
“It sounds like they’re planning on holding us for ransom,” I explained.
“Yes,” Florentia agreed.
I wrapped my arms around myself, thinking hard. Ransom wasn’t as bad as murder, not in anyone’s book.
“Will Cristiano pay?” Evie asked.
“We don’t know where Cristiano is,” I reminded her. “I thought he was here, with you.”
A heaviness filled the spaces between the three of us. There seemed to be nothing left to say. With no Cristiano, there would be no one to pay whatever sum the men planned on asking for.
Florentia spoke up, her voice small. “But where can he be?”
I desperately wished I had an answer.
The door to the house opened, letting in a shaft of light, and we all scrambled back. One, two, then three men came down the stairs. The first two were the ones who took Florentia and me and the third someone I’d never seen.
“Time to go,” the one who’d jabbed the gun against my back announced.
The new guy, standing right behind him, fumbled with the black hoods. I studied him, suspecting he was Voice Number Two. If so, he was the weaker of all three of the men. Not only was he smaller, but he seemed to be less committed to the whole heist than the other two. He would be the easiest to break, to get through to. If he had even a shred of humanity more than his ringleader, maybe he could even be convinced to help us escape. I tried to catch his eye, to show him that I, too, was a human, but he kept his gaze down and on the floor.
“Let’s go,” Ringleader said, waving his arms at the three of us.
“What about the hoods?” the guy behind him questioned.
“Forget about it. We didn’t need them in the first place.”
My stomach lurched as he stepped towards us. “Put your hands on your head.”
My first instinct was to fight him, but I knew I couldn’t do that. No way could I take on three armed men. Instead, I did as I was told, then marched through the door to the outside with Florentia and Evie.
They were moving us. Hopefully in a routine attempt to avoiding getting found.
My heart beat in my ears as I remembered what they said about Evie. They’d never meant to kidnap her. Did that mean they were planning to get rid of her? What was the name of the guy they mentioned? The one who sounded like he was head honcho? Ken? Were we being taken to him so he could decide?
Tufts of grass hit the toes of my sneakers. I squinted into the darkness, trying to figure out just where we might be. As suspected, deep country surrounded the house and dirt driveway. No streetlights. No houses. Just wide open spaces.
The kind where no one could hear you scream.
In front of us sat a white van, ready and willing to receive its prisoners once more. My muscles tightened, resisting going back in there. I had to think of a plan. I needed to think, think, think.
An engine’s roar cut the night. I glanced at the front of the van, but no one had entered it and turned it on. Instead, the revving came from behind us.
I whipped my head around just in time to see a white SUV come barreling around the side of the house. It bumped in the yard and soared towards our group of six. Instinctively, I grabbed both Florentia and Evie’s arms, barely being able to grasp my best friend in time. Pulling with all my strength, I jerked backwards, taking them out of the path of the SUV. A big thud sounded and one of the men — the dark skinned one — got sucked under the hood of the car.
The other two men yelled and pulled out their guns. I crouched and ran, pulling the women in my hands with me. A line of trees loomed on the other side of the driveway, but they were too close. I pushed Florentia and Evie behind the white van and dove to join them.
Gunshots were going off. The SUV’s engine still went on, gunning and getting ready for more damage. I dropped to my knees and peeked under the bottom of the van, knowing I shouldn’t do it but also needing to know what was happening. Were our kidnappers distracted enough for us to make a real break for it? In the darkness of the woods, they would have trouble finding us, especially if we found some trees to camp out in.
Someone gasped.
“My son!” Florentia wailed before getting up and darting around the side of the van.
“No,” I yelled at her. I threw myself at her, but she was too quick. She rounded the van, getting closer to the line of fire.
“Florentia,” I yelled, then took a dive and tackled her. The second my arms wrapped around her waist, something pierced the back of my shoulder. A hot burn flooded my whole back and went down my right arm. I yelled in pain as the two of us crashed into the grass.
“No,” I croaked, grabbing hold of her shirt. I scooted along the ground, back towards the safety of the van, doing my best to pull her with me using my good arm. Gunshots still went off, and another cry joined the booms. Evie appeared next to us, grabbing hold of Florentia’s other side. Together the three of us stumbled and crawled back to the van.
I collapsed against the rear tire, the pain in my shoulder searing. Darkness pressed in, so close and so deep. My head dropped forward. Trying my hardest, I couldn’t keep it up. Somewhere far away, Evie’s voice called my name. The dark shapes in front of me pulsed, shrinking and then growing.
“Blaire,” a familiar voice called. “Blaire!”
“Cristiano?” I muttered, before letting go completely and losing myself in the darkness.