XANDER'S POV
My leg bounces in anxiousness as I constantly stare out the window during my taxi ride to the airport. I try to make myself comfortable in the soft leather of the back passenger seat but I just can't. I am a huge bag of nerves right now who is totally consumed with a lot of thoughts. I am having some auditory hallucinations about my wristwatch ticking like the timer on a bomb, and if I won't be there in time, Emily will be gone forever. I don't know how to find her, or if I can still find her, but I am not losing hope. I want to do everything that I can. I want to prove to her family, especially to Henry that I am a changed man and what happened between his daughter and me before was already in the past.
I immediately checked-in when I reached the airport. My heart is pounding with so much power against its cage of bone and cartilage.
It's almost eight in the morning when I have finally nestled in my seat inside the plane next to the window. I put on my earphones and browse through some relaxing music on my phone while anxiously tapping my foot on the floor, as I'm feeling a little giddy with the dreadful anticipation. More passengers squeeze in and jostle around towards their assigned seats with the flight attendants assisting them on their carry-on luggage in the overhead cabins.
I squint out into the distance through the window, staring sightlessly at those airport crew doing their works on the ground. After a few more moments, the announcement about closing the doors finally booms through the speakers, but the two seats beside me are still empty. At this moment, I kind of regret my decision of not bringing Jace with me.
You can do it alone, Man.
I will be alright. I will be asking for the LAPD's assistance in this anyway, and of course, I will be in constant communication with him too.
Just when I thought that everyone has already entered the plane and settled in their seats, there's one last passenger who rushes inside the plane with his flight bag loosely slung over his shoulder.
"Excuse me, excuse me." I can hear his familiar voice from my row. I cock my head to the side, on the aisle's direction, and take a glance at the passenger who is actually approaching my row now. My eyes widen in surprise upon seeing his face.
You've got to be kidding me.
He opens the overhead cabin above me and throws his bag in before squeezing himself on the empty seat next to mine. He exhales in relief when he is finally seated, and I am just staring at him in downright disbelief.
"That was close," he breathes out as the video presentation of the safety demonstration starts to play on each monitor in front of us.
"Dude! Seriously?" I am totally overwhelmed by Jace's unexpected presence.
"My conscience won't forgive me if something happens to you." He fixes his gray beanie on top of his messy head.
"That's fucking sweet." I am chuckling in relief. He was just right on time.
"I also have also a bulletproof vest in my bag. I found it in our basement. I used to wear this during our military training before. You should wear it." he casually mentions.
"How about you?"
"I can handle this better than you,"
I smirk at his little insult, but he's right. I'm a doctor, and not an action god of some sort. "Cocky much, huh?"
"You know I'm right anyway," he winks at me, making my insides tingle in an awkward way. Jace and I have never been this close before. I mean, we have never been in these kinds of a situation before. We would just usually hang out in his shop and talk about girls and anything casual as he does my tattoo. Nothing serious. We would also go to the club and bars occasionally and be each other's wingman.
You guys are so gay...But I ship it.
"You're the best, Man." I tap him on his shoulder.
Enough, please.
Seriously, I don't know what to do without him. He is for sure my best man at my wedding, and I hope Amber will be her maid-of-honor−Oh wait, that would be kind of torture for her. But seeing how she was with Jace in the hospital a while ago might have straightened some things up, hopefully.
The plane finally takes off, and I feel like my breath has been caught up in my throat when it starts to ascend.
This is it.
But what if Emily is not there? What if you guys will just waste your time?
I won't stop until I find her.
During the flight, Jace and I talked about our plans in abducting Natalie and intimidating her in order for her to speak up. At least something that I need to know, or a clue about where could Emily possibly be. I have a gut feeling that she is just somewhere in that city, and if she is sold to someone, I should know who that fucking buyer is and pursue him.
After almost four hours, we finally landed on LAX. We immediately hail a cab to the nearest hotel as soon as Jace got his luggage which contained his gun case, a bulletproof vest, and a few clothes. He purchased a piece of prepaid baggage beforehand, as firearms are not allowed in hand-carry luggage. He then tracks Natalie's location using her local number as soon as we got our room.
Typing something on his laptop, he zooms her location in and finally encoded the place.
"She's in an eatery in Pico Boulevard." he spills out after fishing out a yellow chip from his bag of Lays and popping it into his mouth. I look into the mirror as I put a black cap on my head. I have to be somehow unrecognizable.
"Probably on a date or something. We'll have to go there now." There's urgency in my voice.
"We should rent a car first."
"I'll handle that." I pick my phone up from the center table and look up for some car rental websites in Google.
