Page 57

Titan

I felt my anger rise and my knee was bouncing like crazy as Torrence tried to navigate through this traffic to go where Bailey’s meeting was located.

Once I was able to calm down just a little, I remembered that my cars had trackers, and Lloyd always shared his location with me.

That’s how I found out they were on the East side.

My phone rang and I quickly hit the hands-free button on the dashboard when I saw it was Anthony; I just called him five minutes ago and left a message to call me.

“What up, Titan. I saw you called.”

“Bailey’s missing,” I said, cutting to the chase. The line went so silent that I had to check the display to make sure the call didn’t drop.

“Hello?” I called out.

“How long has she been missing?" When he spoke again a chill ran down my spine. He sounded like he was barely holding it together now.

“About four hours.”

“And you’re just now telling me?!” His voice boomed out of my speakers, and I turned the volume down.

“Listen, I just found out and we can get into that later right now, I know the priority is finding Bailey,” I said, trying not raise my voice and escalate this situation. He told me to hold on and I heard typing in the background.

“Have you called the police?” He asked after a moment.

“No.”

“Good. They get in the way, best we handle this ourselves.”

“What?” Torrence choked out.

“Who the hell is that?” Anthony asked suspiciously.

“My brother Torrence, he’s driving me to the bakery I tracked my driver’s phone to.”

“Torrence…the lawyer?” He asked, and there was more clicking in the background.

“Y-yes.” Torrence stammered.

“Torrence, your cash tag, TLaw06?”

“Yes why?” As soon as Torrence asked, I heard his phone chirp.

“I just sent you a dollar; you’re my lawyer now, attorney-client privilege and all that shit. You’re about to find out that you’re brother-in-law ain’t wrapped too tight and I need you to shut the fuck up if questioned.”

“That’s not really how attorney client?—”

“Titan,” Anthony said, interrupting whatever tangent Tore was about to go on.

“Whomever has Bailey is dumb as hell, and I thank God for their idiocy because the tracker I got on her phone is moving toward Clermont County. They’re still on Beechmont Ave.

I’m sending you the coordinates now. I’m not too far from the bakery address I got from her phone, I’ll meet you there and we’ll talk strategy,” he said and hung up.

We pulled up to the bakery close to ten minutes later and I hopped out of my car before it made a full stop.

I rushed to my Maybach parked at the curb and saw it was empty.

I was about to go to the bakery door and open it when Anthony pulled up in a Rezvani Vengeance with Kiara in the passenger seat.

My eyes widened because I never knew anyone who owned a bulletproof vehicle, what type of shit was Anthony involved in?

When Anthony hopped out, he went to the passenger side to open the door for Kiara.

When they walked toward me they were both dressed in all black and Kiara’s hair was wrapped in a black bandana. I started speaking as soon as they were within ear shot. I told them the car was empty when I got here, and that I was about to go inside the bakery.

“You have a gun?” Anthony and Kiara asked in unison. When I shook my head no they looked at each other and then in sync they reached behind them and pulled out pistols.

“Ready?” Anthony asked Kiara.

“Born ready.” She smirked as she cocked the hammer.

“Behind me.” She demanded looking at me.

With their guns aimed they quickly went to the door of the bakery and when they leaned against the wall, Kiara tapped Anthony’s shoulder.

He nodded then quietly counted to three before he yanked the door open.

I covered my mouth to stifle my cough from the old dusty air.

The place was dimly lit, and every surface was covered in dirt and dust. I scanned the area and didn’t see Lloyd.

Anthony and Kiara moved as one through the space like they’ve been doing this their whole life.

They cleared the front room easily and went to the swinging doors behind the counter.

Kiara tapped Anthony on the shoulder again, and when we went through the door, I saw Lloyd on the floor.

“That’s your driver?” Anthony asked as he walked around the kitchen with his gun pointed.

“Yes,” I said as I rushed toward him. I bent down and felt around his neck for a pulse.

“He’s alive.” I breathed out in relief. When I looked up, I saw Anthony was now at the door that was in the back of the kitchen while Kiara waited near the swinging doors with her gun aimed and ready to shoot anyone who walked through.

“He’s not waking up,” I said, gently slapping Lloyd on his slightly wrinkled face. Kiara came over and bent down. Before I knew what she was doing, she reached down and twisted his nipple. When Lloyd’s eyes popped open, he yelled out.

“He’s awake,” Kiara said nonchalantly.

“Lloyd, what happened?!”

“There’s blood,” Kiara said, looking at drops of blood on the green tile floor.

“It’s not Bailey’s.” Lloyd grunted out as I helped him up.

“I came in here to use the bathroom and when I heard a man shouting and I ran back here. Before I got hit in the head, I saw a man with long hair on the ground with blood on his face. He was shouting in pain, and Bailey was on the floor too, when I went to pick her up, that’s when I got hit from behind. ”

“The door back there leads to a loading dock, and I saw fresh tire tracks,” Anthony said, coming back toward us and pulling his phone out. “The tracker stopped in some rural area about thirty minutes from here, let’s move out!” He said rushing out the swinging doors, with Kiara close behind him.

“Torrence, take care of Lloyd; I’m going to catch a ride with Anthony,” I said, rushing out of the bakery and as soon as I was outside, Anthony was already behind the wheel getting ready to leave. When I ran to the passenger side, he rolled the window down.

“People are going to die, you ok with that?” He asked and Kiara stared at me, her mismatched eyes intensifying her murderous look.

“As long as Angelo is one of them, I don’t give a shit,” I said, and I was surprised by how honest my response was. Anthony and Kiara smiled at me like proud parents.

“Well get in,” he said, unlocking the doors.