Page 174 of Healed

“Check your phone, sweet cheeks.”

She pulled her own phone out of her pocket, and an animalistic growl ripped from her lips.

“Where the fuck are my children?” she yelled. “What the fuck have you done to them?”

I rushed over to Rachel, looking down at her phone as Nico began to cackle.

There was a single picture of Heather, her throat slashed so heavily she was almost beheaded lying in the back seat of her car.

I zoomed in, noting that the car had been rammed by something, the side of it crumpled and smoking.

“Gabriella,” Rachel whispered to me, her voice shaking. “Go to the front room. Behind the TV, there is an alarm box. The code is 6530.”

I didn’t hesitate.

I ran into the room, repeating the code under my breath as Rachel continued to question Nico, all the while frantically dialling Dante on her own phone.

I reached over the TV and pressed the numbers.

“Shit!” I hissed when nothing happened.

I tried again, only to get the same result.

I stepped back out of the room and rushed to the kitchen.

“Rachel, it’s not working. It’s—”

The room exploded with activity. Man after man piled in, each of them with a weapon in their hands.

I stepped back, almost intimidated by how ferocious they looked.

“It’s okay, Gabriella. That code isn’t an alarm. It sends an emergency alert to their phone with the location. There’s a few of them around the compound,” Rachel explained, looking completely ashen.

I nodded. “And the kids?”

Her eyes brimmed with tears. “Nico hung up.

Chapter 55

Gabriella

“Are you okay?” Vienna whispered to me not five minutes later when we found ourselves in the middle of the bar, holding an emergency meeting.

“Yeah,” I replied, looking at Rachel, who was still shaking, hovering over Hacksaw’s shoulder as he typed away at his laptop. “What is he doing?”

“The kids have tracking devices in every pair of shoes they own. He’s trying to see where they are. He’s also issuing commands to all our other charters to station men at every dock, airport, and major motorway. At least then we can remain certain that the kids stay in the city.”

“And is the tracking device accurate?”

“Pretty damn accurate, yeah. But like anything else, it has its limits. If the shoes come off, the signal drops, or they’re somewhere with poor reception. There are areas where it could fail. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Should we be up front with the rest of them?” I asked, pulling on his hand.

He remained still.

“Vienna, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“Gabriella,” he swallowed heavily. “I need to tell you something.”