Chapter 67
Dmitri
The drive to the bar where I’d asked Fedor to wait for me was the longest I’d ever had. All through my journey to the place, my heart was in my throat and my body trembled slightly at the thought of what could be happening to her right now.
Regret and guilt gnawed in my chest knowing that I’d pushed her out of the house with my crazy attitude.
Though she’d cheated on me, right now I was willing to forgive her.
A sigh of relief crossed my lips the moment I got the bar and parked my car properly. I hopped out and dashed into the small downtown bar that barely had any customer.
Fedor was seated at the first table and he waved at me the moment our eyes met.
“What happened?” I reiterated as if he hadn’t summarized the full details before. “How could you have allowed her to go out without your knowledge?” Rage rose within me as I planted my fist on his face.
He stumbled off his chair and held onto the affected part of his face, kneeling down with his face bowed. “I’m sorry, Boss. You can do as you want to me but we have to find Ariel first,”
I propped my arms against my waist and drew in a deep breath. He was right. This wasn’t the time to apportion blames because finding Ariel was my priority.
He got up and dug into his pocket, producing a phone. “Here’s her phone, Boss. I saw it along the road after I tried to track her location through the phone,”
I snatched it from him without hesitation and unlocked the phone. Luckily, it wasn’t much of a hassle trying to unlock the phone because she didn’t bother to put a difficult password.
The next thing that showed on her screen was a recording that showed today’s date. Quickly, I clicked on it and strolled to the window to listen to it privately.
My stomach felt hard the moment the recording stopped playing and cold chills ran down my body. For the third time since I met her, my eyes watered in remorse while I gripped the phone inflexibly.
The stupidity and wickedness I’d exhibited during this period appalled me. If Ariel forgives me after this cruel incident that I’d put her through, I’ll ensure she never have to suffer like this again.
I returned to Fedor’s table and he stood up immediately wearing a quizzical gaze.
“Did you get any clue from the recording?” He questioned.
“Margaret is surely behind this,” I replied with conviction. “Now call Armen, send him our current address and tell him to get the footage of this place. Maybe we can get a clue of who took her from the car’s plate number,”
He inclined his head and went away to make a call while I crashed onto the chair behind me. My heart pounded furiously against my chest with hot beads of sweat growing on my forehead.
It had become clear that she was telling the truth and Margaret had framed her. The bastard.
I’d made a mistake by not killing her the last time I had the chance to, but it wouldn’t repeat itself once I found her. Feeling restless, I scrolled through my contact and called her.
As expected, her number was unreachable. Not wanting to involve the police, I began to think of the various places she might have been taken to but nothing came to my mind.
Fedor returned with a moppy expression. “I did as you asked, but the footage has been hacked,” He gulped.
My face softened with a wicked grin. “Alright then. Ariel’s my woman and I’ll find a way. Just go back to the house and keep Liora safe,” I ordered.
“But what about you? I can ask someone else to watch her,” He suggested.
I placed my hands on his arm and shook my head. “I’m Dmitri Mikhailov and I can take care of myself, but Liora can’t, and if anything to happens to her under your watch, I’ll give you the worst torture session ever before I let you meet your ancestors,”
He nodded firmly even though glints of fear lurked behind the ballsy facade he’d put on.
Thankfully, I was armed with my favorite kukri and a pistol so I headed straight to Margaret’s place since I was so sure that she had something to do with Ariel’s disappearance.
I’d barely started the car when my phone rang loud so I picked it up immediately and placed it against my ear.
“What have you done to my daughter?” Mr Scuderi’s barked in a deep growl.
Though I hated being challenged I was so overwhelmed with guilt and filled with understanding about how he felt because of what his daughter was going through that I couldn’t help but ignore his harsh tone.
“It’s all my fault, Mr Scuderi,” I took the blame.
“Well, I don’t care whose fault it is. I put my daughter in your care so that you can protect her but what did I get when I surfed through the net? Distasteful pictures of my daughter lying naked with another man. How could that have happened under your watch?” His voice rose to a higher crescendo and I had to take the phone away from my ear and placed it on the dashboard.
“Are you trying to say that you didn’t believe what you saw?” I asked quietly though my chest tightened with nervousness.
“Hell no! I didn’t,” He exclaimed. “Ariel is my only daughter and God knows that I love her to death. I watched her grow and I know her limit. She isn’t that kind of woman,”
A knot unfurled in my stomach as I rested tiredly on the steering.
How foolish have I been.
How could I have been the only person who didn’t see through Margaret’s schemes? Now the worst have happened and I wasn’t even sure she was still alive.
“I’m sorry, Rocco, but it’s even worse now. She’s missing,”
“What?” He yelled.
A text came in after he screamed while he muttered Italian words at the background. I ended the call immediately and went through the text.
The message sounded suspicious as I expected her to call and gloat over my misery so I sent Armen a text, asking him to send some men over to search Margaret’s house.
Quickly I started the car and drove to the address. It was a bumpy ride as several thoughts kept flooding my mind while I surged on without minding the traffic rules.
I got to the building while the day turned into dusk and began to climb through the stairs. Then I stopped at the last floor which I realized was a hall and flicked the switch.
The light came on, shining on a familiar unconscious face whose body was hidden behind a curtain. My legs failed to start a sprint as I slowly dragged myself to her body.
“Margaret,” I muttered after parting the curtain.
She wasn’t just unconscious, she was dead. Her body laid cold in its pool of blood. And then I darted my gaze around to find three other lifeless bodies scattered around the hall.
She was dead with her cell phone tucked in her hand and so was the others, but then, Ariel was still missing without trace.