Criminally Yours

25.

A M A R A

I woke up on a freezing cold floor. Memories of yesterday running through my head. I was pregnant. The man I loved thought I betrayed him. I was kidnapped.

I was spooked by the sound of a bang on the other side of the door enclosing me in here. I brought my knees up to my chest and hugged them. My stomach growled.

The handle on the door turned and the one man I was afraid of walked into the room. He smiled at me evilly.

"Do you know how hard it was to get to you Amara?" He held his hands behind his back and walked slowly forward.

I stayed silent. I had no idea how to approach the situation. I wasn't the only life at stake anymore.

"Speechless huh? You've changed. I remember how you used to be a screamer," he sneered at me.

"I'm hungry." That was the only thing I could think of saying.

Angelo smiled at me and pulled out his phone. "Bring in some food. Now."

I sighed in relief, "thank you."

Angelo squatted down to my level and asked, "Amara, why were you covering your stomach?"

Oh no. "W-what? I wasn't."

"I saw you. Why were you protecting it?" He said as he reached his hand out to my face. I flinched at his action and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"It just got hit during the accident. I wasn't protecting it," I lied as best as I could.

Angelo pulled his hand away and looked at me for a while longer before a man walked in with a tray of food.

"Eat it," Angelo demanded. "I'll be back later to see how you're doing."

I stared at the tray. He left me with a bottle of water and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This was obviously the best I was going to get while I was here.

I ate the sandwich slowly and drank only a small amount of water. I didn't know how much longer he was going to be giving me things like this, so I needed to stock up.

Tears streamed down my face as I sat on the ground. I brought my tied up hands to my cheeks and tried to rub them away, but that only seemed to make things worse.

I knew that Lucian was going to kill me the first chance he got. My whole life will go down the drain.

Angelo planned it perfectly, and I hated him even more for it.

L U C I A N

"Lucian, quit being a child and come out of your room," my father yelled at me from the other side of the door. "I'll be in your office. If you're not there in five minutes I'll drag you out of here myself."

I could hear his heavy footsteps leave. I stared at myself in the broken mirror. My knuckles were bleeding from when I beat it senseless, I had a headache from all the yelling I did, and my heart hurt from the pain Amara caused.

I exited my room. I couldn't believe what happened. It didn't make sense, but everything pointed to her. She didn't even bother to remove her prints from the guns.

I opened the door to my office to see my mom and dad sitting at my desk. My mother looked remorseful and my father, disoriented.

"Sit down please Lucian," my mother pleaded with me.

I walked over to my chair and sat in it.

"How did you find out the rat was her?" She asked.

"Rachel Voss informed me," I slouched back in my chair. "She saw Amara leave the armory with the guns."

My mother's brows scrunched into a confused look and my father seemed to be in disbelief.

"She's the only person who saw it happen?"

"Yes," I responded, aggravated.

"I never liked her. She was always a bitch. I wouldn't have trusted her." My mother glared at me. "I need to lay down," she groaned as she rose from her seat and left the room, closing the door a little louder than needed.

"Do you completely trust Rachel, Lucian?" My father asked as he leaned forward onto his hands.

"Yes I do. She's worked for me for years and I know I can rely on her," I said, even though I really didn't trust her like I made it out to seem.

"Alright, I trust your judgement," My father said as he rose from his seat. "Get some sleep, we'll worry about finding her tomorrow.

I sighed and buried my face in my hands. I was about to try and relax before I received a call from Adrian.

"Hey boss, I have some news. Amara's car was found at a convenient store just a mile away from your house before you even found out about the incident. I don't think she knew about getting caught. I'm sure there's another rat," Adrian said.

"I'll worry about it tomorrow. Get some sleep."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. The team will meet at the Viper tomorrow," I said tiredly as I hung up the phone.

The next day at the Viper, Adrian and I met early to look at the security tapes he talked about last night.

They showed Amara entering the shop looking extremely nervous. She was in there for at least ten minutes before she left and didn't have a single item in her hands. Her cheeks were puffy from crying. None of this made sense.

I turned away from Adrian and threw my fist at the wall corresponding to me. "I fucking HATE HER!"

"Calm down boss. Don't worry, we'll figure this out. Gabe is on his way, he can help us."

Just as Adrian finished speaking Gabe walked into the room. "Show me the tapes Adrian," he said as he walked over.

Adrian nodded and played them one more time. Gabe was in deep thought.

G A B E

This tape was just before the accident. I refrained from telling Lucian about it. His judgment was too clouded to make decisions right now.

Amara was in the store for too long not to leave with anything. I decided to leave and go visit while Lucian and Adrian told the team what had happened.

I asked the lady who was working if I could see the tapes from yesterday. Hesitantly, she led me to a room where I could view them.

Amara entered looking nervous prior to receiving my messages. She looked at the signs in the isles and grabbed three different boxes. I couldn't tell what they were.

"What did she buy?"

"I'm sorry, it was very private and I'm sure she didn't want many people knowing." The lady looked like she was pleading with me not to ask more questions.

I watched more of the clip. She went to the checkout area, paid and then the woman gave her a set of keys. I refrained from talking and kept watching. She unlocked a door and was in the room for over five minutes.

"It's a bathroom, sir," she informed me.

Holy fucking shit. The only thing that would make sense were pregnancy tests. She was pregnant.