KEIFER POV
The room felt like it was losing oxygen. Jare was pacing like a trapped animal, his face a mask of pure terror and rage. "HE TOOK JAY! HE ACTUALLY TOOK HER!"
Suddenly, every phone in the room buzzed simultaneously—a synchronized chime that made my skin crawl. We all yanked our devices out at once. It was a live video link.
I tapped the screen, and my heart shattered. There they were. Jay was in the center, her hands bound and a blindfold over her eyes, but she was still defiant, her jaw set tight. Surrounding her were Mia, Honey, and Amy—all the girls, looked like they had been picked off one by one.
"What the fuck?!" Aries roared, seeing the girls tied to a chair."Who is the fuck is it?!" Jare screamed at the screen.
Then, a man stepped into the frame. He was wearing a tailored suit that looked too expensive for a kidnapper, and he had a sickeningly calm smile on his face.
"Oh good, you guys are all in one place," he said, his voice smooth and oily. "Save me the trouble of calling you all individually. Hey guys, I'm Vex."
"Fucking asshole! Let the girls go and fight us like a man!" I growled, my grip on my phone so tight the screen started to crack. I wanted to reach through the pixels and tear his throat out.
Vex chuckled, moving closer to Jay. He reached out a hand, grazing her cheek with his thumb. Jay flinched away, trying to headbutt him even while blindfolded.
"Oh, Keifer," Vex said, his eyes glinting with malice. "I'm so much of a man... your wife will tell you all about it later."
"VEX, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD, IF YOU TOUCH HER I WILL KILL YOU!" I yelled, my voice breaking. "I WILL TEAR YOUR WORLD APART!"
My heart plummeted as Jay stood up, forced by Vex. Her hair was a mess, and her face was pale, but the fire in her eyes hadn't flickered out.
"There is no unless because of your wife," Vex sneered, gripping her arm tight. "Because of your wife here, I lost my brothers This isn't just business for me anymore. It's a debt."
"Owww!" she cried out, her face contorting in pain.
"JAY!" We all roared at once. Jare almost lunged at the screen, and I had to grab his shoulder to keep him from losing it. My vision was swimming in red.
Vex reached out and ripped the blindfold off her eyes. Jay blinked, squinting against the harsh light of the room she was in. When her gaze finally settled on the camera—on me—her expression softened for just a split second.
"Keifer," she breathed, her voice trembling but still holding that strength I loved.
"Don't worry, Jay. We will get you out soon, I promise," I said, trying to keep my voice steady so she wouldn't see how terrified I actually was. "Just hold on, okay? I'm coming."
Vex didn't stop there. He walked down the line, ripping the blindfolds off Mia, Amy, and lastly, Honey.
Honey didn't even wait for her eyes to adjust. She looked at Vex's face, scrunched up her nose in pure disgust, and spat toward his boots.
"Eww, ew, ew! Don't touch me! You look like an old man who has rabies!" Honey shrieked, her voice echoing through the warehouse.
Despite the life-and-death situation, Percy let out a frantic, choked-up laugh from the corner of the room. "That's my girl," he muttered, his eyes wet with tears as he watched her sass a literal war criminal.
Vex's face darkened, his composure finally cracking. He backhanded Honey, sending her chair tilting.
"Aries, hold me back!" Percy yelled, trying to get to the screen, but Aries was already busy holding Jare.
Vex turned back to the camera, leaning in so close all we could see were his twisted yellow teeth. "The clock is ticking, boys. Lets see if you guys can manage to save the girls and your girls"
The room was vibrating with the force of our shouting. The screen was black, but the image of Jay's pained expression face was burned into my retinas.
"Percy, did you find the location?" I barked, my hands balled into fist so tight my knuckles were white.
"No, I can't!" Percy yelled back, frustration boiling over as he slammed his hand against his laptop. "He's using a bouncing VPN through seven different countries. It's a ghost signal."
I didn't waste another second. I pulled out my phone and called Rory and Edrix, the tech geniuses of our section I didn't want Section E in this but I have no choice
I explained the situation in clipped, jagged sentences, hearing their voices turn from sleepy to lethal in seconds. They were on it.
"Shall we call Angelo?" Percy asked, his voice small. "He has the Interpol connections. He could find them in ten minutes."
"Not yet," Jare said firmly, his eyes fixed on the map.
"What do you mean 'not yet'?!" Aries yelled, stepping into Jare's space. "Jare, Kuya can help us! He could bring an entire tactical team down on that warehouse!"
