SWNOVELS His Rejection: Chapter 1
Sera has disappeared off the face of the earth as though she’d never existed, and I was about to lose my fucking mind.
She’s been gone for a full week now. Luca and Tristan have been working overtime trying to help me find her, and I’ve never been more appreciative of my friends, or more grateful for the fact that they haven’t questioned me once about why I was risking my life—all of our lives—to find her. A woman I barely knew.
What we knew is that Derek Jonak, the walking dead man who took her, seems to have dropped her off at that rundown house and left. She was later picked up by a guy driving an unmarked delivery truck and the house had been cleared out. I’d missed her by less than thirty minutes when I’d arrived.
We’d tracked the truck to the Mexican border, and then we’d lost it.
I paced Luca’s office as he spoke with his contact Rene in Mexico, one of the few men he trusted implicitly. They’d mourned the death of Rene’s sister together, and Luca had kept his promise to avenge her death by killing the man who’d shot her—Luca’s brother Mario—therefore earning him a trusted friend for life, even if they did work on opposite sides of the border.
Veda coming into his life three years later had been a godsend. She’d saved my friend from an emotional spiral of self-destruction. And for that, I will protect her with my life. Always.
“Thank you, Rene.” Luca watched me cross the room with impatient strides as he finished up the call. “Yes.” He paused. “Yes. Alright. I’ll talk to you soon.” He hung up the phone.
I stopped on the other side of his desk. “What did he say?”
“He’s going to get in touch with some of his contacts throughout Mexico who deal with or who know people who deal with sex traffickers. Maybe someone has seen her. With her pink hair and pierced nose, he’s hopeful she’ll be remembered.”
Nodding, I stepped back. My entire body trembled with the need to hit something. The backs of my legs hit the arm of the couch and I made my way around it and sank down onto the leather cushion. Leaning forward, I braced my elbows on my knees and held my head in my hands.
“Enzo.”
It was a command. My head snapped up to find Luca standing in front of me.
“We’ll find her.”
I nodded again. It was all I could do.
“She’s still alive.”
“How do you know?” I barely managed to get the words out.
“I know, because they wouldn’t have bothered taking her all the way across the border if they were just going to kill her.”
A small flare of hope kindled in my stomach. He had a point. I was letting my emotions rule my thoughts.
Sitting down across from me, he mimicked my pose. “I think that guy, Derek whatever-the-fuck-his-name-is, is trying to teach her a lesson. For rejecting him, perhaps. But he’s a pussy. He didn’t have the guts to hurt her himself, so he sold her.”
The office door opened and Tristan walked in, closing it behind him.
Luca and I stood. “Did you find out anything?” I asked him.
He smiled, but it was cold and didn’t reach his eyes. “Our boy is in California.”
“Do you have an exact location?” Luca asked him.
“I do. And I already contacted Franco in LA and told him we were coming.”
We. I was grateful for the support, but I could handle this stronzo on my own. “You don’t have to come with me. Luca needs you here.”
But Luca placed his hand on my arm. “Take Tristan with you. Just in case there’s trouble. We don’t know why he’s in California or what connections he has out there, and our relationship with Franco can be a bit…testy at times.”
“What about you? And Veda? Someone needs to watch over you both.”
“She’s only got one class tomorrow and then she’s off for the weekend. I’ll take her myself if I need to.” He gave Tristan a nod, and he walked out of the office, leaving us alone.
“Luca, you can’t be running around out there without protection. There’s a target on your head.”
But he just put his hand on my shoulder. “I’ll be fine. I won’t do anything stupid. And I’m trusting you not to leave any evidence that will lead anyone else who happens to be looking for Derek back to us. From what you told me about him, I’m sure we can’t be the only ones wanting to shut him up.”
I met his blue eyes. “There won’t be anything left of him to trace by the time I’m done. And I’ll call in Milo to clean up after me.”
“Excellent. Be careful.” Although I was only slightly taller than him, he took my face between his hands and pulled my head down, kissing me on the forehead. “Keep Tristan near you.”
“I will. And I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Tristan was waiting just outside the office door when I opened it. “I’ll go get the car,” he told me.
Luca followed me into the hall. “Call me when it’s done. I’ll need you both back here by Monday morning.”
“I’ll have her back by then.”
Luca grabbed my arm as I went to leave. “Enzo.”
“Yeah?”
“When you get Sera back, be careful with her. I’m sure she’s been through a lot, and it’ll take some time for her to adjust.”
My blood turned to ice at what he was subtly suggesting. But I knew he was right. The chances that Sera had gone untouched this long were nonexistent. “Of course.”
He looked out toward the hall, and I could see the concern on his face.
“What is it?”
His blue eyes met mine, and there was regret there. “I don’t know much about your relationship with this girl, but we will have to tell her father she’s here. At some point.”
I ground my teeth together until my jaw ached. He was right. We couldn’t hide her forever. And yet, I couldn’t bear the thought of sending her back there so she could be married off to the highest bidder.
“Enzo.”
“I know.” My voice was terse. “I know,” I said more evenly.
Luca stared at me for a moment. “We’ll talk when you get back and figure things out.”
I nodded and pulled my sunglasses out of my inside jacket pocket. “I’m going to run by the hotel and grab some clothes. I’ll let you know when we leave the city.” Leaving him to his work, I went to find Tristan.
At the hotel, I changed into a long-sleeved black shirt, a pair of black cargo pants, and black boots with thick soles. Tristan did the same with the clothes we’d stopped and gotten for him on the way. Forty-five minutes later, we were boarding a private plane to LA.