She was quiet for a long time before she finally said, “Okay, Avion. I trust you, if you don’t think you’re safe, then let’s get you out of there. I’ll come to get you…”
“No! I don’t…” I sighed. “I don’t know how dangerous this could get, and I need someone who is used to dealing with this sort of thing. Lor, I promise, I’ll explain everything to you soon, I just need you to listen to me right now and help get a message to Gio.”
“You want me to go and talk to a mobster?” she said. “Have you lost your mind?”
“He won’t hurt you,” I said. “I promise. He’s a good man, and because you’re my friend, he wouldn’t hurt you. Please.”
Lorie let out a long sigh and then said, “Okay. What do you need me to do?”
“Alright, well… This is sort of a long shot, but it just might work…”
25
GIO
It was nearing midnight, and Milli hadn’t brought me any good news. Every time I called him to see if there was an update and make sure he was still okay, he just told me he was fine and asked for more time. I trusted Milli with my life and believed he was doing the best he could to track down Avion, but that didn’t make me nervous that we were running out of time. After all, finding her was really only half the battle.
I assumed she was being kept wherever the Narzand brothers operated out of, which shouldn’t be too difficult to determine given that they’re politicians on top of being mob bosses, but even if we could find her, how would we get her out? There was no way for me to get in touch with her, and after the Narzand brothers had made such a show of getting into my place with no issues at all, their defenses were certain to be extra fortified. I didn’t believe Vincent’s words for a moment that they were leaving peace between us so long as I didn’t come for Avion. They were up to something else, to the point that they’d managed to rope in my own staff somehow.
And I still hadn’t fully uncovered the truth behind who and how.
“Mr. Raines.” I looked up from my desk and one of my underlings, Kova, was standing there, one I was fairly certain had nothing to do with the coup. “The fifth floor has been cleaned and emptied.”
“Jon?” I said.
“His body has been dismembered and we have different cars scattering the pieces right now.”
I nodded. “Okay. Good work.”
“What should we do next?” she asked.
I was quiet for a while in the wake of that question. The truth was, I didn’t know what to do next. Milli asked for my faith that he would do what needed to be done, but that didn’t change the fact that quite a lot of time had elapsed, and he still hadn’t found Avion. Was I supposed to hit the streets and track her down myself or continue to stay put?
“Please just secure the perimeter,” I responded, then I looked right into her eyes and exuded all of the intimidation I had in my body. “Ensure that there is not another breach. If a bird flies overhead, I want to fucking know about it.”
She nodded. “Yes sir,” and left.
Sitting around and being patient were two things I wasn’t good at. I didn’t like being out of control of my circumstances, leaving everything up to Milli felt like I wasn’t putting as much effort into finding Avion as I could. That said, I did trust Milli to find her, and even if his methods were slower and more finessed, there was a time and a place for those sorts of tactics, and this might be it. He was right, we didn’t want to start a war with the Narzand’s right now, and this situation was probably best handled with stealth, which was Milli’s specialty.
I cracked my neck side to side. “Be patient, Gio,” I told myself.
Rather than just kicking dust around my office doing nothing, I decided to go to my gym and work out for a little bit. At least if I was doingsomethingeven if it was just moving weights around, I wouldn’t be focusing on how useless I felt. Maybe I could force my brain to forget that look of fear on Avion’s face and her reaching out for me as she was snatched away.
Letting my rage fuel me, I worked on reps on the bench press, trying to force the sound of Avion’s scream out of my ear, and failing. I couldn’t imagine how afraid she must be. It actually made me regret taking her in the manner that I did originally. That had to have been equally as terrifying. There were many things I regretted doing with Avion: pulling a gun on her, getting forceful with her in her room, locking her in that closet. It all seemed so trivial by comparison now. Would we have gotten somewhere sooner if I had taken a different approach? It was hard to say.
“Mr. Raines.” I sat up from the bench press and looked over to where Kova was standing just inside the gym. “You have visitors.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Punk and Kelly,” she replied. “And someone I don’t recognize.”
Along with Milli, the only people I trusted deeply were Punk and Kelly. I knew they weren’t there for any nefarious reasons, so I said, “Show them in.”
She nodded with a curt bow. “Yes sir.”
I wiped any sweat clean off my body and replaced my undershirt and button-up just as the door opened and three people walked through the door with Kova just behind them. She didn’t hang around, showing them in and closing the door behind them. Punk and Kelly I recognized, obviously, but the third person was someone I didn’t know but looked somewhat familiar. It was a woman who had blond hair, held up on top of her head in a messy bun, with sparkling blue eyes and a look of absolute dread on her face.
“Hello,” I said, looking at Punk and Kelly. “Don’t tell me you two adopted.”
