Page 47 of Corrupt Desires

Kayden looks over at me like a light bulb has gone off over his head, the joy of unraveling a mystery shining in his eyes.

“They have Matteo,” we both say at the same time, two brothers with the same thought process.

“I remember now,” he continues. “She told me ‘They have him’ before I passed out.”

“FUCK. FUCK. FUCK,” I scream, slamming my fist down on the table. I’m quickly unraveling, every fear I’ve had in regard to Emilia has come true. I feel another panic attack coming on as my breath quickens, and my heart beats out of my chest. Kayden approaches me, nothing but understanding in his gaze, and places his hands on my shoulders once again.

“Breathe, James. We will get her back. I need you to take a slow breath in, that’s it, and a slow breath out. Good, keep doing that. Center yourself.”

Once I get myself back under control, I peer over at Kayden. “Emilia’s gone… and we have no idea where Matteo is. What is our plan?”

“Let’s think about this first. She traded herself for Matteo… so where the fuck is he?” asks Kayden, pacing near the head of the table.

I know Emilia would have thought this through. I can’t imagine they would have picked her up at the house and let us all live. No, she likely met them somewhere away from the house.

“My car. If she took the loaner car, Franklin put a tracker in it. We can find where the trade happened,” I say, hope finally blossoming in my chest.

“Franklin, pull up the tracker. Quick,” Kayden barks the order, his military background coming front and center.

Franklin starts typing away, the grogginess still apparent in his eyes, but he continues to work regardless.

“Looks like the GPS has the vehicle located at a warehouse downtown by the marina. It hasn’t moved in eight hours,” says Franklin, glancing up at us from behind his laptop.

“Fuck, we were out for at least ten hours. Let’s hope to God that Matteo is there,” I reply, grabbing my phone from the table and already making my way to the garage. Kayden follows closely, not willing to get left behind.

“I’ll stay here and see what I can pull from the camera feeds at the Romani house,” shouts Franklin.

I’ll get Emilia back if it’s the last thing I do.

And when I do, hell will rain down upon all of those bastards.

* * *

We pullinto the parking lot and immediately spot the loaner vehicle. A body lies next to the car and my heart plummets.

“Fuck… is that Matteo?” asks Kayden, squinting his eyes to get a better look. As I take in the form on the ground, I sigh in relief that it isn’t Emilia. The body is too large.

“Only one way to find out,” I reply, undoing my seatbelt and opening the car door.

As we approach, I take in the small amount of blood that has pooled beneath the person’s head.

Kayden and I share a look before Kayden turns the body over and we both exhale a sigh of relief. It is Matteo, thank God. Kayden jostles him by his shoulder, trying to get him to wake up. He must have been hit pretty damn hard to be knocked out for this long. Matteo lets out a moan, clutching his head in pain.

“That’s quite the hit you took, big guy.” Kayden chuckles, assessing the wound on his head.

“Kayden? How did you find me?”

I take that moment to speak up from behind, “I have a tracker on this car. Looks like it finally came in handy.”

Matteo startles as he realizes too late that I’m crouched behind him. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, James. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

Kayden reaches out a hand to Matteo to pull him to his feet, and that’s when we can really see the extent of his injuries. He’s almost unrecognizable—his face is swollen with multiple different shades of bruising. He must have been tortured every day as his wounds are all in different stages of healing.

“What happened here, Matteo? Where is Emilia?” I ask, starting to feel impatient as I grow more and more worried about her. Kayden gives me a scathing look, urging me to give Matteo a second to compose himself.

“Emilia came here to trade herself in. I tried to tell her not to do it, but you know how she is, stubborn to a fault.” He continues on, “They took her and there was nothing I could do. They walked me over to the car and then everything went black.”

“Shit. That would explain the injury to your head then,” Kayden states as I take in all the dried blood making its way down Matteo’s neck.

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