Chapter 75: Chapter 75

Xavier was almost running out of the car before he was parked properly in the apartment's garage.

He Checked in with the receptionist. His name was on the list. He greeted Joyce, the middle-aged woman who was hired by most of the flat owners as a cleaner. He had stayed a few nights with his sister, so it could be safe to say he was familiar around the block.

He met them waiting for him expectantly at the sitting room. His mother looked extremely stricken, almost guilty. She couldn't look him in the eyes.

She feared how he would see her now? Her son that had dealt so unkindly to her not minding that she had just been recuperating from a brutal attack and now, he knew that she was a distraction to lure him and his fiancée out.

To kidnap sweet little Maya, her heart clenched. She wondered if he'll ever forgive her that is if she could even forgive herself if Maya came to any harm.

It was almost like history was repeating itself. Dominic was bent on doing what only he knew to do best, wreaking havoc but he picked the wrong woman to mess up with. She'll be damned before she let anything happen to the only woman, that had made Xavier show off an ounce of humanity, that had made him seem redeemable.

Maya was Xavier's redemption, from the shitty life he had to undergo because of her union with that bastard of a man.

She was done worshipping a demon, paying homage to a monster, cowering in shame in front of her seed. It was time to stop nursing suicidal thoughts, but rather hope.

Besides, if this rebellious act of hers falls through. She was damn sure Mr. Dominic, the scum she married will throttle her with his bare hands.

The kids were his blood. She wanted to trust that he had a little part of him that was still sane and human that remembers that. Just in case this rescue mission she had launched in her mind played out as stupid and crazy as they seem in her head.

"We know where Maya is with the bastard." Melissa gritted her teeth.

"How accurate is your Intel?" He wished for his father's sake that Melissa's Intel was crappy and this was the buzz caused by some alcohol orgy.

"As accurate as a man paid a thousand dollars per hour and is standing right now in front of a deserted warehouse, which has your girlfriend in it." She passed him her phone, "She had come out to talk to a man. The man had a hoodie on, Dc couldn't get a photo but Dominic had insisted she see the man. Hit her a couple of times when she looked away."

Melissa's voice was a monotone as she remembered an hour ago when the picture had come just how much she had thrown up, once, twice, or four times? She was glad she had rung Jessica and Jasmine. One of the girls had been helping her wrap her hair up, keeping it out of the way while the other eased her mother into what at that moment had just seemed like a possibility.

Her husband is a kidnapper.

Xavier's eyes hardened as he glanced at the cuts on Maya's shoulder, the belt welt he caught sight of on her neck, there was a yellowish bruise on her right hand and on her cheeks, he could see the palm imprint of the bastard's finger he'll love to pluck out one by one and then force him to feed on them.

But what tormented him more was her eyes. The ones that were defiant and determined, loving, cheeky, naughty. Now they seem hollow and empty, just the way he had gotten used to seeing his mother.

It felt like a long time ago had passed since he had last seen her. A millennium perhaps, while it was 9 days, 21 hours, and 15 seconds.

Wait 16 now, he had counted still counting in fact until he had her right back in his arms where she belonged. He will still be counting besides the wait was long enough.

"If we know where this bastard is? Why is everybody so mute? I'll get a rifle, take some of my people with me, Melissa send me the number of your guy I'll take it from here." He stood up, grabbed a duffel bag, and was about to head to the room where he planned to dump in necessities he believed he might need.

He didn't know when he'll be back or if he'll ever be back. He won't put it past Mr. Dominic to kill his own seed, they weren't exactly buddies to start with and there was enough spite and bad blood between them, to begin with.

"No." Melissa's reply was firm and the stubbornness he saw in her chocolate eyes made his heart drop.

That defiance, that lips in a line. She wasn't likely to budge. Whenever Melissa was this way, even as a child, it was game over. You play by her rules or it was game over.

With Maya on the line, he'll be damned to just let things be. She was his weakness, his Achilles heel. Melissa knew this that's why she had a smug grin as she whispered, "What will it be, Salvador?"

"You don't have to be so extra." He rolled his eyes, dropping his bag and taking a seat.

A universal sigh of defeat left his mouth as he faced his sister, "What have you got?" She smiled at him even as he added, "And this better be good."

"Nothing, we don't have anything right now." She frowned, "But we were hoping you would come and we would all figure it out. Not expecting you to run out of here like one deranged man to get yourself killed."

"Was expecting that." Jessica gave him an apologetic ashamed smile, "I'm so sorry, but to be fair the thought of losing Maya had been rough."

Xavier nodded. He could understand. He was even mad at himself for all the bad that Maya had gone through, every strike she had been dealt, every hit she had received.

"So we know my fiancée is in the arms of my psychopathic father who has a thingy for raping women and for some reason we need to sit down and take notes from my sister who can't cock a rifle without shooting her own foot because," he gave her a cheeky smile as she rolled her eyes, "The Intel we are using is under her paycheck."

"Wrong. Firstly I can very well manage to shoot a gun. Need little teaching on targeting better but I have been doing great." He snickered. "And the reason why I ain't allowing you to rush down to an alley lonely path alone with no plan but plain fury is that I have no lovely black gown to don so soon on your behalf."

"I thought the early demise will make you happy."

"Yours. Not Maya's."

They both sobered, melancholy hanging back on top of the ceiling and spreading its branches around them.

"I wished I had stayed in the god-damned hospital." Xavier's eyes was closed.

"I could have stopped her not even pressure her more to get you." His mother held his hand, "Don't beat yourself hard for what is not your fault."

"Remember you couldn't have possibly tell your father will think it a perfect day to kidnap your woman who he is seemingly obsessed with," Melissa held his hand throwing his words back at him. Words he had told her a day ago but felt like a decade. "We'll get her, Xavier."

He opened his eyes.