Claimed by the Hellbound Rider

Gone

Luca POV

I turned to my father without bothering to hang up my phone. “Elena’s been taken from Central Park. I need to go.”

He stood, his chair sliding out behind him as he waved a hand. “Handle it.”

I was out the door, yelling for Gino, before he’d had a chance to finish his statement. My mind was spinning, a part of me aware of the panic inside but working to shut that down as I thought through the possibilities. There were very few people who would be brave enough to kidnap my future wife. Fewer still who could pull it off in broad daylight.

The Capellis were one of them.

Gino had the car ready within minutes, and we were speeding to the park. I felt the familiar ice slide over me, the way it did when I was working a particularly dangerous job for my father. That was good. I needed to be calm and cool about this. And when I found her, my retribution would be absolutely brutal. Whoever had her was already living on borrowed time.

If Alessa’s poison at The Regent contributed to someone thinking they could steal Elena from me without consequences, they’d all find out how false that was.

I was out of the car before Gino had completely stopped when we reached the section of Central Park where Antonio and Renzo were waiting. Renzo was pacing, tugging at his hair, while Antonio simply stood there stoically, looking resigned to whatever fate awaited him.

They both knew they’d screwed up.

“What the f**k happened, Antonio?” The words were out before I could stop them. I managed—barely—to keep my fist from landing on his jaw.

Antonio shook his head. “I’m sorry, boss.”

“I don’t care that you’re sorry. Tell me what happened to my fiancée!”

“She was taking photos for an assignment, needed the restroom. Renzo cleared it before she went in. She should have been safe.” His voice cracked, and my eyes narrowed. He was more broken up about Elena’s disappearance than a soldier should be.

He took a breath and cleared his throat. “We were standing guard outside when a couple of drunks staggered over. They looked like they’d been out all night partying, dressed in rumpled business suits and reeking of alcohol. They kept trying to get into the bathroom. Wouldn’t take no for an answer. Then some good Samaritans came over, tried to help us redirect them, and one of the drunks threw a punch at Renzo. The situation devolved from there. By the time we got out of the fray and called for Miss Elena, the bathrooms were empty.”

“How long?”

“Boss?”

“How long from the moment the drunks approached until you were able to check on Elena?”

Antonio looked at Renzo, who shrugged his shoulders. “Couldn’t have been more than ten minutes, boss. Likely less, but you know how it is when s**t goes to hell.”

I looked around the park, taking in the pedestrians walking, the morning joggers, the moms pushing strollers. The focused back on my soldiers. “Who else was in the park?”

“Just your normal morning activity, boss,” Renzo said. “Antonio kept her clear of most of them while I ran to get the coffee she wanted. And there wasn’t anybody near this bathroom.”

Antonio was looking off in the distance, his eyes unfocused, before he snapped his fingers. “No, Ren. Remember? There was that jogger. The one she was snapping photos of. He was running laps around this section of the park.”

“But he was gone before she even headed to the bathroom. And I checked it myself. There wasn’t anyone in there.”

“Doesn’t matter. What jogger? What’d he look like? Where’s her camera?” The questions came out rapid-fire as the situation started to crystallize in my mind.

“Just a jogger, boss. Looked like he was probably former military or something. Didn’t even bat an eye at us. And we didn’t find it in there. Whoever took her grabbed her bags, too.”

“And no one in this damn place saw a woman, likely laden down with her purse and a camera bag plus her camera if I know my girl, being forced out of this park?” I pushed the rage back down. It wouldn’t help me right now.

But it just didn’t make sense.

Elena wasn’t a small woman who could disappear into a crowd unnoticed. She would’ve had her camera bag, her purse, probably a coffee cup. Someone should have seen something.

“We talked to everyone we could, boss. No one saw anything. And you know they’d have told us,” Renzo said. “We made it pretty clear who we were. Who we worked for.”

Pushing them aside, I stalked into the women’s restroom to take a look for myself. It was still empty, likely from the two brooding suited men standing out front. I pushed open each stall, looking for any scrap of evidence that she was here, of who took her, but found nothing. I tried the service door, but the handle didn’t turn. Locked. “Damn it!” I yelled.

I took a minute, breathed in and out a few times until I felt myself settle.

Then I strode back outside. “I want every bit of security footage you can get on this section of the park and all the exits out of it. I want ears everywhere. If even a whisper of her name comes up, I want to know about it.” They both nodded, and I headed back to Gino and the car, pulling out my phone.

I dialed Marco.

“Boss.”

“Elena’s been taken from Central Park. Get everyone on it. No one’s claimed responsibility yet, but it’s only a matter of time.” I hoped. If they didn’t claim responsibility, it’s likely she’d end up a body on my doorstep, and that was unacceptable. “Activate whatever resources you need to, but I want her found. Now.”

I didn’t wait for questions before I hung up.

“Take me back to the penthouse, Gino. Maybe this was all a misunderstanding.” Even I knew that was a weak possibility, but I had to check. Elena knew better than to go anywhere without her guards. I’d told her what could happen, what she was to me, and how that could be used in my world. She knew her guards were there to keep her safe.

So what the f**k had happened?

It was clear to me that the drunks and the fight were staged, a distraction to get my guards focused on protecting her one way while she was attacked another. I couldn’t even be mad at them over it. They’d done everything right, clearing the bathroom first and making sure no one entered after her.

Whoever did this knew what they were doing.