The Search I

A black Ford mustang, a silver Porsche 911 and a bright red Ferrari were waiting for us at the airport when we arrived.

Jeremy got off of his phone and approached the vehicles with confidence.
It surely had its benefits to love a mafia princess, hence having a mafia back up for everything. Not saying that the "King" name didn't come inhandy when a quick job - no matter if legal or illegal - needs to be done but this was a) not a quick job and b) it definitely was time saving, to have the needed back up without making a scene and involving Jonathan King.

If he heard about his only nieces disappearance, he'd delete Italy from the world map.

As we approached the vehicles I caught myself realzing that no one was paying attention to each other. It was almost automatic, how  we seperated to the cars to get to our destination.

Jeremy nodded towards the black Ford, telling Kill and Niko to use that car. The latter grabbed Brandon's hand and stepped next to it, Killian following them. Landon, Remi and Mia took the Porsche and Eli and I got the red Ferrari. 

„What about you?“, I asked, my own voice sounding suddenly rough and foreign as I used it rarely since the girls disappeared. Jeremy pointed at the jet-black Ducati bike behind the cars. 

„I’ll be following you“

„Are we splitting up?“

Eli shook his head once. „I don’t think that’s smart. Creigh’“ He looked at me with a thoughtful glare. „Do you know where we find that bastard that stole Annikas phone?“

Her brother answered for me. „Creighton send me the information first thing after the phone call. I hacked it. We can find the exact location“

Niko spoke while opening the car door. „Then we better start with him. My palms are already itching to beat someone up“

„No beating“, Brandon checked him with a look. „Not yet at least. We need all the information we can get“

Everyone agreed silently, even Killian who looked like he wanted to murder Brandon for even suggesting to stay calm. But he knew that there was too much at stake for him to disagree or act on his own. So everyone got into the vehicles, Eli sat down on the drivers seat. The moment we started the engines a group call got in, Jeremy calling us from his headphones while he moved with his bike in front of us. 
„I'll send you the location on your phones. Stay on the line, in case we get any messages from… from the girls“ 

Hope never sounded so strange and poisonous. I wasn’t an emotional person, not a strong believer in good things nor karma. The only good thing about me was my little purple, who was now missing, being trapped God knows where. But I’ve never in my life clung onto hope more than I did right now. I understood the tenor in Jeremys voice, the frustration and rage in his whole demeanor. Just like Eli, he was someone who was able to conceal his emotions well in order to accomplish his mission. Though we had our ups and downs, and more downs than one liked to admit (which I didn’t give two fucks about), I respected him.
I respected what he did for Annika and how he even defended me for her sake in front of Adrian. I could see how he was the heir for his fathers' business because of how professional he was. But there was no professionalism when it came to Annika and also Cecily. My brother as well was not the most impulsive person.

Eli King liked to play smart and not with force. Don't play the game, play the player, that's a family motto -rule he lives by. He read people, tricked and deceived them with precision. Never let himself get emotionally attached nor tangled in a mess he couldn't easily free himself from.

 
Yet, there was no smart way to avoid losing someone when you didn’t even know where to find them. He couldn't fix it from a distant, with a certain detachment he usually had. 
Ava was my brother achilles heel. And that he couldn't hide from no one. 

The car drive was mostly silent when it wasn’t Jeremy telling us where to go, when he went ahead through the traffic. No one said nothing and didn’t comment anything. The streets of Florence were full, narrow and complicated - especially during this time of the year. The tourists were everywhere like fucking flies. Jeremy tried to maneuver us through streets to avoid masses but it wasn’t always possible. Though we couldn't even drive near the center - the car and streets situation being a little complicated here - we finally managed to land in the back alley of a bar.

The sun was already setting when the people became alive for the evening. We stopped the car a bit further away and got out, following Jeremy.

Landon locked Mia inside the car, preventing her from following as well as escaping.
There was little room for discussion. Though I knew that Mia was not a submissive, docile girl, Landon cut her off before she could start so she stayed back without a major fight. 

