Don de Santos

28. An Old Friend

Ana

"I want to come with you," I announce making him turn 180 degrees to look at me.

"It is dangerous, Ana. I can't let you come," Rafael replies, grabbing two pistols and placing them behind his back.

"Please, Rafa, I can't let you go alone."

"I am not going alone, Ana."

"I know but-"

"Enough!" he yells, making me take a step back from his sudden outburst.

Rafael never yelled at me before. Not once. I understand that he is nervous and scared because he doesn't know his mother's condition, but I did not expect him to yell at me.

"Fine..." my voice dies down.

His eyes soften for a bit, knowing very well that he shouldn't have yelled, but he doesn't comment any further. He even left without telling me anything else as if I was the one who kidnapped his mother.

What the fuck has gotten into him?

I climb the stairs from the basement back to the living room, only to see Cash and Manuel ready to take off to the warehouse. Manuel finally talked to Cash this morning and uncle understood that Cash had nothing to do with what his brother did.

"Uncle..." I call after him.

He turns and looks at me with a weak smile. "Take care and bring her back," I say.

"I will and you take care, mi hija. Don't leave the house at all. There will be guards here with you and Alba, and Rafael told Cody to come here as well."

"Okay..." I give him a nod.

"Now let us hope we find her location," Manuel mumbles, making my heart clench.

I hope so too.

* * *

Rafael

I walk to my car without looking back because I know that it will not be easy to let her go if I do. After what happened to my father when my mother was kidnapped, I don't ever want to love again. What if something happens to Ana because of my work and she gets kidnapped, or worse, killed? I can't live with that. I can't put her in danger and when I come back from this mission, the first thing I am going to do is send her away.

I know she is still wanted by the police, but I will make sure to clear her name and let her go.

I know...I am selfish, I admit, but put yourself in my shoes, what would you have done? Would you put the person you love in danger?

Cash hops into the passenger seat while we wait for my father. He looks at me and I could feel his gaze from the corner of my right eye, but I pay him no attention. I know exactly what is going on in his mind and I don't wish to talk about it.

My father then joins us and steps into the backseat. Driving off to the warehouse, I look in the rearview mirror to see Alba and Ana standing outside, looking our way.

I feel bad. So bad. But it took me a night to think about everything and take the decision. She still doesn't know but she will when I come back and tell her. Right now, all I am thinking about is finding my mother.

"How will we find her?" my father asks.

"Luckily, I learned a thing or two from Alex's hacking skills. I will try to find her, father, but I need the right equipment."

"Tell me whatever you need and we will get it," I reply.

"Well, just a good network I guess," Cash replies with a shrug.

I roll my eyes playfully as I park the car in front of the new building. We have moved the warehouse so many times, just because our enemies are finding its location.

We walk in and see Andrew standing by the gate, waiting for us.

"Any news?" I ask him as we all walk to the basement.

"No," he replies.

We walk to the basement and Cash immediately got the laptop and starts working.

From what I understood, he has to find footage of the car they took my mother in. Luckily, we have cameras close to the house we were staying at.

"Okay, here's the car leaving the house," Cash says, making us all look at the screen. "But the footage stops at this road, which has two ways. If they went right, they would have gone to the neighboring, but if they went left, they would have gone to the ports," Cash explains.

"Is Ricardo stupid enough to take my mother to the neighboring town, knowing very well that it would be easy to find them?" Andrew asks.

"No," I reply to him.

"This means, he went to the ports because there is a way to reach Italy by ship," my father says.

"I don't care if he is in Italy, we are going," I say firmly.

"Okay, I will check if there are any cameras at the ports." Cash quickly types on the keyboard.

Andrew, my father, and I wait impatiently for Cash until he finally yells the 'I found it.'

"What did you find?" I ask, running to his side and clutching the back of the back as I look at the screen.

"Look here," he says, pointing at an area on the screen. "This is the same car that left the house with your mother in it. In this next footage-" he presses the right arrow, taking us to the next footage, "-you can see the men loading something onto the boat. The camera is not focusing on it, but I am sure it is your mother."

"Is there a way we can know where the boat went?" My father asks.

"Unfortunately, no, but what I know is that the closest port to us is Pisa's, but we have Nice of France closer."

"Ricardo is banned from going to France," my father says, dismissing the idea of his former best friend going to France.

"But he can go in illegally, no?" Andrew asks.

"I doubt he'd go there, especially while kidnapping a person. He hasn't visited France in a very long time, so I doubt him going there. Italy is the safest place for him, especially since he knows we have little men to none there."

"Well, I guess it is time to call an old friend," my father says with a sigh.

"And who is that?" I ask, confused as to who my father knows in Italy.

"Your mother's old friend, Amalia Ferrari."