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“Just a friend,” Jack replies avoiding her eye contact.
She purses her lips. “Wouldn’t happen to be that blonde girl I saw you talking to last night, would it?”
“No.” He replies a little too quickly. His cheeks turning a light pink shade.
She laughs. “Haven't gotten any better at lying, I see.”
“Leave him alone,” Nat says with a roll of her eyes and we all start to head outside.
I try to pay the bill but Steve won't let me, thought he might actually cuss me out if I tried any harder so I get the stroller out the back for Nat and strap Ares in. Me, Cas and Magda pull off in the direction of her house. I help her out when we arrive because she genuinely looks too frail to do it on her own. Both of them get very emotional on their goodbye. I'm sure Casimira isn’t sure if it’s the last time she sees her grandma as she’s in her late seventies.
Just as we’ve said our goodbyes Magda grabs my hand harshly. “You look after them.” She says, her sharp green eyes pinning me to the spot. I Look to where Casimira is a few steps in front of us. “I always will.” That's a promise I will always keep.
She nods her head and waves us off as we drive away and head to Natalia and Steves. Cas makes me stop off at a Morrisons on the way so she can stock up on a few home comforts before we head back tomorrow morning. The thunder starts just as we step outside the automatic doors. Rain begins to crash down against the tarmac. Cas lets out a squeal as she starts running towards the rental car, holding the giant-sized chocolate bar over her head to shield her hair from the rain.
I follow after her watching as she peers up at the sky with that same look on her face as when I took her to my penthouse. That's one of my favourite memories with her. That's the night I started falling in love with her even if I didn’t admit it to myself for a little longer. I’m not sure why I even tried to deny it. It’s so blatantly obvious when I’m with her. She’s like the pause button when the world gets too much.
We’ve only just climbed in the car when Casimira's phone rings. She answers it straight away.
“Everything okay?”
I’m assuming it's Natalia but I can't hear what she's saying.
Her brows knit together. “Woah, slow down. I can't understand you.” Cas goes quiet for a moment whilst she listens to Natalia speak then she goes deathly pale.
“What?” I demand. Her breathing starts to quicken and she looks like she's about to be sick. I snatch the phone from her hands. “What the fuck is going on?”
Natalia is crying on the other end. “Enzo. Tom took Ares. I'm so sorry, I tried to stop him but he had a friend with him, I'm so sorry! What should I do? Do I call the police?”
47
Casimira
Brixton, London
I think I'm going to be sick. This is what I was worried about. Tom is not mentally stable. I saw that at the funeral. That was nearly two years ago. Who knows what state his head is in now?
“Stay there, don’t speak to anyone,” Enzo says over the phone his dark eyes are brimming with fire but his words are controlled.
He starts the engine tearing out of the space. He doesn’t say anything to me and I can’t speak if I wanted to. All I’m thinking is that if Tom has laid a finger on my baby, I will kill him myself.
Enzo is frantically pressing buttons on his phone whilst he drives. “Luca, I need you to get some information for me.” He turns to me, grabbing my shoulder, his eyes frankly terrifying. “Tom's full name and birthday.”
I list off the information and he’s back talking a mile a minute with Luca. “Text it over now.”
He mounts the curb pulling around the buildup of people trying to get out of the car park and we fly onto the street. We're barrelling through Brixton faster than is feasible. He’s swerving us around cars, flooring it through red lights and mounting the curb to get around traffic. Only now that we are sitting in silence do I start to give in to the anxiety. I start to hyperventilate and I can't get enough air in. I can’t get a hold of my thoughts. I push my hand into my chest painfully, trying to pull myself together.
“Casimira,” Enzo demands his deep voice a pure command but I can't look at him. “Casimira, look at me.” I can't. I can't even think, if something happens to Ares and I lose him, I'll break. I won't be able to take it.
I won't, I can't, I can't.
“Look at me!” He bellows, snapping my focus to look at him and his eyes are deadly. “Panicking is not going to help. We are getting him back. I will tear this city apart brick by brick if I have to.” He says, his voice deathly calm.
I slow my breathing. Counting as I exhale and pull myself out of the panic. He's right. Panicking isn’t going to solve this. We storm into my mother's house. She's crying at the kitchen table. Steve is holding a bag of peas over her eye. He's seething. I can see him shaking as soon as I enter the door.
“Casimira, tak mi przykro.” ‘Casimira, I’m so sorry.’ My mum starts as soon as we reach the kitchen. “I didn’t want to call the police. I wasn’t sure if it was classed as kidnapping as he’s his biological dad. I called Michael straight after I got off the phone to you. I thought he could help. Tom had Marcus with him. He must have followed me. He pushed through the door as I was coming in. I tried to stop him, but he hit me over the head with something I didn’t even see.”
“Did you see what car they were driving?” Enzo asks.
