[ARTEMY]
2 weeks later
I stared at the pictures in my hand. Stared at them longer than I should have.
The pictures were shaking only because my hands were trembling. Anger had been a constant emotion inside of me since Rebecca had been taken away. I lived on the anger inside of me. It kept me going. It kept me grounded enough to find my Angel.
But now, I was raging. There’s a big difference between anger and fury. Anger was enough to make someone go insane. But fury, it made people psychotic.
And that was exactly how I felt.
I was past making sense. I no longer felt anything except deep loathing and fury. Nothing else mattered. The little humanity left inside of me was gone the instant I laid eyes on the photos in my hands.
Fury boiled inside of me as I imagined the multiple ways to mutilate Raffaele’s body.
My fingers tightened on the pictures until they crumbled in my fist. Closing my eyes, I threw the photo across the room, not caring where it landed. I just needed it out of my sight.
My jaw ground with the effort to keep myself under control.
Rebecca’s face flashed behind my closed lids, and my body tightened as a wave of pain coursed through me. Under the layers of fury, my heart was aching.
It ached so much I was suffocating under the pressure.
But the pain was nothing compared to what Rebecca was going through. The thought was enough to drive me insane.
Through my rage, I heard the door open. My eyes snapped open, making contact with Brayden’s as he stepped into my office.
He stopped in front of the door, his eyes moving to his feet. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and he bent down.
Brayden grabbed the photo firmly in his hands and stared at it. I knew what he was seeing.
The image of Rebecca bare, her legs spread, her eyes frightened, filled with tears was forever etched in my memory.
A second passed. And then another. A full minute passed before Brayden finally reacted.
His face was red with anger. “What is this?” he growled.
“Raffaele sent us a gift,” I replied numbly, my voice a little hoarse from built-up emotions.
“I’m going to fucking cut his dick off and feed it to him,” Brayden snapped, standing up to his feet.
I sat straight in my chair and leveled him with a glare. “He is mine to kill.”
Taking a step forward, he stopped in front of my desk, his stare unflinching. “You are not the only one who cares about her.”
“He. Is. Mine. To. Kill,” I hissed, getting to my feet.
Brayden shook his head with a sigh. “I will never take that right from you. When we find him, he is yours to kill. But the rest of us will have a hand in it too.”
We stared at each other. No words were spoken. The air around us filled with tension. It grew colder and heavier under our need for revenge.
“Fair enough,” I replied. Brayden nodded and sat down on the couch, placing the heavy file he was holding on my desk.
“All the names that are connected to Raffaele. His right-hand men. Their families are also listed. Everything there is to know about them,” Brayden said, nodding toward the file.
I sat down and pulled it toward me. “We already got so many of his men. Nobody knows a thing. He was smart enough to keep his hiding place a secret. His men are a bunch of cowards. If they knew the truth, they would have told me for a chance to live.”
“What about Dalton?” The same question had been brewing in my thoughts, but it was another dead end.
“From Avim’s information, he went into hiding, too. He’s Raffaele’s second in command. He knew he would be our target,” I said, sitting back against my chair. The muscles in my neck were aching. Pressing my fingers against the back of my neck, I massaged the muscles, hoping to relieve the tension.
My body was weak from fatigue. If I kept going like this, I would be no use to Rebecca when she was found.
“If we find Dalton, then it’s another step closer to finding Raffaele,” Brayden muttered, a thoughtful look on his face. “Raffaele has gone off grid, and his second in command is nowhere to be found. His empire is vulnerable, and he knows that. Even if Raffaele didn’t tell Dalton anything about his hiding place, he will have to contact him.”
“His only communication to his empire is through Dalton,” I added, sitting forward in anticipation.
“But we have to find Dalton first,” Brayden said through gritted teeth.
If we couldn’t find Dalton, there was only one person who would lead us to him. Or bring him to us. “His wife,” I suggested.
Brayden shook his head. “She’s out of the country.”
“When will she be back?” I wondered out loud.
“I don’t know. She left the same day Rebecca was taken away. It was probably for her protection.”
At the sound of Rebecca’s name, my heart stuttered, and another wave of pain crashed through me. My hands tightened in fists until my knuckles turned white.
I stared at the file in front of me. “One of these men, at least of one them, should know about Dalton’s whereabouts. Or even Raffaele’s. This is our only option.”
“We’ll get to them. All of them. Everyone in this list will be questioned. We won’t stop until Rebecca is found,” Brayden promised.
No. There was no way we were stopping. Rebecca would be found. Today or tomorrow. Or the day after. But she would be found.
“What do you want to do after they’re questioned?” Brayden asked. But he already knew the answer. He only asked because he needed confirmation. He needed a push, a new purpose again.
I stared at the photo frame on my desk. It was a photo of Rebecca. Lynda took that picture a few days before Rebecca was taken away from me.
She was laughing, her face had lit up, and her green eyes shone brightly. Her beauty, her smiles, her laughter, they were all mesmerizing.
“Kill them all,” I whispered, still staring at Rebecca’s picture.