41. Rafael

Chapter forty-one

Rafael

E arlier

I end the call with Rome after the report of Robert getting shitfaced at a bar a block from his apartment, and a promise that he'll check in with all his men tailing the syndicate.

Relieved Robert doesn't have Kylie, but also concerned we still don't know where she is, I tuck my phone back into my inner coat pocket as I sweep my gaze around the apartment. I take my time to search for a struggle. When I find nothing, I exit the apartment and take a swift look around the small landing area.

Nothing.

I eye the apartment door across the way and walk a few steps to it, putting my ear to the door. I don't hear anything, but knock anyway.

After a few seconds of silence, I pull out my tools and kneel to pick the lock. The apartment is a mirror image of Kylie's.

Luca had me look into everyone who resides here when he first contracted with her, so I know all apartments are rented out to older, retired people. This one belongs to a couple. It was odd to me that two college students chose a building that isn't filled with a younger crowd. I've been wanting to ask Kylie about it .

After snooping around, making sure no one is hiding anywhere in the apartment, I find a pad of paper on the kitchen table scribbled with flight information telling me they're not even in the state.

Locking up the apartment, I head downstairs to check out the lobby. Nothing is out of place except a trash can lying on its side by the mailboxes. I walk over and right the can, but don't see anything else out of sorts.

Next I go to one of the first floor apartments and knock. Both have noise coming from them. One apartment is blaring music, the other a TV, telling me both units are occupied.

I knock again and finally get an answer. "I'm coming. Hold your horses."

I take a step back, hands in my pockets, trying not to intimidate the old woman as she opens the door.

She squints, giving me a once-over. "Who are you?"

"Hi, I'm looking for my friend, Kylie." I point upstairs.

"Who?" she asks loudly.

"Kylie? Your neighbor upstairs?" I say louder. It's clear this woman is hard of hearing. "I was supposed to pick her up, and she's not answering her door."

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" She scowls at me.

"I just wanted to know if you've seen her." I smile, hoping to appear harmless. If she thinks I'm up to no good, I won't get any information out of her.

The old woman shakes her head. "I haven't seen her since yesterday. She's probably off with her boyfriend." She shuffles back to shut the door in my face.

At the sound of the front door opening, I turn to find Gio coming inside. "Find anything?"

"No. I've swept both apartments upstairs, and just talked to the lady in this one." I point over my shoulder. "She hasn't seen Kylie since yesterday. I haven't checked the last apartment yet." I nod to the door across the lobby.

"What about this door here?" Gio walks past the mailboxes to push open the door facing the back of the building. "Fuck, man. Did an animal die back here?"

I follow him into what turns out to be a laundry room, and he's not joking. The foul odor indicates that something did, in fact, die in here. Something that has been decomposing for a few days. "Look, check that door." I point to the door just past the machines, figuring it leads outside.

Gio pushes it open wide enough to show the alleyway behind the building. "Anyone could have grabbed her and taken her out back without Joseph knowing. Did we know this was here?" He asks as he peers around the door.

"No. I should've, though. A camera should've been placed back here." I step outside to search for any cameras from the surrounding buildings. At the back lot, is a tall brick building with multiple balconies facing this way. Finally, I find a camera on the second floor aimed at the apartment's small parking lot below. The lens should expand enough to cover the back of this building.

"What do you need to hack into it?" Gio asks, staring at the same camera.

"Find the apartment number and I should be able to get in."

Gio takes off across the alley and jumps over the chain-link fence. I head back inside, then out to the SUV. Grabbing my laptop, I settle into the passenger seat, leaving the car door open as I wait for Gio to return.

While I wait, I get a text from Rome stating no sign of Kylie from his men following the syndicate. I scrub a hand down my face then attempt to hack into the street cameras, just in case she was taken out front before Joseph arrived.

Gio comes jogging around the building when a call comes in from Luca.

"Talk to me," I answer.

"Check for cameras at the back of the building."

"On it. I'm also pulling the footage from the street cameras in case she was taken before Joseph got here." I inform him while I keep at the computer, never taking my eyes off the screen.

"Good. And what did Rome say about Robert?"

"He has two men on him. He hasn't left the bar, and he's getting shit faced and chatting up a woman as we speak."

"Fuck." Luca's frustration is clear through the phone.

"Rome has his men trailing the syndicate to make sure it wasn't them, but they've seen no signs of her so far."

The sound of Luca taking a deep breath comes before he says, "Okay, call me when you hear anything or if you find anything on the footage." He ends the call, not waiting for my answer.

I continue to view the camera feed from the street until it shows Joseph's arrival. Finding nothing, I open another tab and look at Gio.

"Apartment 212 D."

I type in the info, finding the camera link and hacking it all within fifteen minutes. Gio leans in to watch the feed with me. I put it on fast forward, so it only takes a few minutes from the time Luca drops Kylie off to current time.

No one can be seen entering or leaving the building.

I switch back to the street camera feed and continue after Joseph arrived. A person can be smuggled out in many ways.

"Fuck." Gio spits out when we get to current time on the feed and still no signs of anyone coming and going.

"She has to be in the building. There's no way these two cameras wouldn't have caught something."

"Let's go check the last apartment. If she's not in there, we need to double check the old lady's apartment." Gio suggests.

Just as we're jogging up the steps to the lobby door, my phone rings.

As soon as I accept the call, Luca is yelling, "Hank Miller has her! Find out everything you can about him. Kylie's dad put him away for sexual assault." His voice goes hoarse and my stomach drops at the information.