"Don't be an idiot, Aries," I snapped, stepping between them. My brain was working at a million miles an hour, calculating the risks. "If we tell Angelo, it's over. He'll lock us out. He'll never let us continue the work we've been doing. He'll see this as proof that we can't handle the weight of this world."
"Keifer, the only reason we started this was for Jay!" Percy argued, his voice cracking. "But if we can't save Jay, then what's the point? If she's gone, all these missions, all this 'work'... it means nothing!"
"Look, yes, we started this because of Jay," Jare said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low vibrato. "But we can't just stop. We've saved so many girls over the last few years If we bring in the family heavyweights, they'll shut down the operation to 'protect' us. We'd be choosing one life over hundreds."
"But it's Jay, Mia, Amy, and Honey on the line!" Aries yelled, his face turning purple with rage. "Those are our sisters!Our girlfriends!Our lives!"
"YOU THINK WE'RE NOT WORRIED?!" I roared, the sound echoing through the basement like a thunderclap. I grabbed Aries by the front of his shirt. "She is my wife, Aries! Every second she's with Vex is a second I'm dying inside! Don't you dare tell me I'm not worried!"
"ENOUGH!" Jare yelled, stepping into the middle of us and shoving us apart.
His breathing was heavy, and for a second, I saw the immense weight he was carrying as a brother and a leader.
"It's not the time to fight," Jare commanded, his voice cold and final. "We will save them on our own. We don't need to call Angelo. If it truly gets to the point where we have no other choice, I will be the one to call him and take the fall. But for now, we find them. We hit them. And we bring our girls home."
He looked at me, a silent plea in his eyes for me to back him up.
I took a deep breath, forcing
to stay in control, forcing the panicked husband into a cage. "Jare is right."
As we headed for the garage, my hand brushed against the gold bracelet in my pocket. Hang on, Jay. I'm not just coming to save you. I'm coming to burn the world that tried to take you.
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JAY JAY POV
The heavy iron door slammed shut, the echo ringing through the damp, concrete room. Vex was gone, leaving us in a suffocating silence broken only by the sound of dripping water and Honey's annoyed huffing.
I looked at the girls. We were all tied to heavy wooden chairs, our backs to each other in a circle. I had to let Keifer know where we were. I knew him—he'd be losing his mind, probably ready to level the entire city if he had to.
"Mia," I whispered, my voice urgent.
"What?" Mia asked, her head snapping toward me.
"Keifer gave me a necklace before the wedding. He told me it was more than just jewelry. If I click the bottom left corner twice, it sends a silent distress signal with a GPS ping directly to his phone"
"Then do it!" Honey hissed, straining against her ropes.
"Are you stupid? Her hands are tied behind her back!" Amy shot back, rolling her eyes even in the middle of a kidnapping.
"Why the hell am I even here?" Honey groaned, looking up at the ceiling. "I was literally just going to get bubble tea."
"Probably because your boyfriend did something stupid again," Amy muttered.
"Hello? My boyfriend is not the only one! It's yours too!" Honey retorted.
"Enough! Stop fighting! We can't afford to do this now!" Mia commanded, her voice sharp enough to cut through their bickering. She turned her chair slightly, trying to bridge the gap between us. "Jay, tell me where the button is."
"The pendant," I said, leaning my head back so the silver chain hung lower. "Bottom left. There's a tiny indentation."
Mia scooted her chair as close as she could. Since her hands were tied, she leaned forward, using her teeth to find the edge of the pendant. I held my breath, feeling the metal click once... then twice.
A tiny, almost invisible red light flickered on the back of the pendant for a second before going dark.
"That's it?" Amy asked, her eyes wide.
I nodded, a surge of hope finally cutting through the fear. "That's it. It's a high-frequency ping. Even Vex's jammers shouldn't be able to catch it."
"Now what?" Honey asked, her voice finally dropping the attitude as the reality of the situation fully set in.
I looked at the door, my jaw tightening. I was the Barracuda. I wasn't just going to sit here and be a damsel.
"Now," I said, my eyes cold and focused, "we wait. And when Keifer and the boys blow that door open, we make sure Vex regrets ever touching us"
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Sorry guys if I didn't reply to your comments 😭💙 I have a geometry test today, so I had to study yesterday and couldn't get back to everyone.
BUT I actually woke up early to write this chapter for you guys because I hate when authors leave readers on cliffhangers or at the interesting part 😭✨ (I know I did that… BUT HERE IT IS NOW 💙)
Please comment, okay? I literally woke up at 4 AM to write this chapter and I'm posting it now 😭💙 I know I take a long time to update, but your comments really motivate me, so don't forget to leave one 💙🌙✨
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