Don Vidal

31 - Where the fuc.k is she?!

Draven

I press the call button for the fifty-seventh time. Yes, literally. Again, it rings off.

Where the fuc.k is she?!

I tap my phone against my lips in frustration. This isn’t like Marnie; she always answers my calls. Always! She knows the rules: Answer my calls by the third ring. If you can’t answer on the third ring, text as soon as possible so I know you’re okay!

I may sound like a paranoid asshole right now, but I have every reason to be. It doesn’t matter how much time has passed since Marnie was taken by the Elders, there’s still the chance others could try and do the same thing. Then there’s Paul Simpson and the fact he’s still out there, thinking he’s smart to send threats through the grapevine about what he’ll do to Marnie once he catches her. Whether they’re true or not remains to be seen. Either way, I will find him, and when I do, I’ll kill him!

Simpson never should have had the opportunity to escape. I should have ended the little cunt right then and there in that alleyway. I should have locked Marnie in the car and shot Paul Simpson between the eyes! The idiots who work for me gave him the chance to outsmart them, allowing him to get away. Hence why I made a fuckin.g example out of them.

No one makes those kinds of mistakes and lives to tell the tale!

Paul may think he’s playing clever and hiding from me, but no one can hide from me for long. Once I catch him, which I will, I’ll kill him in the worst way, but not before I’ve ended every member of his fucke.d up, racist family in front of his fuckin.g face. All the stress Marnie has been under because of him has made her ill!

Something must be wrong.

Why else wouldn’t Marnie answer the phone after so many times of trying?

She swore to me that she’d never worry me like this. Marnie knows how important it is to me to know she’s safe.

Wait, maybe I’m worrying over nothing. Marnie may still be shopping with her sister. I did give her the credit card to use for anything she needed, and she does like to shop for the baby, and that I don’t mind in the slightest. I thought she’d be home by now, but maybe they got carried away. Marnie could even be over at Brooke’s, and she’s just forgotten the time. It’s possible her phone is in her bag, and she hasn’t heard it ring.

Yeah, that’ll be what’s happened.

Regardless, while Tony calls Tom to check if everything is okay, I’ll call Brooke and tell her to let Marnie know I’ll pick her up. It’s getting late, and I want her home where she’s safe. I have too many enemies out there right now, cunts who would snatch my woman and use her up before killing her just to see the look on my face when they sent me the recording of it.

I know Tom will be with her, waiting outside Brooke’s, at least, but I want to collect her myself. It took me a while to convince Marnie to let Tom drive her around. Usually, she’d have both a driver and bodyguard, but it’s not easy when she’s finding it hard to trust anyone.

“Is Marnie with you?” I snap before Brooke can even say hello.

Pretty shitty of me to snap at a pregnant woman, but I’m, for the first time in my life, really fuckin.g worried about the woman I love. I’m scared that I won’t be able to protect her when the time comes. I’m afraid that I’m about to lose Marnie and the baby, and there’s Jack shi.t I can do about it right now, but it’ll never stop me trying.

However, my fuckin’ stomach is falling out of my ass on this one. I have the most uneasy feeling, and I can’t shake it for the life of me.

I went through all of this with Maria when my father kidnapped her. He killed one of her bodyguards and shot and injured the other. I could have a hundred men trailing Marnie, but that doesn’t mean something can’t happen to her if they blink. It only takes a second.

“No, she left me a couple hours ago. We went shopping for things for the baby, and I dropped her off at home right after.” Brooke is happy, giggling as she talks excitedly at a mile a minute.

“You haven’t seen Marnie since you dropped her home?”

“No. Draven, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine. She just isn’t answering my calls.”

Brooke rattles off the usual, ‘You shouldn’t stalk her the way you do. You don’t give her any breathing space.’ Bullshit!

I give her the usual, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ before hanging up. I’m not interested in the fuckin.g lecture!

When Tony tells me he can’t get through to Tom, I’m about ready to lose my mind!

Tony pulls up outside my house. Finally. It seems to have taken forever to get here! “Tony, wait here, I might need you. Be on the alert.”

“Sure, Boss.” Tony, my most loyal companion in all thing’s death.

I’m through the front door without even realizing I didn’t need to use my key or thumbprint.

What the fuc.k?