It's past three in the afternoon when we finally got the rental car, which is a black Toyota RAV4 with heavily tinted windows. When we check Natalie's location in Jace's GPS tracker once again, it says that she's still in the same place. What is she doing there? It has been like three hours and if she is merely eating inside the restaurant, she must have finished all the food from the menu by now.
I am the one driving the car while Jace is guiding me in the direction towards Natalie's location on the westside. We reached the small eatery after half an hour, which is actually situated beside the highway. I notice a small crowd gathered in front of it, rubbernecking on something interesting in the center.
"What is happening?" Jace slides the car's window open to take a better look at them, and I lean to his side to probe as well.
"Looks like a filming set," he says. There's a couple of white crowd control barricade temporarily placed in between the fans and the production set.
A light bulb seems to have popped out on my head as I realize something. "She's an actress, and they are most probably be filming here. She told me that she got the part from her audition last time. This must be the movie she was talking about." I conclude.
"You'll stay here, right?" Jace validates as soon as we have found a parking space just across the street.
"Yes." We both have planned that he'll be the one to find a way to bring Natalie inside our car to intimidate her at gunpoint, as she doesn't know him. What happened last night is all over the news and of course she will be aware of it. She might find a way to escape if she sees me.
"How will you convince her to come with you?" I ask Jace, curious about his strategy. The left side of his lip tugs upwards creating a confident smirk on his face. "You'll see."
"Asshole." I shake my head in amusement. "You better do it right, Everhard."
"Just wait here and see, alright?"
I breathe shallow and find a way to release the funny feeling my apprehension is doing to my intestines. "Fine."
I watch him as he makes his way towards the group of people, maybe about twenty of them eagerly watching whatever is happening in the set. From the driver's seat, I move to the front seat and slide the car's window open halfway to observe. From my line of vision, I can see some cameramen working over their equipment along with the lighting and sound personnel. I can also see the back of an old man sitting on a black folding chair with his limbs flying about in frenzied motion. From the looks of it, he is frustratingly talking to someone as if giving detailed instructions. A group of three teenage girls moves to the side, giving me the view of the actress who the director is talking to.
And well shit. That actress is no other than Natalie. The bitch is wearing a pink classy robe-like silky dress and her face and hair are all dolled-up. She is leaning against the signage post of the restaurant while nodding in compliance with the director. I have only seen a glimpse of her, as three more passersby join the crowd and block my view.
I discreetly walk out of the car and hide behind a tree. Great. I can see better from here.
"Action!" The director's firm voice reaches my ear from across the street. A stagehand appears from one corner and calls the number, and then the shooting resumes.
Natalie's poker-face shifts into a dramatic and agitated one as she glances over her wristwatch. Suddenly, a good-looking actor around my age has his fierce exit from the restaurant door and storms directly towards her. Judging from his expensive-looking gray suit, he might be her millionaire boyfriend in the movie.
He is flinging up his hands as he starts to shout at her. The two then start to dramatically argue over something. My eyes dart over Jace who is just standing among the crowd behind the barricade with his arms folded in front of his chest, quietly and patiently waiting for the scene to finish.
As I watch Natalie act, I can't help but think about everything that has happened. Why is she doing this? I mean, I thought she was decent. She even hates guys who treat women as nothing but a sex toy. Somehow, we also became friends and she was the one who pushed me to pursue Emily. She was a bit flirty when we met each other again after a year at my office, but other than that, she's okay.
But why would she involve Emily on this? If she has some sort of a grudge towards me, she should have hurt me instead. Fucking sly bitch. I just can't wait for this fucking scene to finish.
The actor exhales sharply as his hand smooths over his short dark hair in frustration. Natalie's face looks as if someone stole her Gucci bag and other branded shits women would die for. Her eyes are glistening with tears as she continues to argue with him. Can they finish this already?
After a few more minutes of heated exchanges and exaggerated expressions, Natalie's hand suddenly shoots up and flattens right onto the actor's right cheek.
Damn. That was fucking real. The actor's head whipped to one side, and he faces her back again with a raging expression as he caresses his offended cheek.
"Fuck you!" Goes her loud, firm voice. I wonder what the man did to her in the story. He might have cheated on her or something. The actor pulls out a white paper from his suit and crumples it in front of her, then without a word, walks out from the crying Natalie. She picks it up and cups her mouth as she reads it.
Might be some surprising news or something, like her ex-boyfriend fucked her dog or whatever.
"Okay, cut! Cut! Let's take another break." Goes the director's loud voice.
Oh, thank fuck. He stands up and goes over the corner to answer what seems to be an important phone call, while some crew and make-up artist surrounds Natalie for a retouch.