Heated Italian conversations as well as German and Spanish were audible in the streets. We stepped into the alley to find a few guys drinking and smoking together, laughing nastily about something. I’d bet a thousand pounds that it was something perverted. 

Jeremy looked down on his phone, the red dot on his screen stopping right in front of a bulky, yet short men with jet black hair and a rolled cigarette in his mouth, who was talking with his friends. Jeremy looked down, up and down again before nodding to himself. He put his phone in his pocket and suddenly punched the man right across the face, knocking him out immediately. His friends as well as some other guys who were surrounding us started yelling something in Italian.

„Didn’t we agree on collecting informations first?“, Brandon sighed, Nikolai pushing him behind his back who was grinning at the opportunity to beat someone up. 

Jeremy let out a deep breath. He obviously needed that.

„He has Anoushkas phone. We better clean up and take him with us to chat a bit in a more secluded place“

I sighed, getting in position to release the monster. This was exactly what I needed. My demons were eating each other alive since they found out that Annika was missing. They needed an outlet, a release. And I didn’t give two fucks if these men played a part in the girls disappearance or not. 

Right now, they were all guilty.

And I was here to bring justice.

I’m pretty sure that if someone saw the amount of violence and blood that we produced we would get locked up in a jail far, far away from any human kind because no one was safe. Nikolai was obviously a beast, his main focus on protecting Brandon while he beat up two guys at once. He didn’t even give Bran the chance to help him. 

Jeremy was simple as he used his knife to make the attackers incapable of fighting. He cut through their achilles tendon as if he was cutting through butter, stabbing the knife into their kneecaps if he had to. 

Killian had found himself a metal chain and was choking and whipping a man after another. He was ruthless and… soulless. I’ve met a lot of fucked up people in my life, my family had enough of them but I think I’ve never seen someone as murderous and detached as Killian. 

Remington was not a fighter. He avoided violence almost as much as Brandon. But obviously not because he wasn’t able to. He just chose not to. And now, he was on top of a guy, beating his teeth out with the force he was punching right into his face.

A sudden flash of light stopped me from hitting the half bold man’s head that was in my grip, onto the curbstone. I looked up only to see my brother and Landon watching two man catching fire. A match in my cousins hand, gasoline tank on my brothers. 

Everyone looked at them with unreadable expressions when sudden siren noises from the distance caught us all off guard. 

My jaw ticked watching my brother. I knew he was ruthless, a crazy psychopath in his core but I’ve never witnessed such an emotionless behavior from him. Burning someone alive was a different level of fucked up. 

„Grab the package“ I said then over the noise. We all reacted quickly, when Remington lifted the still unconscious man that Jeremy had punched and threw him over his shoulder. 

We rushed to our cars and Remi threw the fucker into the trunk of the ford mustang before climbing into our car this time. 

We left the area before the police arrived. I called Jeremy and turned on the loudspeakers. 

„Where to?“

„Somewhere silent“, Jeremy answered.

„We shouldn’t be outside right now“, Remington added. 

„My men will take care of the cars“ Jeremy assured. 
„Lets get back to the hotel. The girls are still officially checked in for two more days. I told them to not send any housekeeping inside.“, Eli spoke now, eyes focused on the road. „We might find something“

Everyone agreed and we arrived at the hotel shortly after. Just like Jeremy said, his men arrived and collected the cars in order to not grab any further attention. Cleverly, they brought us a big luggage bag so we were able to sneak in the man without anyone noticing. Eli had to punch him once more before we transported him because he was slowly waking up. 

Bran dealt with the receptionists, as he was the only calm one among us at this point and truth to be told most of us were bloody and messy looking, so it wouldn’t make the best impression.

I looked over at Landon who had Mia pressed against himself like an obsessed addict. I couldn’t even blame him and I was too proud to admit it out loud but I was jealous that my cousin was so close to the person he loved when I didn’t even know where my little purple was. Landons eyes were fixated on Killian though who was staring a hole to the stairs that led to the rooms. He was like a wild dog on a leash that waited to be released for the hunt. 

When Brandon finally came back with an extra key we rushed upstairs. Remington and Bran took the elevator because of the luggage. 

