Vanished In Newark (Vanished)
“No, bitch. But you should have kept my name out of your mouth,” Elisia Popov says, looking pissed. Behind her are three huge guys with face tattoos.
Well, fuck, I think as she grabs me, putting a black cloth over my face. Only I’d get kidnapped twice in the same day.
SEVEN
SEAN
Feeling overwhelmed with an onslaught of emotions I am not prepared for; I leave her to sleep while I take care of some business. On the ten-minute drive to my parent’s house, I realize that I love her. I have from the moment I first saw her when she didn’t know that I was watching her. At the house, Cillian is meeting with the enforcers about Elisia Popov.
“This girl is seventeen and already a real piece of work. She’s scary as hell, but we need her alive for now. She was very easy to find, boss. She’s a cheerleader, student class president, and definitely Popov’s niece. His brother, Denis is her father. Her mother was a stripper who passed away shortly after she was born from an undiagnosed illness.”
“Where is she?” I demand. She has to know where her piece of shit uncle is.
“She lives in the Popov compound with the rest of those savages. I approached her earlier outside of a restaurant and she was very defensive and dismissive. She needs to be taught a lesson about speaking to men, but that’s beside the point,” Gavin, a top enforcer says. I shake my head, trying not to laugh at him. He’s a pretty old-fashioned guy. I have no doubt he’s going to be the one who teaches her that lesson as soon as we are done with her.
“She figured out who told me immediately. I’m afraid she’s going after Lacey,” Cillian says.
“Lorielle’s sister?” I ask wondering how the hell Lorielle and Lacey even came up, but now is not the time to get to the bottom of that.
“Yes. Finn reported that she left the compound a few minutes ago, but she’s not going in the direction of the Benefiel’s apartment.”
“Where is she going?”
“Down by the river, boss,” Finn says through the speaker sitting on the dining room table.
“Fuck, let’s go roll,” I shout to the men.
“Where are we going,” Cillian asks as jumps into my car.
“My place. Lacey is friends with Elisia. I’d bet anything she told her where to find Lorielle without even realizing it, but maybe she did. I don’t know her, maybe she hates her sister.”
“You have Lorielle? Lacey just said she was with a mad man,” Cillian says, confused.
“That’s me. I kidnapped her this morning,” I say matter of factly.
“What the fuck man? We don’t deal with women and children,” Cillian says, disgusted. The rules are very clear. We’ve followed them since we came to America from County Down in 1875. The rules are few and simple and I know I broke this one, but I had my reasons.
“I know that. This was a one-time thing. She’s my fiancée now.”
“What? What the hell is going on with you cousin?” Cillian demands. I can’t
“Don’t worry about me,” I say as I pull into my garage. I enter the building and the first thing I notice is that the front door is open. Not busted open, she answered the damn door for her attackers. “Lorielle!” I shout as I go through the house, but it’s useless. I know she’s not here. The bed where we made love is a holy hell mess that’s still unmade. The clothes from her suitcase are now dumped on the bed. I’d have no way of knowing if anything was missing but I’d say not because her passport is still there.
As if the Popov’s weren’t already on my hit list, they just sealed the fate of every member of that family. I’m going to kill them all.
I don’t even know where to start looking for her, but back out into the night I go, my men by my side except for Gavin. I leave at my house in case she comes back. We search every warehouse we don’t own, including the ones owned by our allies the Valladares’ and the De Santi’s to no avail.
Several hours later, just before dawn, my phone rings. I am almost out to the suburbs, and I have had no trace of her in hours. I’m losing my patience.
“What?”
“Get back to your place, Boss. Now. It’s bad. Hurry,” Gavin says before hanging up.
Son of a bitch, I think as I get back in my car and drive home like a bat out of hell. I’m not prepared for what I see when I get there, but it fuels my rage that much more.
EIGHT
LORIELLE
Waking up, I don’t know where I am. It’s dark and wet. The chances of being taken back to Sean’s killing floor were slim but I’m definitely not there. The door opens and I can see. Elisia is standing there. “????, you’re awake. Now, we can have some fun,” she says, making me nervous. She stalks toward me, wearing an NHS cheerleading t-shirt and some jeans. She’s barefoot and that makes me wonder where the hell I am. I am chained to a ring that’s in the center of the floor, I can’t get up, so I have nowhere to go when she kicks me in the face. I feel my nose break, but she doesn’t stop. Eventually, she changes up her method of kicking my ass to her fists, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Everything hurts, but I refuse to cry. I can’t do it.