When I get to the cyber café I ask for the special phone service and pay the man at the desk the premium rate so I can go quick and speak for as long as I need to.
I call Juan’s number and it rings out. That’s never happened before. I call it again and this time someone answers after the phone rings a few times.
“Buenos días,” a man says.
“Buenos días,” I haven’t spoken Spanish in such a long time that I can’t remember how to speak it. Miguel never spoke Spanish in the house. It was always in English and those around us did the same. “I’m sorry do you speak English. I wanted to speak to Juan Hernandez.”
“Sorry, he’s dead. Shot a few months back. Can’t help you,” the man says and hangs up.
I don’t even get to process the shock of what I just learned or the possibility that maybe Miguel killed him.
Jesus. My hands start shaking. Trembling I hang up the phone and make my way back out to the parking lot. reaching for my phone I call Christian again. the same shit as last night happened. the phone went straight to voicemail. I open my mouth to say something then I remember him telling me to leave if I wanted to.
I’m so stupid. It’s over. It’s over between us and I’ve just landed myself into a new hell.
When I turn the corner to where my car is parked I come face to face with a man in a hooded sweatshirt.
He backs off his hood and I see he’s one of Miguel’s men. I was never given his name but I knew he was the kind of man you stay away from. It was him who was following me. He’s the guy who was following me weeks ago.
Jesus Christ, I back away but back right into a wall with arms. Glancing up I see another guy. Another lackey for Miguel. Here are my answers. Miguel really is back.
“Buenos Diaz senora Diaz,” the man with the hooded shirt says. “You’re coming with us.
“Let me go,” I wince.
“No. We can’t do that.”
I’m about to scream but the sound is muffled when something covers over my mouth. A sharp smell hits me and I see stars.
As I black out I think of Rosie, then the darkness comes.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Christian
“Capo don’t tell me you’ve been here all night, you look like shit,” Georgiou says chuckling.
He walks into my office and looks at me. He’s probably right about what I look like. I feel like shit. It’s the perfect word to describe how I feel and I don’t want to talk about it.
I also don’t want to admit that I’ve been here since yesterday morning and this is my second day here.
“I’m busy Georgiou, unless you want something…” My voice trails off because I don’t want to be rude to him.
He gives me a long hard stare warning me to watch myself.
“I’m not fucking off if that’s what you mean to tell me, prick,” he sneers. “What the fuck is with you?”
“Nothing.”
“I noticed that all the new contracts have been worked on and signed off. You really did work all night didn’t you?”
“Yeah I did, happy?”
“Christian no, I’m not happy about it. It’s not all about work. I’d thought you’d be less work like and maybe spend more time with Lilly.” He gives me a hopeful smile.
I look at him and I don’t know what to say about Lilly.
What is the right thing? that I chickened out and took on the role of coward when she practically told me how she felt about me, or that I was an ass to her and fucked things up when I told her she could leave when she wanted.
I bring my hands up to my head and shake it.
Every time I remember that part, I can’t believe I actually said that. The fucking thing about it was she was right. there wasn’t anything that she said that wasn’t right, or the right way to think about the fucking relationship we have.
She threw me a rope and I never caught it.
“Christian, what’s going on man?” Georgiou asks and it’s time like these when I’m grateful that he’s who he is because if it was one of the others they would have landed a fist in my face for impliedly telling them to fuck off.
“I don’t know what to do about Lilly,” I confess and he looks me over with curiosity. “I’m not a fucking coward Georgiou but when it comes to her I don’t know what to do or how to behave. I don’t know how to feel.”
He relaxes his shoulders and shakes his head. “Christian, that’s because the last time you loved you were burned so badly it’s taken you years to open your heart to someone else,” he states and I stare back at him. He can see straight through me and I’m that transparent. “I can’t stand in your shoes and guess how you must feel because I know it broke you to lose Amelia. The way that you lost her is… it’s dark and painful. Christian you were eighteen years old. She died eighteen years ago. You never let anybody get close after that. Weeks ago was the first time I realized how you felt about Lilly because a man doesn’t just pack a woman up and her child and move them in with him if he doesn’t love them both.”
Georgiou can be many things. One thing he’s damn good at is cutting to the shit. Getting to the shit you haven’t even come face to face with in your mind.
I blow out a ragged breath and bring my hand up to my head.
“I’m right aren’t I?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I answer and he smiles.
“Well, I guess you should do something about that then,” he says and he backs away out the door.
I reach for my phone and switch it back on. There are a few missed calls from Lilly, no messages though.
I call her but the phone goes straight to voicemail. Sighing I put my phone back in my pocket. Maybe hers is switched off too and it would serve my ass right for acting like a juvenile prick. I shut down my computer, grab my jacket and take one step to go to the door, but stop when my phone starts ringing.
Thinking it’s Lilly I retrieve it from my back pocket, but I narrow my eyes when I see it’s Vera calling me. She never calls me for anything.
“Hey Vera, everything okay?” I ask.
“No,” she cries, her voice is choked with sobs. “Christian I’m so sorry. I’ve looked everywhere but I can’t find Rosie.”
A tremor of shock bolts through me and everything in my body freezes.
“Vera, what do you mean? Tell me what happened,” I say trying to keep the panic from consuming me.
“We were in the park with the playgroup. She was playing with the kids. I took my off her for one minute then she was gone. My God. Oh Jesus. She’s gone. We’ve been looking for her for over two hours. I can’t find Rosie. Christian, I think someone took her. And Lilly isn’t answering her phone.”
That’s all I hear. Someone took her and the icy tendrils of something I never truly feel seeps into my soul. It’s fear.
Vera thinks someone took Rosie and Lilly’s not answering her phone.
In my world that can only mean exactly what it sounds like.
Trouble…
Trouble has knocked on the door.
My girl and my kid are in trouble.