“Hello, Jack Antonio.” Damian called out his name scornfully. He smoked from the pipe in his hand, puffing the air out through nose.
Jack remained silent, fixing a deep glare at him. His phone was switched off inside his pocket. At that point, he only hoped she had gotten the text and was planning another line of action. A smirk spread on his lips at the thought of ridiculing Damian.
“You are now a drug dealer, huh?” he smirked. “It makes a lot of sense now. You needed a lot of money to compete and keep up with me.” Jack added with a sly smile. Damian remained calm as he puffed smoke from his pipe.
“I told you this is a battle, not a war and I’ll always be victorious.” Damian got up from the chair and walked up to Jack. He dragged his smoke for some seconds, puffing the smoke on Jack’s face. “And what did you say about Karen being your woman?”
“Guess who has a one year old child with her?” Jack smirked in a bid to spite Damian.
“Guess whose child is gonna grow up without a father.” Damian responded, shocking Jack to his wits. He stared at Damian in horror as realization dawned on him. Damian wasn’t gonna let him go alive, at least not after today.
Damian signaled to the guy behind him and what followed was a punch to the side of Jack’s face. Jack screamed out loudly as the pain surged through him. He held his face in pain.
“Tie him up.” Damian ordered.
The man moved forward and produced a handcuff from his pocket. Jack tried to struggle but was finally overpowered by the men. His hands were cuffed together behind his back and a gag placed in his mouth. One of the men carried him on his shoulder and they walked out of the room. They used the back exit, going past some locked doors, and few seconds later, they were at the parking lot behind the building.
Jack was bundled into the booth of a waiting car before the driver drove off.
***
Karen’s phone buzzed. She picked up and seeing it was a message from Jack, she hissed and dropped the phone on the table. She was still very angry at him for the actions he had displayed. She left her phone in the sitting room and walked to her child’s room to meet him sleeping comfortably on the bed. She stared lovingly at Jayden before placing a kiss on his forehead.
“I love you, my son.” She muttered.
Meanwhile, Jack laid blindfolded in the booth of a moving car as his abductor drove speedily through the calm night. He didn’t know where they were but from the state of the road, they could tell they were still on the highway. His thoughts went back to Karen. Did she see his message? Did she open it? Was help coming to him? The speed of the car soon reduced and he heard an iron gate open. The car soon drove to a stop and some seconds later, the booth was opened.
The abductor pulled him out and pushed him towards the building. He followed obediently. He was still blindfolded and he knew struggling in the dark would be futile.
He was pushed into one of the rooms, and his blindfold taken off. The room was dark with a single window serving the ventilation purpose of the room. He could only see the silhouettes of the men as they walked towards him. Damian walked into the room followed by one other man. He stood in front of Jack with his signature smirk that was now starting to irritate jack.
“Keep him tied up.” he ordered one of the men before turning to Jack “We will see tomorrow.”
With that, Damian walked out of the room, leaving Jack tied up.
The next morning, Damian walked into the room. He was dressed in sport shorts and a sleeveless shirt that exposed his heavily tattooed arms. Jack looked wearily at him from the floor. He had barely slept the entire night due to the uncomfortable position he was placed in. He had a splitting headache, an effect of the too much drinking he had the previous night.
“I hope you had a pleasant night” Damian smirked, squatting in front of Jack. “You will be having more pleasant nights.” he added, bearing an evil smile. Jack remained silent, staring at him. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what to say.
“It’s 7:14 AM. Guess whose company is on top?” he paused as if waiting for a response before continuing, almost immediately. “Yours, of course. Guess who’s got a child? Jack Antonio. Guess who isn’t gonna be alive to enjoy all those?” this time he paused, letting the words sink in. “Jack fucking Antonio.” He replied, laughing like a maniac. He punched Jack in the face, making him tumble backwards.
“Do you think you would be able to escape?” Jack questioned, spitting out blood from his broken lips.
“Of course.”
***
Mr Roy Smith paced round his room feeling uncomfortable. He had a feeling something bad had happened, or was going to happen. He still hadn’t gotten any information concerning Damian’s actions, making him even more worried.
“Get me news on Jack Antonio, my daughter and anyone close to them.” he ordered one of his men.
__
After spending over two weeks on their honeymoon in France, Harry and Ciara finally returned to California. They drove directly to Harry’s lake house.
“You know we should have spent at least another week in France, right?” Harry said, looking away from the steering to stare at his wife who was seated beside him in front of the car.
“No. Two weeks is enough. We were getting too lazy” Ciara joked.
“But I had everything under control. The company is going on fine. We should have spent more time there to make enough kids.” he winked at her and she smacked his arm lightly.
He drove past the electronic gate and parked the car in the garage before stepping out. He turned to the passenger’s side and opened the door for his wife. She stepped out and got into his arms, circling her arms round his neck. He kissed her softly on her lips before disengaging.
“We are gonna spend only a week here before returning to Chicago. We will be starting our family there.” he stated. He was seated on the sofa, his legs were stretched out on the table while his wife laid on the sofa, her head on his thighs.
“Okay. And don’t you think we should visit Karen and Jayden?” Ciara asked.
“We will do that later today. I need to talk to Jack too.” Harry replied, stroking her hair. “I haven’t heard from him in a while.”
***
“Do you have any idea where Jack could be?” Harry questioned Karen. They were at her house to visit. Ciara carried Jayden in her arms while Karen and Harry chatted. He had tried calling jack many times, even from home, and all his calls had been directed to voicemail. He had called his office and they said he hadn’t come in over 48 hours.
“No. Is anything wrong?”
“Maybe, or maybe not. I’ve not been able to reach him. He’s not at home, he hasn’t gone to the office in two days and his phone is not connecting.” Harry laid out his friends.
Karen stared at him, surprised. Two days ago was when he stormed out of her house angrily. That was when he had sent that message she had refused to open. She rushed and picked up her phone, opening the message Jack had sent. Her mouth hanged in shock as she finished reading the message. She collapsed to the chair with the phone in her hands.
“Jack is in trouble.” She muttered, already feeling weakened.