CLAIMED // 18+

Chapter Twenty-Four - Sebastian

T.W- dialogue mentioning SA

"There's something that you should know, Sebastian. She told me to keep it a secret from you, but I can't do that anymore."

Paulina pants as she tells me. Her words make my insides panic even more, which is not usual self. At all.

I'm usually a calm, and controlled person. Even in the most pressurizing times, I know how to keep my posture maintained. But now that Elaine might be in a kind of danger that I've got no clue about, it's making me fall apart.

The fact that I don't know how she is, where she is and if she's even... safe.

What if someone touched her, hurt her, made her cry? I can't bear the thought of it.

"What secret? Why would she keep it from me?!" I exclaim unintentionally, not being able to control my overpowering emotions.

Paulina gulps her throat "she kept it a secret from you because she was afraid, and she wanted it to be her fight only and for you to not get involved."

I lick my lips, furrowing my brows "I need to know now, whatever it is. I can't let anything happen to her, and if something does happen to her, I won't be able to stop blaming myself for it."

"It's not your fault, Sebastian." she tells me "this is about Elaine's ex-boyfriend, Cal."

I pause. Elaine never told me about any of her past relationships. But, neither did I. It's not like I had anything notable to say to her about my exes, considering how none of those relationships lasted more than a couple months at best. Elaine's the love of my life, my present and future, and I'm not the kind of guy to hang onto what happens in the past.

But I can't deny that I assumed I was Elaine's first everything.

It slightly stings me that I had wrongly assumed stuff. However, it's just a past moment. Elaine didn't tell me, because she didn't feel like it was important to know everything about each others' pasts either.

But now that Paulina is telling me about it...

What does this 'Cal' have to do with this?

"What about him?" I swallow.

"Cal was Elaine's first love," Paulina stated "it was love at first sight for Elaine. She was completely crazy about him-- practically, obsessed. But... They broke up because he..."

"What did he do?" I clench my fists.

She exhales "he drugged her, and sexually assaulted her."

I feel my entire body tremble as I hear that. My fists turn white. I feel utter rage eventually consuming me as I register Paulina's words in my head.

"After that happened, Elaine ran away from him. She literally had to leave town for that, because she knew that it would be easy for him to find her had she stayed in that town. And then, 6 months ago, he contacted Elaine again and threatened her."

"6 months? This has been happening for 6 fucking months?" I grunt.

Paulina sighs "she didn't tell me until last week. Apparently, he stopped contacting her for the next 6 months and suddenly showed up personally a week ago."

"You could've told me a lot sooner than this, Paulina." I show disappointment in my face, still fuming with anger. I can't just stand here and hear this shit anymore.

"I wanted to, Sebastian, but I can't break my best friend's promise. She told me to keep it a secret from you, and I really tried to do that for a whole week. But now that things have gotten to the stage that I was most scared for, I don't have another choice," Paulina takes a step towards me and tears form in her eyes as she adds "please, save her, Sebastian. She's strong, but not strong enough to handle him and god forbid, she doesn't realize that."

My eyes shake with tears building, my throat getting hoarse as I speak amidst the lump that's formed in my chest. I can't help but begin to cry. I never cried before, the last time was I cried was when my mother visited me over 25 years ago. And I'd never... let anyone see me cry.

But, I just don't give a damn anymore. Because my Elaine needs me, and I need her desperately.

I'm going to kill that fucking asshole, no matter what, I want to see him bleed for the things he's done to my wife.

I don't wipe the tears rolling down my cheeks as I reply to Paulina's pleading "I'm going to save her, no matter what it takes."

As I tell her, Leon finally arrives.

I tilt my head at him "please don't tell me your tech skills have gotten rusty over the years, Leon."

"They're still flawless, boss."

Leon opens the device he's brought with himself to locate Elaine using the tracking chip attached to the revolver. He types in something fast.

Leon doesn't look away from the device in his arms as he asks me "boss, there must be some kind of USB modem to connect to the tracking chip's network."

"Here," I hand him the last bullet from the box that carried the revolver. Elaine left two bullets behind. The bullet on the last row is the connector to the tracking chip.

Leon attaches the bullet-shaped USB to the device, and clicks on a bunch of buttons immediately.

"Since it was made in the late 80s, the chip is really backdated. But, fortunately, it still works. Gonna take a lot more time, though."

"How long? Can you estimate?" I question. Paulina bites her lip from behind us.

Leon takes a second before responding "Around 5 more minutes? Don't worry, I'm trying to make it work faster.

I pace around the room, and still keep calling Elaine's phone, just in case she or someone picks up.

But then, after 4 minutes, Leon gets up from his seat and exclaims "Got it! I got her location, boss!"

Paulina claps her hand in relief "Oh, finally!"

I click on a button under the desk, and the shelves of books on the back slide out to reveal my weapon display. From there, I don't think before I grab my most-used 9mm pistol and turn around to order Leon.

"Get the men, and tell them to get armed. We're going to save my woman."

[To be continued]