When we arrived at the room Nikolai almost kicked it open when Brandon stopped him last minute, opening the door with the keycard. Everyone froze for a moment seeing the mess in the big suite the girls had booked.

„What the…“ Jeremy muttered, entering the room first. 

The whole room was a disaster.

I could understand that girls could be a little messy when getting ready with make up and clothes and all that shit, especially when there were multiple girls together but this didn’t look like something our girls did. This looked like as if someone broke in. 

All the cupboards were open, drawers pulled out and clothes flying everywhere. When we entered further inside we could see all the mattresses flipped upside down, luggages spread across the room. Someone was searching for something. 

I felt a cold shiver run through me when I saw a purple keychain with two little ballet shoes crushed on the floor next to the TV. I crouched down slowly, picking the chain up, one shoe falling off, the other bending in a weird angle. Hot rage engulfed me, my chest tightening as I looked at the broken keychain as if it was a limb of Annika. 

Black shoes appeared in the corner of my eye. I looked up at Jeremy who stared at the keychain in my hand. His jaw locked and his hands tightened to fists when he yelled at his men, who apparently had followed us, in Russian some commands. 

They hurried and unpacked the man from the luggage bag, strapping him on a nearby chair before waking him up by emptying a bottle of water above his head. 

He gasped awake before Jeremy slapped him harshly. 
„Now speak you fucker, why do you have my sisters phone?“

The guy needed a moment before he started cussing in Italian, yelling at us. I rolled my eyes and punched him across the face. „Speak so we can understand“

He continued speaking Italian so before either of us could kill him, Remington stepped in. He was Lord Astors grandson and he for sure was able to find someone who could translate for us. After a few phone calls a deep, old voice was heard from the other side.

 
„Lars? You’re now on speaker phone!“

„Lars? Lars you speak Italian?“ I commented, not being able to suppress my surprise. Lars was uncle Ronans butler from his youth. He was old by now but was still a loved member of the Astor family. „Yes, Sir“ Oh and he still sounded snobbish and passiv. Aunt Teal said that he didn’t change one bit since she met him. 

Lars translated for us though we had to beat up the fucker a bit more for him to speak now. He made it harder than it actually was because it seemed like he wasn’t even part of what was currently going on. He swore he found the phone laying on the floor next to the entrance of the bar and he just picked it up.

„The guy I was talking too had a slur but he didn’t have an accent. This bastard can’t even speak English. Someone really probably just found the phone, called and dropped it.“
Remington thanked Lars and asked him to keep quiet about this before he hung up.

Killian groaned in frustration and kicked the trash bin that fell over.

„So we don’t fucking have a clue nor a hint to where to find my Glyndon?“

He lifted a chair and threw it against the mirror, making it splitter into thousand pieces. He then grabbed the beaten up Italian man by his throat and glared down at him with deadly eyes. 

„If you don’t tell me where the girls are, I’m going to dissect you limb by limb. Watch you bleed out and draw my way to them with your blood!“, he whispered maniacally, a shadow of a smile on his lips.

Nikolai tried to pull him back but he shook him off, almost choking the guy who was gasping for air.

„Kill!“, Jeremy intervened but he was calling on deaf ears. The captives eyes were starting to roll back, his struggling becoming more violent. 
„For fucks sake, stop it! He doesn’t know!“ 

Landon kicked Killian in the back and then grabbed him from behind around his chest, locking him against himself. The other went crazy, fighting against him but different than what I expected my cousin didn’t look amused nor combative. He looked more collected and level headed since we arrived. 

„He doesn’t know you bloody bastard, you won’t find Glyn like this“ he said with an almost to calm voice. Killian slowly stopped fighting him, breathing going from rapid to slow when he finally released him. The younger pushed himself off and left the room, slamming the door behind himself. „I’ll go“ Brandon said making Nikolai stir up instantly. The other rolled his eyes, telling him to calm down when Mia offered to join him.
Landon grabbed her by her small wrist. „There is no way in hell! You stay here, Mia!“, he growled, eyebrows furrowed. Mia tried to sign something but he shook his head, grabbing her hands to put them down. 

