❃Max's POV❃
Ray and Darnell had been gone for hours again. I stayed up so late, I was watching the sun come up from my view in the bedroom. I was worried, and I can't sleep when I'm worried. All these crazy thoughts were playing through my mind and Riley hadn't even gotten ready for school yet.
I just laid there until I heard him get up. While he was in the shower, I decided to fix his breakfast; some eggs and bacon. By the time I was done, he came downstairs with his hair unbraided and his backpack hanging off one side of his shoulder.
"Morning mama..."
"Good morning, sweetie."
He sat at the kitchen counter and just looked at his food. I waited for him to move, but he didn't.
"Riley, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
He just sat there, making me worried. Then he just stood up and headed towards the door.
"I'm not hungry. I'll see you when I get home." He lastly said, before walking out the door. I couldn't even be mad at him, to be honest. I wasn't in much of an eating mood either, so I went back upstairs to lay down.
I was almost in a really deep sleep when I heard some rustling. I woke up, thinking it was Ray finally coming home. I was about to go downstairs, until I heard something shatter, like glass or something. I hesitated leaving my room, wondering if I should call the police. From the top of the stairs, I could see two dudes dressed in all black, running through my living room. One of them had a gun in his hand, directing the other to take whatever they could carry. I slowly backed away to go back into my room, when I was grabbed from the back.
"Scream and I'll blow your fucking brains out." He instructed. He had his hand around my mouth and a gun pointed to the back of my head.
He moved me downstairs to where the other two robbers were.
"I guess we woke Sleeping Beauty."
He pushed me on the couch, and a few involuntary tears dropped down my cheek. The shorter one pulled a gun on me.
"You get everything upstairs yet?"
"Nah, not yet. You see what I had to take care of."
"Well hurry up dammit, you know this was supposed to be a quick job."
"And it will be so don't fucking rush me."
The dude who dragged me downstairs quickly trotted back up. The short one still had his gun pointed at my head, making me shiver uncontrollably. The leader of the operation looked down at me and grimaced.
"In the meantime, tie her scary ass up. Just so she don't get any dumbass ideas."
He soon walked away and gathered more of my family's stuff. The short one pulled out some rope and started tying my hands behind my back.
"Who are you?"
"Shut up."
"What do you want?" I cried, seeing if I could get any answers.
"I said shut up! Ask another question and see what happens to you!" He cocked his gun and pointed it back at me, after putting duct tape on my mouth. I kept crying and scooted away from him, but the tallest one who seemed to be running things, came back into the room.
"Boss said not to kill her, dumbass!"
"She's asking too many fucking questions! Besides I wasn't really gonna shoot her, I'm not stupid."
The taller one sat next to me and dug through his bag. He pulled out a pair of scissors and my heart started racing faster. I didn't know what he had planned.
"Don't expect any phone calls."
He stood up and went to cut the phone cord. The one who had grabbed me came back down, his bag around his shoulder, and my cell phone in his hand.
"A few messages from hubby, how cute." He mocked, stuffing my phone in his bag. It felt hard to swallow.
"Is that it?"
"Yeah, I'm good on this end."
"You sure?"
"Yes, nigga now let's just go! You was rushing me earlier so c'mon on!"
The short one with the gun put it back in his pants and grabbed his little stash.
"Alright, y'all wait for me in the car."
The other two looked at each other, than eventually walked out. The taller one stood before me and got to my level.
"Look, we didn't want to have to do this, but you really left us no choice. You shouldn't've left D.C." That was the last thing he said before he left me tied up in my living room. I was so confused and discombobulated, but my major concern was when my husband was coming back home, because we seriously need to talk about our family's safety.
✠Ray's POV✠
I was trying not to drift off to sleep at the police station. I had been down here for nearly forty eight hours, going off nothing but coffee and anxiety.
First thing we did was file a missing person's report, which took forever because the police station was so busy that night. Then, Darnell and I actually went driving around looking for Rayan, with no actual luck. We checked Inglewood, Compton even Long Beach. It's like he fell off the face of the earth.
I sipped my coffee and waited for any further information, as people came in and out the police station. My phone was dead, and I didn't have my charger because I didn't think to bring it. I tried to use the pay phone here, but it stated the line was busy.
I was tired and aggravated as fuck, just wishing they had some new developments or something. I showed Darnell that letter we received the other day, and he said he would get somebody to analyze it. It's just taking a long ass time.
"Ray?"
I looked up, through my sleep deprived stupor, and saw Darnell.
"We want you to take a look at something for us."
He led me to an interrogation room, where two other officers stood. There was a file on the table, and all I think was what the hell was going on.
Darnel introduced his other officers, before instructing me to have a seat.
"We looked at the writing style on the paper, and we found three different matches in our system. We just need you to tell us if you recognize any of these men."
They opened the file and spilled out mugshots, video surveillance photos and criminal records. I sifted through the stuff, still half sleep. I was ready to say 'no', when this one mugshot stood out to me. I looked at the features, then at his criminal record. And it hit me.
"Motha'fucka!" I exclaimed loudly jumping out of my seat, forgetting about my tiredness or the fact I was at a police station.
"Mr. Lopez-"
"This is him, it has to be. I should've fucking known..."
I felt my blood boil, making the room hotter. I was so mad, how the fuck did he even find me?! We moved all the way across the country!