I rush back to my car when I saw Jace initiating his move. He pushes his way through the crowd near Natalie's spot and leans forward against the barricade to get her attention.
Come on, Summers! Notice him!
She is preoccupied with whatever that woman is telling her, while the other fans join Jace in getting her attention as well as for a picture.
Jace leans forward even more and says something I cannot hear. Natalie finally turns to his direction and her eyes stop at him.
There you go.
I continue to watch them inside the car, and to my astonishment, she is now talking to him with a smile on her face. I am not surprised why she immediately noticed Jace and has now her full attention on him. My guy is good-looking.
Two brawny black guys are behind her which I presume are her bodyguards and one feminine looking guy is retouching her face with a huge brush as she continues to talk to Jace, deliberately ignoring those other fans who are also trying to get her attention.
An eyebrow of mine arches for the sky as Natalie flirtily laughs at whatever Jace told her.
She can really be flirty and is really good at conversations, that's why she got me interested in the first place at that club a year ago.
They might be talking now but I wonder how would Jace convince her to come here. My lips part in total surprise at what happened next.
Natalie walks around the barricade to meet him after signaling her bodyguards to stay. And now, they are coming towards this car.
What the fuck? That easy? What did he tell her?
Instinctively, my hand reaches for my gun on my side as I ready myself for her entrance.
Jace finally opens the door in the front passenger side beside me and assists her inside. Holding my breath, I feel like my heart is about to explode as she finally enters and slips into the chair beside me, totally clueless at my presence. The familiar scent of her feminine perfume fills my car, sending me a bit dizzy in anger.
"So, where's your dog− " she trails off the moment she turns towards me. Total shock registers on her heavily made-up face, and for a split second, she is lost for words.
Yes, bitch. Here the fuck I am.
"Dr. Alexander Greene?" she finally knows how to speak again. Jace sits at the back, directly behind her. She looks back at him with a totally bewildered face.
"You know each other?" she asks him, slowly blinking, and for some reason, her dark and thick fake eyelashes annoyed the hell out of me. She then glances back at me and asks, "Wait, what are you doing here?"
Jace shoots forwards to the back of her seat, grabs both of her arms from behind and pins them against the backrest.
"Hey! What the hell is happening?!" she blurts out. She tries to get away from his grip, aiming for the door beside her but I immediately locked it with a single click.
With the intention of intimidating her, Jace and I lean even closer towards her, totally trapping her between us like she's a delicate and juicy white meat that we are about to devour.
Juicy...She might be. Downtown. Right now.
"What are you guys doing? I−I don't do threesomes!" she shuts her eyes closed and holds her breath. I get even more irritated at her remark. Is she thinking that we are shooting a Fake Taxi scene right now?
"Where is Emily?" I sap at her in a near growl.
Her eyes fly open and give me a questioning look. "Emily...you're fiancé?"
"Where is she? I know you're involved in this. Just please, tell me where she is."
"How am I supposed to know? I have only met her once!"
"Where the fuck is she!" I shout as I press my gun's barrel against the small of her back. I feel like I am wasting every second and I am actually losing my patience now. Her eyes spring open in fright the moment her eyes move down to the gun.
"Alexander, what are you doing?! Oh my God! What is happening? What made you think that I can do this?" her voice is as shaky as her hands.
"I just want to know where Emily is, and if you won't answer me...Just one pull of this trigger and you'll bleed out to death right here. No one will know about this, as this gun won't make any sound ..." I threaten her.
"This is your boyfriend, right?" Jace shows Morrison's picture with the guy in the hospital's lobby from his phone.
Natalie briefly looks at the picture before violently reacting. "Boyfriend?! He's too old for my taste!"
"The other one, Bitch," Jace grumpily exclaims behind her ear.
"I'm not dating anyone right now!" she shouts back at him.
I move even closer to her, leaving a few inches between our faces while pressing the gun harder against her side. "Listen, Natalie. I don't give a shit about your dating life. All I want is your knowledge because I know that you are involved in this in some ways."
Her eyes start to moisten with tears. "Alexander, I am really telling the truth."
Jace and I exchange doubting glances. A part of me is kind of believing her, but I won't stop until it is proven that she is totally innocent.
"You were with this guy last time, and it is impossible that you don't know anything." Jace calmly explains as he shows her the picture once again.
Her eyes squint as she stares at the guy beside Morrison in the picture.
"Wait a minute..." A sudden realization flashes beneath the surface of her soft features. "That guy is not my boyfriend!" she exclaims as if it is the most disgusting thing that could ever happen to her.
"Don't play dumb with us, Bitch." Jace hisses behind her.