„No. You stay close to me at all times!“

Mia tried to free her hands from Landons grip when suddenly a distant thud made us all stop in track.

„What the fuck is that?“, Nikolai asked, sneaking through the room silently like a lion ready to jump. Another thud came, this time louder. Jeremy reacted first when he rushed to one of the bathrooms in the back of the suite. 

„Remington!“ I furrowed my eyebrows. Why was he calling Remington?

The latter rushed inside, us following him on the heel when we all stopped in the big bathroom, staring at the bathtub right in the middle of the room. 
Remingtons whole body froze and I could swear he was fighting with himself to not faint or explode. 

Right in front of us, in the bathtub was lying Ariella, barely conscious with nothing on but shredded undergarment, hands and feet bound, mouth covered with tape. 

„J-jailbait“ 

Fuck .

I’ve never in my entire life heard Remington’s voice like this. Broken, dead.

I swallowed.

This was so fucked up.

A few long seconds passed before he could react.

As if he just received an electric shock he rushed over to Ariella who weakly had tried to make noises by stomping her foot against the tub, hence the thudding. He removed the tape carefully.
„Remi? ..Remi, you are h-here?“

Jeremy took off his jacket and offered it Remington who took it from him and covered Ariella before lifting her up from the tub. 
„Ariella..“ He buried her face into his neck and inhaled her, kissed her. „Who did this to you?“
„They..-“ She started crying then, sobbing desperately into Remingtons neck, bound hands clutching his shirt. I watched my cousins jaw tighten when he rushed her inside and grabbed a blanket to cover her up. 

My eyes met Eli’s who looked on the verge of losing his mind. I’ve seen in multiple occasions the demons in my brothers eyes but never this close to the surface.

We followed the couple inside and watched Remington sway Ariella and helping her out of the tapes around her wrist and ankles. Though Remi looked devastated, ready to explode, he also had relief written all across his face. She was hurt but at least he had found her.

Ariella hiccuped and looked up. I realized that she wasn’t looking into the round but at my brother when her bottom lip curled, trying to suppress another fit of sobs. 

Eli crouched down next to her, brushing her hair back in a brotherly way.
She sniffed and opened her shaking palm. I only noticed then that she was gripping something the whole time.

I watched my brother stiffen at what was in Ariella’s palm. I couldn’t see it from this position.
„Ariella“ Eli sounded like he was choking. „What. Is. This?“ He scoffed as if he was finding it ridiculous. Unbelievable. 

The girl in Remi’s lap started shaking again, sobbing in agony. „E-Eli.. p-please bring her b-back“

I swallowed and dared to step closer.

My eyes widening at the blond, cut off hair strand that was dipped in blood. 

Ava…

Eli stood up, taking the hair strand from Ariella’s palm when the next moments happened quickly. He turned around and attacked the still captive on the chair, punching and beating him up like a full blown maniac. He groaned and screamed, grabbing a chair and threw it across the mans face. He took a hold of the mans long black hair and pulled him by it across the floor to smash him against a wardrobe. He went totally insane on him and no one dared to stop him. He slammed the door of the wardrobe whilst pressing the mans head between it.

„WHERE“ Slam „THE“ Slam „FUCK“ Slam „IS“ Slam „AVA?!“ 

The body between the door became lifeless, the man wasn’t moving anymore. I never saw my brother so out of it.
He is the most level headed and controlled person I knew.
He reminded me sometimes of Uncle Levi, who was known to suppress his inner demons to get what he wanted. To approach with precision.
Right now though, my brother was more like an untamable tyrant, reminding me of grandpa Jonathan. Though I never saw my grandpa being violent in our presence (he was someone who’d rather let others the work for him)
I remember how he loves Nana and how he always had the murderous look on his face, when someone was too close to her for comfort.
My mum always told me how grandpa Jonathan was someone who never lost control until my Nana Aurora came into his life.
The difference between my Dad and my Grandpa was barely visible but it was there. Though both were possessive and absolutely obsessed with their wives my Dad could be triggered by more things than grandpa.
Grandpa built an empire with discipline and no distraction. And he would watch all of it burn down when it came to Nana.