"Wait!" a woman screams in the background. "I've seen him in the building. He was there when I dropped Kylie off the other day. He gave me the creeps, and I told her to be careful around him." The terror in her voice is unmistakable.

Luca's voice comes out of the phone as if he's moved the phone away from his face. "Where does he live? Which apartment?"

"The apartment below her. The older neighbor … he's visiting or something."

Gio and I are already running into the building when Luca barks out, "Did you hear that? Break it down. Find her! "

"We're on it." I shove my phone into my back pocket and then reach for my ankle holster right as Gio rams into the door, nearly breaking it off the hinges.

First thing that hits me is the odor. It's stronger in the apartment than the laundry room and I'm already expecting to find the old man who rents this place dead somewhere in here. How he's kept the majority of the smell from the rest of the building is beyond me.

I follow Gio down the hall and before I can warn him; he rams into the bedroom door just as a gunshot rings out. He drops to the floor while I move to the side and shoot before the guy can shift to get another shot off. My shot hits him in the forehead. His hand goes lax, and the gun drops to the floor while his body falls.

"Fuck." Gio grabs his bicep, blood pouring down his arm.

I holster my gun while visually assessing Kylie and Talia. Talia is sitting on the floor with her arms handcuffed to a handicap bar above her head. She's awake but quiet. Tears run down her face as she stares blankly at me.

Kylie whimpers and my gaze snaps to where she's lying on the bed. She has blood running down her wrists where they are handcuffed to the headboard. Her eyes are at half mast and her gaze is unfocused, but the tears marking a trail down her face tells me she's somewhat aware of what's happening.

The bastard cut her shirt down the middle and it's splayed open. Her jeans are pulled down and barely hanging onto her right foot. Scissors lay on her chest where it looks like we interrupted his attempt to cut her bra off.

The realization that we almost didn't find her in time hits me in the gut. Focusing on one thing at a time, I turn back to Gio. He's the most injured at the moment.

"I'm taking your shirt off to use as a tourniquet for your arm until an ambulance gets here."

"I'm fine. Take care of the girls first." His eyes are on Kylie, with brows furrowed and his jaw clenched.

"The faster you let me do this, the sooner I can take care of them. Right now, the most important thing is to stop your bleeding." Thankfully, he doesn't argue and helps me yank his shirt off. "What were you thinking barging into the room like that? You're lucky he was a lousy shot," I vent while tying the shirt as tight as I can around his bicep.

Gio turns his head to me and whispers, "She was whimpering."

I glance up to see his anguish. He looks almost as haunted as Talia.

Understanding, I nod before straightening and turning my attention to Kylie. She's still whimpering, and it's more than I can handle. I rush to her side, unbuttoning my dress shirt so I can cover her. "Kylie, it's Rafael. You and Talia are safe now. He can't hurt you anymore." After pulling my shirt off, I remove the scissors from her chest and toss them off to the side before covering her. "Kylie, can you hear me? It's Rafael. Luca is on his way and you're safe." I cradle her face as she tries to focus on me, but whatever drug he's used still has a hold on her. The crusted blood on her face is another cause for concern.

Gio moves over to Talia to check on her. Hank's body is lying next to her on the floor, and I get Gio's attention. "Check his pockets for a key to these handcuffs."

I straighten and turn to the dresser to search when I see a phone propped up with the screen showing Kylie on the bed.

"Motherfucker." I spat.

"What? Is she okay?" Gio pulls his hand out of Hank's jean pocket to whip around and look at Kylie.

"The asshole was filming this." I grab the phone and stop the recording before placing it in my back pocket with the intention of giving it to the police when they arrive. I blow out a breath and run a hand through my hair. "At least we have proof of not only his crimes but also that my shot was self defense."

Gio stands, looks at Kylie again and then turns back to Hank and kicks him. "The fucker died too quickly. He deserves to suffer for what he did here."

Sirens can be heard, so we go back to searching for the key. I'm hoping the ambulance will arrive before Luca and Kylie's dad does. This image of her will likely haunt them both.

"Found it," Gio shouts .

I turn in time for Gio to toss me the key. I undo Kylie's before tossing it back to him so he can free Talia.

Once I remove her handcuffs, Kylie brings her hands down her chest and grips my shirt that covers her. "I got you, Kylie. I'm going to take you out of this room, but first I'm going to pull your jeans back up. Okay?" I don't wait for an answer since I'm not sure she understands what I'm saying. I just hope the sound of my voice is enough to keep her calm.

After fixing her jeans, I gather her in my arms and walk her out of the apartment just as Luca and Kylie's dad burst through the front door of the complex.

Luca takes one look at Kylie in my arms and his face twists right before he roars with rage. Kylie jolts in my arms and turns, burying her face in my neck, whimpering as her whole body shakes.

Before I can even attempt to calm her, Luca's in front of me, body tight, eyes fixated on her. His hoarsely whispered, "Angel," is all it takes to have her turning away from me and reaching out for him. When I transfer her to his arms, she wraps herself around him and buries her face in his neck right before he does the same.

I look over at Kylie's dad standing at the entrance of the building, shoulders hunched and his eyes anguished. I move to him and place my hand on his shoulder. "We got to her in time."

He snaps his gaze to mine. "He didn't …"

I shake my head. "No. He was about to. If we were even five minutes later, it would have been too late, but we did stop him in time."

I've never seen a man slump in relief and horror at the same time, but I understand it. The ramifications of the timing are too profound.

"He's also dead. You won't have to worry about him ever again." I squeeze his shoulder before turning to help Gio with Talia just as the police and ambulance arrive.