"I am really telling the truth! Oh, my God. We still have to continue the filming. Please, you guys should let me go! Alexander...please." she is literally begging now. My conscience sends a warm knot in my chest when tears start to stream down her cheeks and ruining her eyeliner.
"Then who is this guy?" I pull myself away from her and brush my fingers through my hair in exasperation.
"That's is Logan Miller... Her face turns pale as if an anaconda has bitten her neck.
I feel my pulse pressed outward at her answer.
"Hey, beautiful. It's me, Logan, from last night. Hope you have given me the right number. Let's meet up tomorrow as you promised."
"He's that guy who texted Emily the next morning!" I glance at Jace, then back at her. "Are you sure about his name?"
"Yes, I am pretty sure that was his name. I met him that night at the club for the first time. He approached me from the bar and we kind of flirted for a while. And then you came with Emily, and I introduced you both to him. We continued talking in one of the lounges, and then I saw him putting something on my drink, that's why I bailed out of my own party and called my bodyguards. He disappeared that night before I could even confront him."
"You're kidding us, right? Just to get away from us, right?" I warily ask her with my heartbeat pacing even faster this time.
"I swear, Alexander. That's why I flew back here the next morning. I can't stand guys who exploit women like that, you know that. I wanted to report him to the authorities, but I got really busy and I have forgotten about it."
"This guy," I snatch Jace's phone from him and point at Morrison's face, then continues, "This is our hospital administrator. Last night, we have discovered a secret basement in the hospital's parking lot and found seven girls, seven drugged girls down there. He was arrested along with his henchmen. It's all over the news now. Have you seen it?"
"No, I actually haven't hit up any social media since yesterday but oh my God... I could have been one of them!" She is now bawling on her hands, but Jace is looking at me as if he didn't buy everything she has said. I don't know why but my instinct believes her. The guy's name totally rings a bell, and the chances that it was just a mere coincidence are low.
"What now, Dude?" Jace asks me. I notice one of the stagehands approaching our car, and Natalie becomes even more frantic.
"I am so sorry about what happened to Emily. I wish I can help you...But I really need to go back to the set. We have to finish the filming. The director would be really mad at me because I told him that I will be back in a minute."
"We cannot trust you, Woman. How will we know that you're telling the truth?"Jace is obviously not convinced.
"Wait. I just remembered. I actually gave him my number and he called me so I can save it."
Jace and I exchange wary glances and wait for her as she browses through her call log.
"If I am not mistaken, this is his number." she shows us her phone and I immediately copy the number on the screen under the name of Logan Miller. "I am sure you guys need this. I'm really sorry but I have to go now. You can wait for me here. I won't go anywhere. Just let me finish the filming."
I nod at Jace, giving him the signal to let Natalie go. I unlock the car and she immediately twists out and runs towards their set.
I then attempted to call the number, but Jace immediately stops me. "Don't do that. You should not give him any record of yours. I'll be tracking it right now."
"What if he's using another number? And the area code of that number is from Evanston." I ask.
"As long as his sim card is in his phone and it is not switched off, we can track it," he explains while switching his laptop on.
I drum my fingers on the steering wheel as I look straight ahead. I am thinking of another way on how to track Logan Miller using his number because it is impossible that he is using that Evanston sim card right now. I don't think he's that−
"He's currently at Weston Hotel." Jace's voice has sucked me out of my thoughts.
"Weston hotel?" That rings a bell as well. I look through my phone and check the private investigator's report about Morrison once again.
I punch the back of my seat hard as if I have won the lottery. "That's the fucking hotel Morrison manages! Everything is now connected! Let's go!"
I have never been this hyped before. My adrenaline takes over me as I immediately start the car.
"That guy...what is his connection with Morrison?" Jace asks me as I start to drive. "There are rumors that he is gay, right? So he might be his lover."
"Or he could be his son for fuck's sake. I grumble under my heavy breath. My insides stir at the anticipation. My car shoots forward as I step harder on the accelerator.
"Wait, go over that road."
I turn to my right as he instructed, thinking that we are still following the way to the hotel.
"We have to go to the mall first." he blurts out all in a sudden. It was too late already, as I have already changed the direction.
"What? Why?" I turn back at him, my expression twisting into a mixture of irrate and question. I don't have time for some unnecessary stuff. My time is precious, most especially if we are talking about Emily's welfare.
"Just follow whatever I say." Jace firmly says with his eyes fixing out the window. He seems to be deep in some valuable thoughts.
After releasing a tensed breath that I didn't know I was holding for a few moments now, I just then find myself complying.
*****To be continued*****
A/N:
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