And the same extrem I was witnessing now with my brother. 

But truth to be told, no matter how level headed and collected you are, if King men fall for a woman - they fall hard and fight even harder.

The psychopathic, uncontrolled devil comes with the family name. 

I was brought back from my thoughts when Eli groaned, breathing heavily while wiping his forehead with his bloodied hand.

He turned away, Ariella’s muffled sobs barely audible over the shushing of Remington who tried to cover her ears since Eli’s freak out. I saw how my brother was about to turn to the unmoving body again when I grabbed him by the shoulders, giving him a stern look.

„Stop it, brother.“ He panted heavily, biting down on his teeth before he shook me off. He turned and left the room like Killian. 

I looked at Jeremy, who right now was the only sane person in here amongst all the psychopaths including myself. 
He leaned his head back into his neck, closing his eyes before taking a deep breath.

„Okay. We need to divide and search different areas“
„But fucking where?“, Landon hissed, impatience audible in his voice. Mia untangled herself from his iron grip and sat down next to Ariella, carefully stroking her hair.

„Bars, clubs, parks, anywhere we can go!“
„That’s a waste of time!“ Landon pointed at Ariella. „You saw. They left a warning. These aren’t normal criminals. They know who they got!“

„Then what do you suggest, King?“ 

I interfered. „Glyndons last message“ Both pair of eyes focused on me. „Let’s start there.“

My cousins face hardened. I know that they didn’t show him the message yet as he was too unstable to stomach the audio. I just witnessed myself what happened to the most controlled person amongst the cousins. There was no way in hell we could risk anything similar to that with Landon. That fucking satan would probably burn the entire country down.

Jeremy nodded and we left the suite. We booked another room so Remington could stay with Ariella and after long back and forth Landon agreed to leave Mia with them. He only agreed because Jeremy and also Nikolai brought reinforcement. He said that there was no way in hell he left his sister without protection. 

I knew my cousin would rather have her chained against him but he figured that it was more dangerous with her on his heels than in safety with the guards. 

We were currently standing in the new room that was the furthest away from the messed up one. Some of Jeremy’s men would be searching through the room in case there were some other hints and clues as to where the girls would be.

Or maybe another one in different bathtub. 

Killian and Eli both had calmed down - a lie - both were able to camouflage their demons better by now. They were standing next to each other, looking down, avoiding any eye contact. 

Remington came out of the bedroom, closing the door softly behind him. Mia was staying with Ariella while she was sleeping.

Jeremy spoke first. 

„Let’s agree on three things.

First, we hate each other.
Second, we need each other.
Third, we’re going to kill each other if something happens to our girls.

Because there is no life for us without them.“

Everyone nodded without hesitation. Eli and Killian lifted their heads now, determination written in their eyes. 

„Landon and Kill, both will check out the last club the girls went into. I send you both the details“

Both nodded. 

„Eli and I go back to the bar, where Annikas phone was found. Maybe we find something“, I said.

„Niko and I go information hunting. Checking cameras and asking the the receptionists where the girls went. I still have audios from Cecily where she tells me where they went. Maybe we can track something“

Nikolai furrowed his eyebrows. „Can’t I go with Lan and Kill? That sounds more like me“

„Absolutely fucking not“, Brandon interrupted. 

„Two psychos are completely enough“ He turned to his brother and Kill. „No offense“

Both shrugged their shoulders, speaking at the same time.
„None taken“

„Lotus flower I-“

„I said no! There is no way in hell you ruin this with your impulsiveness. You go with Jeremy or I won’t stay here!“

There wasn’t much to discuss after that threat. Niko accompanied Jeremy and Landon and Killian went to the club. 

Before I could enter the car, which was by now a dark blue mercedes, Jeremy stopped next to me with his bike, Niko on his back.

„Creighton“

He nodded at me. We had a silent understanding that I would care for Annika no matter what. He trusted me with his sister. 
I nodded back. 

I would either find Annika or lose myself. 

There was no other choice.