Darnell picked up the picture and examined it.
"You recognize this guy?"
"Yeah, man. He's the reason why we moved. Red, right?"
"That's just one of his many aliases. His real name is José Emmanuel Sanchez and we've had an eye on him for years. We've just been waiting for the right moment to bust him, so we can put him away for good." One of the other detectives said.
"Well I can tell you he's already murdered several people I've come in contact with back in D.C."
"Yeah, but he was able to get off those charges..."
And I wasn't.
"Look, if he's the one who has your son, then we might have an actual lead to where he might be. You just need to give us some time."
"Time? I don't have time! If this is the nigga who my son's hanging around, then I'm sure he'll be the next on Red's body count, and I'll be damned if that happens!" I stated.
"We know you're upset, but this is beyond your control! This has now become a federal problem, so we suggest you go back home and wait for our call." The other detectives walked out the room, making me frustrated.
Darnell looked at me sympathetically, but I wasn't asking for his sympathy.
"Ray, I give you my word we'll do everything we can to find your son."
"While I wait at home by the phone? I don't think so." I said standing up to leave.
"Ray, this is beyond your control. You can't do much."
"Watch me."
⇝⇜⇝⇜⇝⇜⇝⇜⇝⇜⇝⇜
I hopped out the uber, payed the man and thanked him for picking me up. I walked up the driveway to the front door of my house, and when I walked inside it looked like a tornado hit through.
"What the hell happened?"
Dishes were broken, kitchen furniture tossed around, pictures knocked off the wall. Our house was a hot ass mess, and Max looked shook up, Riley too. She looked up, saw me and ran into my arms. I held her tight while she cried on my shoulder.
"Max what's wrong? What happened?"
I could already tell we've been robbed. I just wanted to know if they actually did anything to her, or to Riley.
"Baby, I don't know who they were, but they just came in and started trashing my house! I wanted to call you but they took my cell phone and cut the house line." She finally said.
"They didn't hurt you did they?"
She shook her head no.
"Riley you alright?"
I hugged him too because he seemed like he was there too.
"Yeah."
"He was at school."
I sighed angrily. This just had to be Red's doing. First he lures my son away from us, now he in my house around my wife? It's official, I'm going to kill him. I don't care if I go back to jail, nobody messes with my family and lives.
After we cleaned up and did a once over, we noted not much was taken. Just old cell phones, a few of my watches, the xbox and some sneakers. They mostly just vandalized our house, not so much robbed. I was just happy Max was okay, and Riley was at school.
Max was just coming out the shower when I walked in. She had her towel wrapped around her, as she went to grab a pair of shorts and one of my t-shirts. She seemed like she was calmed down, but I wasn't.
"Did you lock the door?"
"Of course."
"How is Riley doing?"
"He'll be fine, I told him I'd handle it." I said, sifting through boxes on the top of our closet.
Once I found the right box, I opened it and checked to see that the 22mm gun was still here, along with the extra bullets.
"Ray, what is that?"
I looked up and saw Max gawking at me like she saw ghost. I pulled out the gun, putting a few bullets in and cocked it back.
"Protection."
"Ray are you serious?! You know how I feel about guns!" She backed away from me like I had a disease.
"Max we just got robbed! What if one of them dudes tried to do something to you, you expect me to let that shit go?!" I stated my case, trying to get her to see my side of things.
She sighed and looked at me. I shook my head and made my way towards the door. I was about to call Darnell and see if I could get some information on Red's whereabouts, when Max stopped me.
"Ray Ray, I'm pregnant..." She blurted out.
I stopped and put my phone down.
"Wh-what?"
"I said I'm pregnant. I'm almost three months."
I sat down on the bed, putting the gun in the drawer. I rubbed my face, not really sure how to feel.
"Ray...? Aren't you gonna say something?" Her arms were folded, as she shifted her weight on one leg.
"What do you want me to say? I'm a little conflicted at the moment."
She looked shocked.
"I want you to say your happy. Genuinely happy, that I'm pregnant."
I stood up and embraced her.
"I am happy, Max. This just caught me off guard, that's all."
"When it caught you off guard before, you didn't have a problem..."
"That's because we weren't in the situation we were in before. Max, I love you and I want to do everything I can to protect my family, so don't get upset when you see me with a handgun."
"If you really want to protect us, then just stay home. Let the police handle it. You don't always have to play Superman, Ray. I already got our son out in the middle of nowhere, doing God knows what, I don't need you disappearing on me, again! This is how we got into this mess in the first place!" She yelled, pushing me.
I let it slide, because she was right. If I had just cared more about my growing family, instead of making dirty money, we'd probably still be in D.C.
"You're right, and I'm sorry." I said.
She pouted, before sitting on the bed.
"We can go out tomorrow, and look for our son. But for now I just want to be held." She cooed. I removed my shoes and laid down with her, wrapping my arms tightly around her.
"I love you, Ray."
"I love you more, Max."
She soon drifted off to sleep, while I watched the sun come up the following morning.
I'm sorry I haven't been updating a lot, just been lazy for no reason _-_
I'll try and update more, but I really need more comments, like I miss getting paragraphs in the comments and whatnot. So if I get more support then maybe there'll be more frequent updates! *_^