callan
When I pulled up to the library—after I finally got Vera’s place of work out of Blaise—he leaped out and ran into the building before I could even stop the car. I parallel parked on the side of the road, between a bright yellow sports car and a large red van, then pulled out my phone.
Sakura: I won’t be able to get there for another hour or so. I had a long night.
Fuck, I really wish she were here now.
I wanted to just fucking hug her, hold her in my arms. It had been too long without talking to her and way too much shit had happened. Besides, Vaughn was getting too close for comfort with her. If she was with me, she’d be safe.
After peering at the library doors to see if Blaise had found Vera yet, I gazed back down at her messages. She had sent it a half hour ago, at some point while I had been at the skatepark with Blaise, trying to calm his ass down.
I hopped out of the car to head toward the entrance and began typing her a message.
Me: I hope you liked your gift. I had—
Before I could finish and send the message, Blaise slammed into me in a rush. I slipped the phone into my pocket and followed him back toward my car. If he hadn’t come out with Vera, that meant she wasn’t here and that they could already have her.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“She’s gone. She’s fucking gone.”
“Fuck,” I cursed, running a hand through my hair and storming to my driver’s seat. I started the car and sped down the road, heading toward the slums. “Where would she have gone? Home?”
Blaise slammed his fist against my dashboard, denting it. “Fuck!”
“Where’s her house, Blaise?” I said.
“Fuck!” he growled. “She’s fucking gone!”
While I wanted to slam my foot on the brakes, curl my hands around his collar, and shout at him to tell me where she lived, I kept my cool. If this were Sakura, I would be the exact same way right now.
“Where’s her house?” I asked again.
“The slums,” he said, peering out the window at every house.
“We’ll find her.”
“No, we fucking won’t.”
“She’ll be at home.”
“She wouldn’t have made it home in a few fucking minutes,” Blaise said. “She’s gone.”
It sounded like Blaise had found out that she had just gotten off work. And if she lived in the slums, she probably didn’t have a car. A friend could’ve picked her up, or maybe it was something much, much worse.
He slammed his fist against the dashboard again. “No. No. No. No. No. No. No.”
“Settle down, Blaise,” I said, pulling into the slums. “Tell me where to go.”
“Two streets down. One-story house. Across from João Rocha.”
I followed his directions and pulled up to the side of the road in front of a rundown house. Blaise leaped out of the car and sprinted toward Vera’s house. None of the lights were on, but he slammed the front door open and searched every last inch of that house for her.
“No,” he cried, voice fucking trembling when I walked in. “Fucking no. You can’t be gone. You can’t.”
I searched her house for a second time while Blaise tore her bedroom to shreds, screaming and shouting that he had lost her. And when I went to check on him, he had collapsed onto the bed, tears streaming down his face.
“Vera,” he cried, head hanging low. “P-please, fight them.”
“Blaise,” I said from the door. Sitting here, crying, wasn’t going to find her. We had to search for her. They couldn’t have taken her that far if she had gotten off work only a few minutes ago. “She’s not here. We must—”
“No fucking shit!” he growled, pushing the tears from his cheeks and standing. He shoved past me and marched across the street to João’s house. He pounded his fist against the door. “Open the fuck up, João!”
A moment later, Landon—the muscle of Poison—opened the door. Kai, João, and a young girl who couldn’t be older than six sat in the small living room, looking over at us. Blaise stormed into the house and glared at João.
“Tell me you know where she is,” Blaise said.
“Where who is?”
Blaise snatched his collar and lifted him off the couch. “Vera, you fucking asshole. Tell me you know where she is.”
“Get your hands off me,” João said, shoving Blaise away. “She said she had to work until six. She’s supposed to watch Ana in fifteen minutes. I don’t know where the fuck she is. I’m not on her ass twenty-four/seven.” João eyed me. “And the fuck is Avery doing here?”
I stepped forward and placed a hand on Blaise’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. “The mob took Vera.”
João’s face dropped. “No, they fucking didn’t.”
“You need to help us find her,” Blaise pleaded.
Blaise knew that I couldn’t get that much more involved. One wrong move by me at this moment, and the mob would have no problem with killing me, especially if I tried to stop this. I had worked for them for years, but they wouldn’t forgive this.
Poison took one long look at each other, and then João finally turned back to Blaise. “What do you need?”