The door wasn’t fully closed. Marnie knows to always close the door. Nobody can get inside this house but me and my woman. Fingerprint, eyeball, and fuckin.g face recognition.

The only way anyone could have gotten in is if Marnie knew the person and opened the door for them. Someone who got through the iron gates. Which means they had to have known how, or Marnie let them in because the guard operating the gates took a toilet break. Chris said it was no more than three minutes, and he didn’t see anyone. No one knows the keycode, other than a handful of people. I only hope the damn thing isn’t faulty. If it turns out that’s what’s wrong with the gate, heads will literally roll!

Maybe you should have made sure two guards were manning the gate while you were out; then, no one would have been able to get in!

Where the fuc.k is Tom?

I haven’t seen the little bastard since I arrived home. The guards stationed around the house claim they haven’t seen anything. But something doesn’t make sense. Unless a Goddamn ninja broke in, someone should have seen something. But the only thing they saw was Marnie returning home.

I step back outside and motion for Tony to come with me. If there is someone in my house, it’s always best to have someone watching your back.

“Check down here, I’ll look upstairs. Oh, and Tony?”

“Yeah?”

“You see anyone other than Marnie, you shoot them on sight.”

He smirks. “Boss.”

I watch Tony pull his gun from his holster and walk toward the living room through the shadows. I pull my own gun and creep up the stairs like a ghost in the night. I was trained for this. It’s so easy to move undetected, even a man my size when you know how. Just look at Ghost, that giant of a man can get in and out of any place without being heard. He’s an asshole, in my opinion, but he loves Avery, and he comes in handy when I need him.

I slip into each room quietly on my way toward the end of the hallway where mine and Marnie’s bedroom is situated. Each room is empty, not a sign of struggle to be seen. I doubt very much anybody kidnapping another person would take the time to clean up after themselves, and I doubt very much Paul Simpson would be smart enough to think of that.

I swear, if that piece of shi.t got into my house without being seen, I’ll kill every damn person who was supposed to be watching Marnie. Every. Single. One!

I slowly open the door to our bedroom, gun still aimed high. If there is anybody in here, a bullet to the fuckin.g chest will be the least of their worries.

“Marnie, are you in here?” I call as soon as I’ve cleared the bathroom. There’s no one here, and if there was anyone downstairs, I would have heard by now.

I hear a groan from my side of the bed, but there’s no one on the bed. I walk around and I see her. “Marnie, fuc.k!”

She’s lying on her side, her arms are spread in strange positions, blood all over her face. Fuc.k it all!

I quickly tuck my gun into its holster while getting to my knees and reaching for her. “Baby,” I wrap my arm around the back of her neck and lift her gently while calling for Tony. She’s lethargic, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as I try to get her to open them for me. “Marnie, please open your eyes.”

“What the fuc.k happened?”

I look at Tony for only a second. “I need to get her to the hospital. Check the damn cameras; I want the motherfucke.r who did this found, now!” I lift Marnie into my arms, she doesn't even make a sound. Goddammit, if anything happens to her! “Dead or alive, I don’t care. I want their body one way or the other! Make the fuckin’ call on the way.”

I want him or her dead. I don’t care how, but I want it now. Whichever man or woman brings the cunt to me will be paid more money than he or she is ever likely to see in this lifetime! Millions for all I give a shi.t. This woman, this baby, are my life. Nothing is going to take them away from me while I draw breath!

I never thought I could love again. Hell, I didn’t even want to love Marnie; I told her as much when I first dragged her away from Paul Simpson. I had no intention of letting her that far into my heart. Of course, I knew I’d love her in some way; she’s going to be my wife and the mother of my child, but falling in love? Hell, no!

I was wrong. I had no fuckin.g clue Marnie had the power to bury herself so deep into my heart and mind the way she has. She’s even got me looking forward to coming home each night because I know she’ll be there waiting for me. No one, not even my ex-wife, could do that. I was a damn workaholic. I still am, but I know when to go home these days.

As I cradle Marnie in my arms while Tony races through midtown traffic towards the hospital, I know that I can’t lose her. I fuckin.g love her. I love her, and I can’t live without her. I have no clue when that happened, but it has, and I have to hold onto it with all that I am. I’m a monster, but even monsters deserve love.

Don’t they?

“Hang on, baby girl. Hang on.” I kiss her head and pray, yes, pray to fuckin’ God that this isn’t as serious as it looks.