Page 92 of Wrecked By You

“Right.” I returned my attention to the CCTV footage, scrolling through images from the service entrance of the hotel. I rubbed the heels of my hands into my eyes, my vision blurring from staring at the screen too long. Knocking back my pain meds, I refocused my efforts.

“Why don’t you take a break?” Nolen suggested.

“No,” I barked. “Every second counts. Imagine how fucking scared she is.”

Nolen’s hands came up to either side of his head. “It was just a suggestion. You’ve been through a trauma, too, Johannes. I’m only watching out for you.”

“I don’t need you watching out for me. I’m not a goddamn child.” I gave him my back. If all he was going to do was bitch and moan, he could fuck off.

I switched camera angles to finish checking this part of the hotel. The cameras were positioned to cover as much as possible, but every area had its dead spots, and I’d started to think that Ella had been spirited away using this method. If Fernandez had avoided law enforcement efforts to apprehend him, then the man was a clever bastard. He’d known exactly what to look for.

If this turned out to be fruitless, I’d—

“There!” I pressed Pause, the image freezing on a woman being held in the arms of a man, his face on full display. Her head was tipped back, her ebony tresses hanging low.

“That’s him.” Brax loomed over my shoulder, peering at the screen. “That’s Fernandez.”

I moved the footage a frame at a time, trying to get a different angle on Ella. Suddenly Fernandez turned, as if he’d heard his name or something had spooked him, giving us the perfect view of Ella’s face. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth parted as if she was asleep.

Except she wasn’t. He’d drugged her. I’d as good as smelled her fear when I’d confronted her with her marital state and she’d thought her husband had found her. She wouldn’t go with him willingly. Not a fucking chance. And she certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable enough to fall asleep in his arms.

“That enough for you?” I directed my question at Brax.

“Judge could say she’s napping.”

I growled. This guy was fast getting on my last fucking nerve. “ThenI’llspeak to the judge. If Ella was so happy with her husband, why has she spent all these months hiding out in LA under an assumed name, and with documents to back that up? It has to be enough.” I banged the desk with my fist. “It has to.”

“Easy.” Nolen laid a hand on my shoulder. I shook him off.

“Give me the footage, and I’ll see what I can do. No promises.”

Fuck. That.If this guy didn’t come up with the goods, then I’d find another way to get her out of there. He couldn’t keep her there forever. I’d hire a team of people to watch his compound, night and day, follow the fucker wherever he went. However long it took for him to loosen the leash, I’d be there waiting to pounce.

I’d failed her, left her exposed.

I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

Chapter30

Ella

Vengeance is an unforgiving bitch.

“Eat.”

I turned my head, refusing to look at Mateo. He sickened me. He disgusted me. He was a monster, a vile creature. A sociopath. All he cared about was power and money and his possessions, and he thought of me and Chloe as the latter.

Chloe.

My heart ached for my baby. I didn’t know how long I’d been out when Mateo had drugged me and snatched me from Nolen Kingcaid’s hotel, but I’d counted two days and two nights since then, and not being able to hold Chloe, to comfort her and reassure her that everything would be okay, was a cavernous hole in my chest.

If I begged, he’d use it against me.

So I remained silent, refusing to eat, refusing to talk, refusing to give in to a single demand he made.

Fuck him.Fuck. Him.

“If you don’t eat something, I’ll force it down your throat.”