Return to the King

Chapter 24

Antonio's POV

We are standing around the girl who claimed she had seen Amelia. She was nervous, but she gave us the run-down of the things that occurred. They were brought to the warehouse and waited. They were given outfits to change into, and she kept looking for someone named Trace. I am guessing that's the woman who was also taken when they went to the club. The girl also told us that she got into a scuffle with one of the guys, and they had to drag him away because he was causing a commotion, and it was bad for business, as everyone was telling him. However, after they changed and everything, they were brought somewhere else to basically get sold.

She cried because she was saved, but the sad truth behind this was, anyone who gets sold is normally not seen ever again or never escapes back to their lives. However, people kept discussing some secret man and kept calling him... him. He had no name or identity. Nothing. It was like he was a ghost.

After we cleared everything, Lori came over to us and Nia immediately glared at her. Nia stood up and walked over to Lori, pointing at her.

"What's going on with you and that... dude? You guys ducked behind somewhere and then came back all angry like. Are you working against us or something?"

"And... who are you to be questioning me?"

"Careful... that's my sister and his wife." I said while pointing to Alex, who gave a casual wave. Lori looked over to Nia, who wasn't showing any anger towards her. Just her tilting her head with the detective look on her face. Lori gently moved Nia's hand away from her and shook her head no.

"No... but if I am going to be honest with you guys, you might want to watch your back when it comes to that man. He is not what he seems like and-"

"Who are we talking about, detective?"

Just as she was speaking, the same man she was telling us about walked up to us and wrapped his right around her and slapped her arm aggressively. The three of us exchanged looks before looking back at the two of them.

"Just... someone who doesn't understand boundaries." She said as she scooted herself from him, and he pulled her back.

"Boundaries are important. I surely would know that."

"But you are not showing it, dear chief," Maurice said with a glare.

"And we would kindly like you to let her go. She does seem a bit uncomfortable." Alex carried on.

"Well, she is my detective. I should know if something like this would make her uncomfortable. Right, Lori?"

"Uh.. y-yeah. It would. Guys I am-"

"Well I am not." I said as I grabbed her hand and pulled him away from her. He was shocked and went to glare at me, but Maurice started to hint, the chief to not even try.

"Well... dear kings, I just wanted to come and congratulate you guys on helping us with this case. I know we got on the wrong foot, but my sincerest apologizes for that. I didn't expect you guys to be here and helping with the investigation and when I met Mr. here-"

"Maurice," Alex interrupted.

"Mr. Maurice, he did not give off the information that he was a king or as to why he was there at the station."

"It is not my job to report to you, so why would I tell you anything in particular?" The chief took a deep breath and tried to put on his best facial expression to say that he was friendly. However, we all saw through it. This man was not to be trusted. This man is a snake and this man will cut you when he has the chance.

"Well... I understand that, but if you are looking to work with my detective-"

"Still does not concern you. What does concern you is the fact that these missing women are to be returned home."

"Yes... We are seeing to that now. I will have my best-"

"Which is Lori... correct?" I asked with a slight angered but cocky expression on my face.

"Well... even though Lori is the best... she has other work-"

"I couldn't care less about her other work. I want her on the case of these missing women since she has been handling it finely, if we must say," Alex stated, while all of us nodded in agreement.

"Might I add that my hospital will not give them to anyone without the proper papers, recognition or the final say of the patient or without the approval of the detective, so please be mindful of sending the correct people and if there is anything fishy going on, and I find out that it came from you, then please know... "

"We will have your badge," we said in unison. The chief was shaking at this point. He looked over to Lori as if he were trying to warn her and I stepped in front of her.

"Anything you have to say to her... comes through us from now on."

The chief nodded his head and he left us. Lori took a deep breath and everyone looked at her.

"Thanks..."

"We could kind of tell that something about him is off. We are going to get in touch with Fred tomorrow or the following day and see what information we could get on him, because he definitely does not want us to know something and that something might be information on how to get to Amelia."

"Well... let's get these women to the hospital and let's figure all of this out after we make sure that they can get home, back to their lives and back to everything that needs to be getting back to."

"Do you think they can?" Alex asked as we turned back to the scene. We saw Nia's team working with patching people up, guiding them to cars that were provided by the police. It was a tragic tragedy but as we watched, Nia came up behind us, and she placed her hands on our backs.

"These women... have been through hell and back, but thanks to you guys... they can get their lives back. They will not be the same, but they will come back and re-take their lives."