FULL NOVELXO Chapter 34
Sienna visibly reacts when she opens the door to her apartment, which is how I know Mia was there.
“What—”
“Someone has kidnapped Mia. You can either let me in and answer my questions so I can find her before she’s seriously harmed, or I can call the police,” I growl in my most intimidating voice.
I’m not going to call the police. It won’t help, and I don’t have time to fuck around here.
Sienna steps aside and I walk in, followed by Mack.
“Oh my God, do you know where she is?” Sienna cries, her hand still gripping the door.
Mack peels it off and closes it behind him.
“No, but you might. Where did she go when she left here?” I ask.
Sienna blinks at us, and I guess we’re probably intimidating, filling up the small apartment she lives in. This is the first time we’ve met, but I don’t have time for niceties.
“Sienna,” I press.
“Umm, ahh, she went to meet her brother. She said you had a fight.” Sienna’s eyes dart around the room. “That she was going to go home to Long Island.”
And her brother said he’d take her?
“Where was she meeting her brother?” Mack asks.
Sienna rubs her forehead. “Shit, um, she didn’t tell me. In Manhattan. Obviously. Oh God, this isn’t helping.”
I lead her to the sofa to sit down and spot Mia’s T-shirt lying over a cushion.
Fuck. The need to find her is making me lose focus. Who knows what that psycho Vitale will do to her. If his cock goes anywhere near her, I’ll slice the fucking thing off before I slit his throat.
“Sit. Take a breath and try to think about what she might have said,” I reply.
Mack picks up the T-shirt. He recognizes it, just as I have.
“She got changed. Why?” he asks. Like me, he’s trained to think critically and guide witnesses or hostages to remember information.
Sienna stares at the T-shirt. “Ummm, shit, where. Think, Sienna. Think.
“Take your time,” I tell her, meaning the opposite.
“Yes. Yes, she, ahhh, she changed into my dress because it’s fancy—” She begins clicking her fingers and pointing at Mack. “The Silver…Silver.”
I know at once where she means. I’ve been there a handful of times.
“The Silver Ring. It’s a bar in midtown. When did she leave?” I glance at Mack, and he’s pulling up the address on his phone.
“Ten minutes away,” he says.
“When did she leave?” I ask Sienna again as I stand.
“Twenty minutes ago.” Sienna wraps her arms around her middle. “Is she going to be all right? Oh my God, Mia. You will find her, won’t you?”
Absolutely, and anyone trying to stop me will wish they hadn’t.
“Yes. Mia belongs to me. I’m going to bring her home,” I say, then nod to Mack. “Let’s go.”
As we race down the stairs, relieved we have a lead, I know this is just the beginning of a long night. Finding Mia is just one piece of the puzzle.
I’ve been toying with an idea since we left my penthouse. It’s insane, but it might work.
Or it’ll backfire.
First, because I have no idea if Mia has told anyone about what she saw. Sienna didn’t mention it, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s unlikely she would compromise her friend.
Mia loves Sienna. I know that.
But she may have told her brother and her father.
So, this is a risk I need to decide if I’m willing to take. My heart is slamming into my chest every moment I don’t have her in my arms, and I know my priorities have shifted in the past hour.
I’m about to make a life-changing decision.
One that could mean the end of my life.
Or win the trust of the one man who could give me the answers I’ve been searching for.
The power, ironically, will lie in the hands of the woman I love. The daughter of my enemy.
Mia Mancini.
WE PULL UP outside The Silver Ring, and I turn to Mack. “Get hold of Nathan, while I go in and see if they are still here. Find out where he is.”
“Got it,” he says.
He doesn’t say anything about the call he just heard me make, except for a handful of curses and shakes of his head as I was talking.
“And Mack, don’t tell him about the conversation I just had. He needs to be in the dark on this.”
Mack nods.
Not because I don’t trust Nathan, but if someone tapped his phone, this is far too important to risk. Nathan is trained to adapt, and he’ll figure it out.
I climb out and pull my cap down as I walk into the bar. I glance around at the well-dressed patrons, looking for Mia. Her long hair, her beautiful ice-blue eyes. That smile.
She’s not here.
“Mr. Barrett.” The manager greets me with a handshake, and I see the question in his eyes at my attire. It’s Friday night in Manhattan, and they’re used to seeing me in a Tom Ford suit or tuxedo, not jeans.
“Evening. I’m looking for my fiancé. I was hoping to surprise her this evening,” I say, knowing she’s as recognizable as me right now.
He nods.
“Yes, Ms. Mancini was in here earlier with another gentleman.”
“Her brother,” the bartender says, wiping his towel along the bar, having overheard our conversation. “He took her home.”
No, he fucking didn’t. But he’s taken Mia somewhere, and I will find him.
“This early?” I ask, playing along.
The bartender smiles. “She had a little too much to drink, sir.” Then his smile disappears. “Not here. She only had the one cosmo.”
The asshole. Her brother fucking drugged her. Urgency races down my spine like a sharp knife.
I force a smile. “What a shame I missed her. People are so hard to surprise these days.”
“Let us know when you next want to visit, and we will organize you a good table, Mr. Barrett.”
“Thank you.”
I’m one hundred percent sure Mia will never want to come back here. And I’m only one percent sure she will ever want to see me again after today.
But I’m going to fight for her.
First, I have to find her.